Voting today to add Sweden and Finland to NATO, 67-year-old the ever-sarcastic Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) had to take a cheap shot at 69-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin. Instead of going about his business quietly, Graham made it all about him, thanking Putin to pushing NATO to add two additional members because of the Ukraine War. “One person that I want to thank, that I usually don’t give a whole big shout out to is President Putin from Russia. Without you, we wouldn’t be here,” Graham said tongue-in-cheek. “You’ve done more to strengthen NATO than any speech I could hope to give,” referring to the fact that Sweden and Finland were motivated to join NATO after Putin’s Feb. 24 Ukraine invasion. Whether admitted to or not, Sweden and Finland were unofficial NATO members for years, voting right along with the Western Alliance on everything.
Adding Sweden and Finland was purely symbolic since, in the event of a scrum with the Russian Federation, they would join the Western Alliance. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stotenberg, 63, also boasted about how Putin strengthened the Transatlantic Alliance, knowing he’s out the door later this year, taking over Norway’s Central Bank. Stoltenberg resisted for the past eight years Ukraine’s attempt to seek NATO membership, something that drove Putin to invade Feb. 24. No one in NATO mentions a thing about the U.S. arming Ukraine to the teeth, giving it unlimited offensive-and-defensive weapons with which to fight the Russian Federation. No one in NATO sees anything wrong with President Joe Biden supplying Ukraine unlimited lethal weapons and cash. Before Putin invaded Ukraine, he asked Biden for months to rethink the security arrangements in Ukraine and Eastern Europe.
Adding Sweden and Finland to NATO is nothing for Graham to rub in Putin’s face. Graham knows that the Ukraine War has been a tough slog for Kiev, losing more than 25% of its sovereign territory to Russia. Graham knows better than most that Ukraine has lost its entire Black Sea coast with all its strategic ports. Whether it gets any of its land back or not is anyone’s guess. What’s known for sure is that Ukraine has lost its strategic Black Sea ports to the Russian Federation. “What we’ve been able to accomplish here through Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is to remind everybody in the world—when it comes to bullies, you beter sand up to they before it’s too late,” Graham said. Graham knows that Ukraine’s 44-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky is in a life-or-death fight with the Russian Federation. More insults from Graham only makes Ukraine’s battle all the more difficult.
Zelensky said today that if Russia wants to go to the peace table they need to stop the fight and return to inside Russian borders. So, when it comes to ending the war, there’s really no plan in sight. Russia occupies more that 25% of Ukraine’s territory, leaving massive amounts of land in dispute. Russia has no plans of giving up Ukrainian land, hard fought over the last five months because Zelensky insists Russia withdraw from Ukraine. Without U.S. cash and weapons, Zelensky wouldn’t have so much bravado about the outcome of the war. Listening to Graham’s sarcasm makes you wonder if he understands the suffering of the Ukrainian people, the losses of innocent civilians and sovereign territory. Making incendiary remarks about Putin doesn’t help resolve the Ukraine conflict, something neither side wants to resolve. Graham’s remarks only make a bad situation worse.
Putin stated for the record he wasn’t concerned about Sweden and Finland joining NATO, largely because they’ve been unofficial parts of the Transatlantic partnership for years. However powerful the NATO alliance, Stotenberg wanted no part of Ukraine membership for the last eight years, knowing that Ukraine was in a conflict with Russia. While Biden continues to supply Ukraine unlimited arms-and-cash to fight the Russian Federation, Zelensky knows his country is bankrupt, requiring U.S. cash to pay government salaries. How Zelensky expects to get his economy on track is anyone’s guess. As long as he refuses to go to the peace table until Russia leaves Ukraine, he has no real country left because of economic collapse. Zelensky can’t count on the U.S. to foot Ukraine’s bills indefinitely, nor can he admonish countries like China who have close alliances with Russia.
Graham’s inappropriate public remarks about Putin show that he doesn’t understand the hardship to the Ukrainian people. While death tolls aren’t reported by either side, both have sustained massive casualties in five months of fighting. With some 12 million Ukrainian refugees, the Ukraine War becomes the worst humanitarian crisis since WW II. If Bdien or Stoltenberg has any real empathy for Ukraine, they would have committed U.S. and NATO troops to set up no-fly-zones to stop the carnage and infrastructure damage. Whether or not Sweden or Finland join NATO, it does nothing to help Ukraine fight off the Russian invasion. Stoltenberg and Biden turned their backs on Ukraine because they didn’t want war on the European Continent. Biden said March 11 putting U.S. boots on the ground in Ukraine would start WW III. So, when it comes to defending Ukraine, there are limits.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
