On Thursday, as students across the U.S. reposted the “It’s gonna be May” meme ad nauseum, Russia staged its first May Day parade since the time of the Soviet Union. It’s like they are rubbing our noses in the fact that Mother Russia is coming back, just as militaristic as ever.
This comes on the heels of months of aggression toward Ukraine, including the seizure of Crimea, repeated incursions into Ukrainian airspace and alleged actions by Russian special operators and intelligence officers.
In response, the United States has finally, at the eleventh hour, decided to deploy troops to Eastern Europe, mostly in Poland, with 150 paratroopers from the U.S. Army’s 173rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team arriving two weeks ago.
Well done, guys. One hundred and fifty light infantry in Poland will surely stave off further Russian expansion into Ukraine.
While it’s refreshing to see that at least one NATO member is serious about security in Eastern Europe, this troop deployment is symbolic at best. It reflects the administration’s recalcitrance to commit real military strength to deter the ambitions of Russian President Vladimir Putin, instead choosing to rely on sanctions against specific Russian oligarchs and excluding the Federation from the G8 Summit.
As a Russian invasion of Ukraine proper looks more and more imminent, western leaders, President Barack Obama in particular, must rise to the challenge and commit a real presence to Ukraine.
A policy of peace through strength kept the Russian bear at bay for half a century. It can certainly work now. However, that policy called for thousands of Abrams tanks and mechanized infantry to maintain constant readiness, should someone in the Kremlin decide it was a good idea to try their luck against NATO. According to the Washington Times, the U.S. has no operational tanks on the continent.
Considering the circumstances, I would be acting in the exact same manner as Putin, were I in his shoes. By any reasonable measure, it appears the West simply does not have the resolve to match Russia in the field, despite having substantial superiority in almost every facet of warfare.
That, and I do miss pre-Cold War foreign policy.
Perhaps the only reason he has not already seized portions of eastern Ukraine is that he is waiting on the new government in Kiev to make a move against the pro-Russian insurgents who have taken government buildings in the Donetsk region.
In fact, on Thursday, Putin informed German Chancellor Angela Merkel that Ukraine must remove troops it has sent to the southeast to quell the pro-Russian uprising.
Last time I checked, it is fully within a state’s authority to maintain security within its own sovereign borders. Naturally, Ukraine will not acquiesce to Moscow; however, this will coincide the Kremlin’s narrative of a repressive, right-wing, borderline fascist regime in Kiev going out of its way to suppress ethnic Russians in the East. It would also be a perfect pretext for a full on military intervention — one Ukraine would be powerless to stop.
If you think the collapse of the Soviet Union was rough on the Russian military, you would be appalled at the state of the armed forces in other former Soviet bloc states.
The U.S. and Europe must position a real military presence in striking distance of, if not within Ukraine. It is all well and good to finally be heading in the right direction with this deployment to Poland, but the conflict at hand is being played out near the Black Sea, not the Baltic.
Ryan McGehee is a 21-year-old political science, history, and international studies major from Zachary, La.