There has always been a stench hanging over this meat grinder conflict. 

The eagerness with which Liberals, whom I am old enough to remember used to be reflexively anti-war, are willing to fight to the last Ukrainian man, woman, and child seems both perverse and worrisome, despite the claims of this war’s proponents that they are fighting for “freedom” for the Ukrainian people, who seem awfully sick of the daily slaughter—and dearly want it to end.

The blow up between President Trump and Ukrainian President Zelensky in the Oval Office this past week did not signal that Trump is Putin’s puppet or is ditching our European allies. We are instead seeing a reality check that tossing billions of dollars into an war without end in a country renowned for its corruption is a particularly stupid idea.

The shady ties between Democrats and Ukraine deserve some more investigation and explanation. The outflow of Ukrainian cash to the children of prominent Democrats, the most notable being Hunter Biden, is too strange to be a coincidence. As for whether other undetectable money from our military and foreign aid has been ricocheting back to American politicians over the past few years, the utter lack of interest in adequately tracking American dollars going toward the Ukraine-Russia war has raised more than a few eyebrows and left open the honest question of whether our financial assistance has actually been a cover for money laundering on a global scale.

It also seems a cruel betrayal that Joe Biden and Democrats in Congress took advantage of the hatred the average Ukrainian felt toward Russia—and an understandable yearning for freedom—to sucker them into fighting a bloody war of attrition they cannot win due to Russia’s vastly larger army and pool of replacement troops. 

By assuring Ukrainians that the much ballyhooed economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. and our allies against Russia starting in 2022 would bring a swift end to the war (they did not), we drew ardent Ukrainian patriots into a trap from which they cannot now escape. A recent report states the Ukrainians have lost 80,000 soldiers and another 400,000 have been wounded. It is grim comfort that Russian losses in this war have been higher because this both points to an even worse humanitarian disaster and likely signals a more intractable Russian negotiating position at the start of any peace talks.

It must be a shock to President Zelensky that the American gusher of no-strings-attached dollars, now estimated to total $175 billion of military and non-military assistance, has come to an end. It is likely that increasingly frantic efforts to restart America aid will be ongoing, although the European Union is now pledging aid—albeit at a much lower level. This means that, at least in the short term, the fighting, maiming, and killing will continue without interruption and more infrastructure that could take many, many years (if ever) to rebuild is being heedlessly destroyed at this very moment.

It also must be remembered that if history has taught us anything at all, it is this: Wars are fought for reasons both fair and foul, and greedy economic gain and heartless political calculations are often the foulest reasons of all. 

Ukraine has stupendous oil, natural gas, and mineral wealth, much of which is as yet untapped. President Trump’s desire for a mineral deal with Ukraine to balance off U.S. aid has been in the news lately, but it is also true that Europe as a whole would benefit enormously from Ukraine’s vast natural resources, and might see this war as a way, to be blunt, to get their hands on a ready supply of fossil fuels and rare earths to fuel their own economies. Europe might see Ukrainian deaths as a small price to pay for their own future prosperity.

In addition, the national leaders in France, Britain, and Germany, who are the loudest proponents of continued military assistance (which might even include their own troops), are all facing intense domestic political headwinds that might drive them out of office. Populist revolts of the sort that recently put Donald Trump back in The White House, are brewing throughout the European Union, and it could be the case that politicians who fear losing their offices see salvation in positioning themselves as the potential saviors of their nations in the face of Russian belligerence. This would not be the first time that the perception of a grave external threat has proven to be a useful tool for uniting an angry and fractious populace, and it will certainly not be the last.

Perhaps I am being too cynical, but it seems odd that the leaders of Europe, who have been adamant about censoring the free expression of their own people, are so ardent about protecting the freedoms of Ukrainians—by pushing them in front of the barrel of a Russian gun.

President Trump’s desire for a prompt ceasefire as the prelude to ending this conflict might prove to be a step too far in the face of the desires for retribution, cash, and political gain throughout Ukraine and Europe, but the grim alternative of continued death and destruction cannot—and must not—be forgotten in the weeks and months ahead. A mistake anywhere by anyone might be the spark that ignites a wider war, and this is a risk we mustn’t allow.

Peace must be our priority today.