What Really Fueled the Ukraine War, a Case Study in Enabling and Other Commentaries

Foreign Affairs: What Really The Ukraine war was fuelled

“Could the war in Ukraine be about fighting for the people?” asks Ivan Krastev of The Spectator World.

Months before his invasion, Vladimir Putin lamented Russia’s population decline and vowed to do everything possible to reverse the trend.

By 2039, Russia’s population is expected to fall to less than 140 million, smaller than that of Nigeria, Brazil, Pakistan or Ethiopia.

And: “Russia’s war in Ukraine was associated with the abduction of children on a large scale, especially orphans who were forcibly brought to Russia and adopted by Russian parents.”

In fact, “These so-called ‘new Russians’ played a central role in the way Putin defined the goals of his ‘special military operation.’”

Nevertheless, Russia lost 150,000 soldiers in this war and 600,000 Russians fled.

A prolonged war would devastate Russia “economically and demographically.” So anyone who says Putin could end the war next year “is probably not entirely wrong.”

Eye on DC: A case study in enabling

In early June, Senator Patty Murray called the Wall Street Journal’s revelations about President Biden’s rapid decline a “smear article,” reports Byron York of the Washington Examiner.

But “after the disastrous June 27 debate exposed Biden’s weaknesses for the world to see, Murray is singing a different tune,” namely that “President Biden must do more to show that he can run a strong campaign that will make it possible to beat Donald Trump.”

York sums up: Only when “Murray’s voters could see for themselves how bad the president was” was she “ready to kick Biden out.”

“Multiply that many times over” to include other lawmakers as well as “random reporters” and “Democratic politicians” who also “had everything to know the president was not up to the job.”

Doctor: Jha’s Mandate Gaslighting

White House COVID envoy Ashish Jha just “admitted that while he supports mandatory vaccination, it has also caused harm,” complains Vinay Prasad on his Substack.

Yet Jha continues to engage in “gaslighting” by claiming that “the mandates saved many lives.”

No: “Due to vaccine mandates, perhaps only 1-2% of the U.S. population has received a dose of vaccine,” and both young people and those who have already had COVID received only minimal additional protection.

But “vaccine mandates cost lives by pushing people out of the workforce – a socioeconomic death penalty. They also cost lives by fueling mistrust.”

Jha is still trying to “cover up his own misjudgments.”

Conservative: Extremism Won in France

“Far-left socialist Jean-Luc Mélenchon currently leads the largest (bloc) in the French National Assembly,” notes Commentary’s Seth Mandel – and yet he is an “authoritarian populist who openly displays his disgust for Jews.”

(For example, in an interview he “coolly claimed that the Jews killed Jesus.”)

So much for the “celebratory mood” in the “post-election discourse”: “Extremists were not slowed down. No, an extremist was slowed down by promoting a no less extreme politician.”

And “the extremist, supported by all ‘moderate’ commentators, revels in the kind of Jew-baiting that is practiced in classrooms, cafes and on the opinion pages of mainstream publications.”

“The willingness of those in France to work with Mélenchon and those in the West to support such an alliance was revealing.”

From right: Joe’s ignorance about inflation

“The price controls they imposed that decade failed miserably, leading to shortages and other market disruptions,” groans Allison Schrager of City Journal, asking “how poorly policymakers” understood the inflation of the 1970s.

But President Biden’s new “food price reduction plan” is merely a “repetition of those mistakes of the past.”

The recent “inflation was initially caused by a combination of pandemic-related supply constraints and increased demand due to government transfer payments,” not by greedy corporations.

Biden’s proposal ignores “basic economic realities,” “proposes a crackdown on corporations” and “distributes money to consumers,” which worsen Inflation.

Instead of enforcing “price controls or pressure campaigns against grocers,” Biden should “curb spending and raise wages so more Americans can survive the disastrous consequences of the last four years.”

— Compiled by the editors of the Post