A clear path to World War III

To the editor:

In order to address the crisis in the Ukraine, a short history lesson is required.

The last grave confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union occurred in December 1983. The Russians, starting in 1979, deployed more than 400 SS-20 intermediate range nuclear armed missiles aimed at Western Europe in order to intimidate the NATO alliance.

This situation remained unaddressed until President Ronald Reagan ordered the deployment of the Pershing intermediate missile in December 1983. Despite massive protests by leftists in Europe and the United States, the missiles were based in West Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Belgium.

President Reagan’s “peace through strength” eventually led to the International Range Nuclear Treaty signed by the United States and Russia — and by 1988, the removal and destruction of both missile systems.

As of this writing, Russia has deployed more than 100,000 troops and heavy armor in occupied Western Ukraine. It is now sending amphibious ships to its formidable southern Crimean military facilities. And, in the north in Belarus, it is deploying its frontline SU-35 stealth fighters, along with their deadly S-400 anti-aircraft missile system.

This, without a doubt, is a potentially deadly three-front assault on the Ukraine. Time has run out for diplomacy. The United States and NATO must now provide powerful weapons that will assure that the Ukraine can defend itself against the Russian air force, missiles and armored vehicles when they attack.

The Ukrainian people must humiliate the Russian army as Finland did in 1939, despite being vastly outnumbered and outgunned. They will have to fight an asymmetric war against their enemy and ensure that, in the event of defeat, an insurgency continues until a just peace is assured.

And we, the people of the free democratic way, must support them any way we can.

If Ukraine has to become a Russian colony, it will threaten the independent and free NATO nations of Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and the neutrality of Moldova. It will be the first conquest by force of a European country since World War II.

It will embolden other totalitarian regimes to abandon diplomacy in favor of military force, and encourage sporadic worldwide conflicts. The greater threat being the possible political and military miscalculations between superpowers, which could result in an inconceivable worldwide war.

Lou DeHolczer

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