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Chicago Tribune readers deserve truth, reality on Russo Ukraine war

Walt Zlotow, West Suburban Peace Coalition, Glen Ellyn IL 20 Dec 23

During the near two years of the Russo Ukraine war, the Chicago Tribune has published dozens of editorials and op-eds supporting US involvement with endless billions in weaponry to achieve a Ukrainian victory.  Alas, not a single one offering a contrary view.

But none compares with the dissembling and outright fantasy of Trudy Rubin’s op-ed ‘Why Ukraine can beat Russia and why that matters to America’

Rubin, a Philadelphia Inquirer columnist and editorial board member, offers not one word in her 700 word plea for continued US support for Ukraine that comports with reality on the ground in Eastern Ukraine or America’s true national interests the there.  

Rubin’s primary claim is that if only Republicans will pass President Biden’s $61 billion weapons package, Ukraine can win and Russia will lose.  She omits the reality that with hundreds of thousands dead and wounded, Ukraine is running out of soldiers. Hundreds of thousands of potential soldiers have fled a war they see neither need nor chance of winning. Ukraine recruiting officials were recently all fired for massive bribe taking by draft dodgers.

Rubin pulls out every trope of disaster the Biden administration offers for continued squandering of American treasure simply spilling Ukrainian blood in an impossible quest. She demands no negotiations because Ukraine can win without negotiations and avoid loss of 20% of its territory. She omits that the 20% contains the Russian speaking Ukrainians the Kyiv government has been slaughtering for 8 years to wipe out Russian culture there.

She claims anything short of total victory means “Goodbye, U.S. global leadership. Onward, more military and political challenges to democracies — including ours.” Rubin could not find a credible US historian or political scientist who would support that or any allegation she offers on the war. 

Rubin claims funneling endless billions in weapons is “an economic bargain”. She fails to mention that the first $113 billion in weapons has been largely destroyed simply getting hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians killed while losing a fifth of their land and a shattered economy. 

Rubin’s most hyperbolic charge is that  “Republicans are now fast walking the U.S. toward the greatest (self-inflicted) military debacle of the post-World War II era.” How did she miss Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen among others?

The Trib is free to promote weaponizing Ukraine with hundreds of billions in borrowed US treasure till the last Ukrainian soldier is dead. That is a delusional and self-destructive ideological philosophy. For a newspaper of the Chicago Tribune’s history and reputation, it is not responsible journalism.

December 22, 2023 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized