Hypothetically Speaking, Suppose Russia Invaded Alaska
To be clear, Russia has not invaded Alaska or any place else in the United States, nor is such an invasion likely, far from it. But, for the sake of discussion and to stimulate your thinking about the Ukraine situation, let’s assume that it happened.
So, Russia, a/k/a Vladimir Putin, invades Alaska, seizing several remote towns and two airfields. American lives are lost as locals struggle to fight off Russian forces that have surprised our coastal defenses. What do “we,” a/k/a Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans, do?
Do we call for a ceasefire? Let Putin have the portion of Alaska his forces now control as long as he agrees not to go any farther – even as we watch him assembling additional troops and invasion aircraft at Russian bases just 53 miles away across the Bering Strait. Of course not.
Maybe we threaten nuclear war if Putin doesn’t pull back? No. Realistically, the resultant death and destruction would be way out of proportion to what Russia has done. No one sane starts a nuclear war.
Do we counterattack over land and air to retake the towns and oil fields that Russian forces now occupy? Attack Russian military operations on their side of the Bering Strait? Sure we do, but Putin is throwing everything he’s got back at us. The harder we come, the greater the destruction and lives lost on both sides as Russian missiles strike Anchorage, Juneau, and other major Alaskan cities, taking out infrastructure and hitting residential areas. Hospitals and schools are destroyed.
Trump, unable to stand the pressure, desperate for a political victory, his base clamoring for a show of force, calls his buddy Vladimir. Putin agrees to a cease-fire while he continues to amass troops, ordnance and reposition his naval assets. “Way to go, Donald!” but to what end? …Putin agrees to a ceasefire, provided he gets to keep the Alaskan territory he’s already taken. And Trump agrees?! Without overwhelming blowback from Republicans in the House and Senate?
I don’t know what Trump would do. One thing’s for sure. Under no circumstances would Republicans in Congress – let alone the people of these United States – agree to let Putin stay in Alaska. Letting Putin, or anyone else for that matter, seize and keep American property is, or at least used to be, unequivocally out of the question. After Friday’s ruckus in the Oval Office, I’m not so sure anymore. …But let’s assume the answer is a hard “NO! No f***in’ way.” We’re taking back Alaska, period. This isn’t subject to negotiation.
Okay, so under what circumstances should Ukraine agree to a cease-fire and eventual settlement with Putin that doesn’t presume that Russia pulls out – of both Ukraine and Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014?
The Ukrainian people have been fighting and dying for three years to send what should be a universal message to Vladamir Putin: Don’t invade and steal property from a free and sovereign nation just because you think that you can get away with it. If we don’t teach him that lesson now, there’s nothing to stop him. Nothing to stop the Chinese from taking Taiwan. And so on. You get the point.
Let Putin have his way? Blindly follow a bully President who is clearly incompetent? Who expounds the foreign policy of a Russian operative?
Republicans in Congress, what’s happened to you?! Is there nothing of substance for which you are willing to stand? What bulls**t is it that you’ve been smoking? What would Ronald Reagan have done? Was John McCain the last of his kind?
Les Cohen is a long-term Marylander, having grown up in Annapolis. Professionally, he writes and edits materials for business and political clients from his base of operations in Columbia, Maryland. He has a Ph.D. in Urban and Regional Economics. Leave a comment or feel free to send him an email to [email protected].