Letters

The expected invasion of Ukraine by Russia on the evening of February 23 was a sobering moment to recalibrate our understanding of the world order as we have grown to know it.

As a baby boomer born in 1949, I have witnessed the conflicts in Korea, Vietnam and the Middle East that involved our military. These were proxy wars fought in underdeveloped regions against combatants that were attempting to subjugate or forcefully acquire territory against the will of its inhabitants. Behind the scenes in these conflicts, our major adversaries were stoking the fire with military aid and assistance.

But today we are witnessing an open challenge to American and European stability in the West by an increasingly unstable individual — and it isn’t the former president.

How should Americans feel about this? Democrats and Republicans both are angered and frustrated that once again we appear to have been caught flat-footed. This is understandable and even explainable.

Ukraine itself did not represent a national security threat to NATO or the United States. It may, however, represent a threat to Vladimir Putin. Its border is only 500 miles from Moscow, and Russians have always been paranoid about being invaded.

However, the underlying threat that may have really set this invasion in motion was the bloody rebellion in 2014 in Kyiv that challenged the Russian influence over the Ukraine government when it backed out of its promise to become part of Europe. This desire to enjoy Western freedom and commerce was initially demanded by students and young people who bitterly denounced the double-cross their government pulled on them.

The security forces brutally attempted to disperse these demonstrators, but they didn’t leave. Instead, a national response by Ukrainians of every stripe joined the movement. Repeatedly, the security detachments used overwhelming force on unarmed protesters.

As depicted in a documentary called “Ukraine,” now available on Netflix, freedom was fought and paid for dearly, as many gave their lives in the heroic struggle to avoid being a puppet of an authoritarian government. Their ultimate victory over this Russian puppet government unified the people of Ukraine and became the true threat to Putin.

The expression we use here, proudly, is “Freedom isn’t free.” The cost in Ukraine will be horrific. As the West is reawakened to this calculus, we may feel less comfortable looking at the world we thought we knew. At home, it may serve to illuminate the greatness of our creation as a nation in its contrast to our haters, at home and abroad, and reaffirm what we believe and stand for: Freedom.

Ed Surgan

Westhampton