If you’re not willing to fight for your democracy, you don’t deserve it.  By that standard the Ukrainians obviously richly deserve to live free and determine for themselves the form and nature of their government.  The Ukrainian people selected their current president with 70% of their vote so we clearly I understand their choices.  However a brutal dictator in a neighboring country has unilaterally determined that he alone has the right to rule their country. In order to gain his objectives Vladimir Putin has unleashed the full power of his armed forces on the the innocent people of the Ukraine who did absolutely nothing to deserve this fate.

The question is what is our obligation to assist other countries around the world who have followed our Democratic example. The people of the Ukraine may fight bravely,  but they are severely outmatched militarily.  It is time for this country, the owner of the most powerful military in the world, along with its NATO allies to move beyond sanctions and supplying of arms in our assistance to the people of the Ukraine.

It is not surprising that the Russian forces first attacked Ukrainian Air Force bases and civilian airports which could be use by military aircraft.  That follows sound military doctrine.  Their ground forces once deployed in the field would have been very vulnerable to air attack.  In addition, now that the Russians have achieved air superiority in the theater, Ukrainian forces are very venerable to Russian attack aircraft, both rotary and fixed wing.  The Ukrainian ground forces lack sufficient ability to defend against air attack that so Russian air capabilities  will always prove pivotable in any battle.

To make the defense of the Ukraine a fairer fight we should remove this Russian advantage from the battlefield by declaring parts are all of the Ukraine a no fly zone.  That wouldn’t mean bombing and/or strafing Russian ground troops or equipment. It only means that means that US and NATO aircraft would keep Russian aircraft and helicopters out of the air over parts or all of Ukraine.  

And yes, our Air Force, with without NATO air assets is fully capable of performing that mission.  Our F-22 and F-135 fighter aircraft are the best in the world. Many NATO countries also fly the F-35.  They are near invisible on radar and are capable of knocking enemy aircraft out of the air before enemy ]pilots know that they are there.  

Deprived of air support, Russian ground forces would have a much harder time overcoming Ukrainian resistance on the ground.  The Alison couldn’t reply their ground forces from the air.  

Perhaps at some point that excessive Russian casualties would give Putin second and third thoughts.  A third of the Russian military personal are conscripts who were drafted into the armed forces.  When it comes to the privates and corporals who have to do the actual fighting on the ground, that number is much, much higher.  Despite the propaganda being broadcast by Russia media, if thousands and thousands of Russian boys are sent home to their mothers in body bags Russian sentiment could turn against Putin and his war. 

.On the surface establishing a no fly zone over parts or all of Ukraine territory appears to be a prelude to an extended war in Europe,  However as a practical matter, Putin has absolutely no appetite for a war with NATO.  Russia is no longer the Soviet Union and the Russian military forces pales in comparison to those of the former USSR at its prime.  When Putin took over the leadership of Russia the military left behind by former USSR was in was in sad shape and his government had little money to spend on it.  Since then Putin has done his best to rebuild it, but that is very much a work in progress.  

Russia has committed 70% of his armed forces to a the invasion of Ukraine. Yet the the outnumbered and poorly equipped Ukrainian military is keeping the Russians from achieving the quick takeover of the country that Putin desired.  The Russian army would be crushed by NATO forces if the war spread into NATO countries.

Sure Putin has reminded the West several times that he has nuclear weapons, but his intention is to reconstitute and rule over the empire of the Czars and the USSR.  He doesn’t want to rule, if he happens to survive, over a smoking radioactive landscape.  

Putin is a calculating politicians with dreams of being the next Peter the Great of Russia, his role model, by restoring Russia’s past greatness.  He has calculated the US and our NATO allies will not interfere while he ravages a peace democratic people.    He may be right.  However, it is time to change those calculation by imposing a no-fly zone in order to give the Ukrainians a fighting chance.

Cajun.  2/25/2022