March 1, 2022

To the Editor:

As an author of serious historical military fiction, I must ask why the US has not fast-tracked Ukraine into NATO? 150,000+ Russian troops surrounding it and the US pulls out its embassy staff and military trainers? I once had great hope for President Biden’s leadership, but he is not showing it.

It mystifies me why Finland and Sweden are not already members, sharing as they do the values of the founding members of NATO. As shaky a member as Turkey might be, NATO should be actively surrounding Western Russia right now, even without Finland.

With 150,000+ Russian troops already making incursions into Eastern Ukraine, this is no time to be deploying a few thousand US troops here and a few thousand there. It’s time for US aircraft to be flying eyeball to eyeball with the Russian air force.

Has anybody in Washington studied Russia’s history? This is the country that starved out Napoleon’s army in Moscow and Hitler’s army at Stalingrad, despite enduring horrendous losses. How can Biden and Secretary of State Blinken expect an embargo to stop Putin?

Terence A. Harkin, author
The Big Buddha Bicycle Race
In the Year of the Rabbit
taharkin.net