What if they gave a war and nobody ... noticed?
Mike Thompson: Half-seriously now ... Ukraine
An assortment of political cartoons, tweets and more from around the web on the topic of the war in Ukraine compiled by Star Tribune Opinion's Mike Thompson.
July 14, 2023 at 10:30PM
As we sink deeper into the war in Ukraine, most Americans seem blithely unaware of our country's ever-increasing involvement in the conflict. The Biden administration has inserted America firmly into a proxy war without a real national conversation about what our role in the conflict should be, without a formal declaration of war, and no plan to eventually extract ourselves from the war. While America obsesses over scoring Taylor Swift concert tickets, President Joe Biden is inching us deeper into the fight.
Anyone with a passing knowledge of U.S. history knows that slow-walking into a war hasn't worked out great for America in the past.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine is a reprehensible violation of international law, as are the war crimes that have been committed by Russian troops — actions that demand a strong response because force is the only language that despots like Russian President Vladimir Putin understand. The answer isn't to cut and run as Putin fanboy U.S, Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida suggests, but Biden's recent decision to send cluster munitions to Ukraine is clearly an escalation, and these escalations seem to be coming closer and closer together.
Yes, it's summer, our attention span is limited and actor Kevin Spacey is on trial. But we really need to shift our focus and have a national conversation about our long-term plan for our involvement in Ukraine.
Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section.
Hypocrisy much?
What a difference a year makes.
Hypocrisy much? (Part two)
The United Kingdom's defense minister, Ben Wallace, thinks Ukraine isn't showing enough thanks and appreciation for the weapons being shipped to the embattled country. The U.K. is "not Amazon," Wallace quipped.
Supporters of Ukraine shot back with a compilation of tweets in which President Volodymr Zelenskyy thanked the nations providing arms to his country:
Back in the 1940's, Secretary Wallace's Great Britain borrowed billions from the U.S. because the island nation had been at war with Nazi Germany. In return, Great Britain showed its thanks and appreciation to the U.S. by paying back the loan … in 2006.
Ice cream man
By the way, Biden and Zelenskyy aren't the only presidents messing with Putin. Check out this funny animation of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan:
Donald Trump owes Kamala Harris an apology, and so do the white broadcasters who over the years mocked the names of Black high school basketball players.