Sunday, March 2, 2014

Ukraine

When I was in school, and television was black and white, we watched spellbound as Russian tanks rolled into Budapest.  The people of Hungary had dared to demonstrate for democracy and freedom.  The Russians crushed them.  We all saw.  It was 1956.  We watched again when President Reagan stood at the Brandenburg Gate, faced the cameras of the world and said "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall". It was 1987. His speech was direct, without threat.  It was hortatory, commanding.  The President was backed by the moral authority of his conviction, shared by leaders of the Western World.  Today we are helpless - an unfamiliar plight in the free world.  We watch as Russia prepares to crush Ukraine.  The Ukrainian army is on full alert.  Will they be sent into a box canyon to their slaughter?  The West has squandered its authority.  We are morally bankrupt.  Who will stand and defy such aggression.  Watch President Reagan at the Brandenburg Gate.  Watch, and weep.

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