Behind the Scenes in a Proxy War

 Behind the Scenes in a Proxy War

 

The American ambassador invites the Ukrainian ambassador and the Vietnamese ambassador to a secure location. To both he praises the Vietnamese for their patriotism and courage and fighting skill so lethal that they wore down us, the Americans! He adds that they solved a problem that the Ukrainians have now: how to beat a superpower. Perhaps some Vietnamese veterans could meet some Ukrainians to teach them some pointers. He then leaves them to talk in private.

Meanwhile the Chinese are computing the exact amount of armaments that they need give to the Russians to ensure that they neither win nor lose, but grind on endlessly, weakening all the while. America and NATO will match their expenditures, so it’s a potlatch.

Thus Ukraine and Russia are both pawns in a proxy war, between the West and China. Ukraine is the West’s catspaw, Russia is China’s. Putin senses this, and also imminent defeat and revolt.  Cornered, he has first turned upon the next-door Slavs, and now those in his own country. Putin’s war is a civil war.

Vladimir Putin worries about his legacy; Volodymyr Zelenskyy needn’t. If he survives Putin’s war, then he’s a national hero; if not, then he’s a national martyr. Either way, his ticket to Olympus is validated.

My advice is cynical. I borrow it from my father. He said, “Don’t back into a buzzsaw.” Or as Napoleon put it, “Don’t interrupt an enemy while he’s making a mistake.”