Ukraine: America’s honor and world peace are at stake!
Economists often like to use the phrase “the full faith and credit” of the United States. That phrase encompasses the economic well-being of the American economy. Is the economy stable? Can the government pay its debts? Is its credit reliable?
When it comes to the United States of America, “full faith and credit” includes military as well as economic security. The reality is that since the end of World War II, the USA has been, and continues to be, the ultimate guarantor of the freedom of every country of the world not under the yoke of the emerging triumvirate of tyranny – Russia, China, Iran, and their puppet accomplices.
As former president Richard Nixon observed more than a half-century ago, the fact that people anywhere went to bed at night with any degree of freedom and security was mainly due to the fact of the armed might of the United States of America and her willingness to employ that might to defend others.
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In addition, for most of that post-World War II period, the really bad guys who were up to really bad things had to ask themselves, “if we do this, will the Americans come?” When the evil-doers don’t have to ask that question, really bad things happen to the weak and vulnerable and the world becomes a much more dangerous place.
Most Americans are uncomfortable with this role as the world’s policeman. However, time and again we have seen what happens when Americans do not shoulder this responsibility. Even our closest allies most often will not arouse themselves to action unless America takes the lead. Back in the 1990’s, even our NATO allies would not intervene to stop genocide in Bosnia on their own continent until President Clinton and the United States led the charge.
For multiple millions of people around the world whether America keeps promises and commitments is a life and death issue. Nowhere is this more vividly illustrated than in the nation of Ukraine. The Ukrainian people have been under invasive attack by the totalitarian Russian bear on and off for almost a decade.
For the last two years, Ukraine has been under direct assault by the Russian armed forces. Behaving like war criminals, they have committed massive war crimes against the civilian population including, kidnapping approximately 500,000 children who have been taken from their parents and sent to Russia for permanent adoption.
The whole world has been inspired by the Ukrainian people’s brave and courageous defense of their homeland. Unfortunately, American assistance has been insufficient from the beginning, the Biden administration’s assistance has been “a dollar short and a day late.” The Ukrainians are not asking us to risk American lives to defend their freedom. They are only asking for the military equipment with which to defend themselves and their freedom.
For those who say we cannot afford more aid, it should be remembered that most of this money is spent in the US, paying US manufacturers to produce weapons and ammunition for the Ukranians to use to defend themselves.
Aid to the Ukranians is directly in line with American foreign policy in Europe since the beginning of the Cold War.
And we must never forget, America’s word and honor are definitely at stake in Ukraine.
In 1991, when the Soviet Union disintegrated, the newly independent nation of Ukraine (including part of Moscow’s nuclear arsenal) was for one brief moment the world’s third leading nuclear power. Ukraine had control of over 1800 nuclear weapons, more than any nation but the U.S. and Russia.
The Clinton Administration, rightly concerned about these weapons ending up in the hands of terrorists, made it a high priority to urge Ukraine to surrender its weapons in return for economic and security guarantees.
Ukraine did so in return for the “Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances” in which Ukraine gave up its nukes and signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and Russia, Britain, and the U.S. pledged to protect Ukraine’s “territorial integrity.”
The pledge has proven to be the emptiest of promises given Russia’s invasions and the lack of full British and American response.
Does anyone really believe that Russia would have annexed Crimea and invaded Ukraine if Ukraine had retained even a small portion of the nuclear weapon they then possessed?
Nations around the world are drawing their own conclusions. Can America be trusted? Should we seek our own nuclear weapons to defend ourselves? Those questions make the world an inherently much more dangerous place.
America’s honor and the world’s peace are at stake. Will America keep her word to Ukraine? I hope you will join me in praying that we will. Our honor and the peace of the world are at stake.
Dr. Richard Land, BA (Princeton, magna cum laude); D.Phil. (Oxford); Th.M (New Orleans Seminary). Dr. Land served as President of Southern Evangelical Seminary from July 2013 until July 2021. Upon his retirement, he was honored as President Emeritus and he continues to serve as an Adjunct Professor of Theology & Ethics. Dr. Land previously served as President of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (1988-2013) where he was also honored as President Emeritus upon his retirement. Dr. Land has also served as an Executive Editor and columnist for The Christian Post since 2011.
Dr. Land explores many timely and critical topics in his daily radio feature, “Bringing Every Thought Captive,” and in his weekly column for CP.
