by Tony Gray
posted: 10 August 2022

When Russian tanks first rolled across Ukraine's borders hardly anyone expected the invaded country to hold up very long against the mighty Russian military. The Russians apparently felt the same way and did not bother to plan for a long siege. Some reports from international media said Putin's generals were using maps of Ukraine from WWII, which may explain why they took so long getting armor to the capitol, Kyiv.

As the days went by and Ukraine's President Vlodomir Zelensky appeared in regular Internet posts from different places in Kyiv, it seemed to galvanize his countrymen and their defense pushed back against Russia.

But, after his initial gratitude for weapons and aid sent by the U.S. and Western countries, the international support for his country seemed to go to his head.

He has gone from humbly requesting help from NATO and the U.S. to demanding ever more and better weaponry. He speaks constantly against leaders of other countries and CEOs of large companies who have any dealings at all with Russia, saying they are helping Russia kill his people by buying energy or selling them any goods or services.

A recent example of that is the Siemens gas pump that was sent to Canada for repairs. Canada had initially blocked its return to Germany because of sanctions that country imposed on Russia after invading Ukraine.

Germany was able to convince Canadian leaders that holding the pump could lead to a recession in Germany and perhaps a complete cutoff of natural gas to the country. So, Canada relented and gave a one-time exemption to let Siemens send the pump back to Germany, which planned to return it to Russia.

After all, helping Ukraine with tanks and guns and ammunition is one thing but Germany wants to avoid sending the country into recession and having to ration gas during a cold winter. The worry is that Russia will use the failure to get its pump back as an excuse to completely shut off gas supply to Europe.

Did Mr. Zelensky accept the tradeoff Germany made to keep millions of their citizens from losing their jobs or freezing during winter? No, he did not.

Ukraine issued angry denunciations of Canada after they announced they would let the gas pump be returned to Germany. Then, the angry words turned into a lawsuit.

Yes, that is right. The country that would not even be a country were it not for billions of dollars worth of weaponry and humanitarian aid from Western countries, such as the U.S. and Canada is suing because they are not happy with how another country solved a national security issue.

Lucky for him, I am not the German chancellor because I would immediately call an end to donating Leopard tanks and drones to the Ukraine government.

The U.S. has sent advanced weaponry like Harpoon missiles that have been used effectively against Russian naval vessels. In addition to thousand of Javelin anti-tank missiles, we have sent advanced, long-range artillery that lets the Ukraine army hit targets far behind the Russian line.

They rave about how effective the HIMARS artillery pieces are but then they ruin it by complaining how it is is not enough. They want more and they want it faster.

Ukraine seems to want the U.S. and NATO to empty their armories and send them all their weapons and ammo, which would leave those countries vulnerable in the event of an attack by Russia or China.

So, enough Zelensky. Be grateful for what we send and shut your yap.