When last I wrote of this war, I was of the opinion that NATO would be forced to support Ukraine or watch it fall to Russia. I was wrong. And for the small bit, I am grateful. But I am not in the least satisfied with NATO’s response, and, as its leading member, the response of the United States.

What I have seen of Russia’s army is that it is not well trained and lacking in good command and control on the battlefield. Some have suggested that Ukraine could win this war. It cannot. At least not on its own. Russia has been through this before in Chechnya and Afghanistan. They won the former while losing the latter. But in both cases, Russian was willing to take on the battle for years. This we must remember.

I have found President Biden’s response has been slow and lacking. I voted for Biden and considering the state of the world today, it was a good choice. Still, he lacks decisiveness. He has bungled the request of Ukraine to get MIG-29 jets from Poland. Everyone in power was in fear of Putin, and it showed! The simple answer to transferring those jets was to allow Ukrainian pilots to fly them home. There are only a handful and flying below radar should be easy for experienced pilots which Ukraine does have!

In the past, the United States has had no problem with getting military advisors secreted into combat areas. The claim that Ukrainian military lack training in anti-ship weapons is true but getting them trained would have been easily accomplished in the opening days of the war.

That the United States, and President Biden, continues the refrain of not wanting to escalate the war by making Putin angry is beyond the pale. Putin has been increasingly escalating this war without incurring similar response from Ukraine. That he has Sabre rattled about nuclear weapons is something our military is ready with a response, and Putin knows this! He has called our bluff and we have succumbed.

NATO and the United States needs to act boldly. They need to come to terms with adding Ukraine to NATO. Putin knows this is on the agenda but has called the West’s bluff by stating he would consider such an action as an escalation! Really? And most recently he has said that if Ukraine agrees to never join NATO, he might be willing to end the war. Of course, he has also said that Ukraine must cede more territory to Russia.

It is now established that China is unwilling to come to the rescue of Russia with military aid. It does, however, supply humanitarian aid. While in Ukraine, Russia has not allowed for humanitarian aid anywhere in Ukraine.

With things as they are now, President Biden and NATO have allowed things to progress to a point where giving Ukraine proper aid is greatly reduced. But there is a way around this that was employed a long time ago, the United Nations. During the Korean War, the troops fighting North Korea were declared UN troops, though the uniforms were those of the nations involved. Why have we not tried, at least, to use this to combat Putin and put an end to the hostilities?