Ukraine

I remember when Vietnam started to influence US policy. It was in response to the Truman Doctrine which stated that the US would assist any country that was threatened by communism. It started small in the 50's when I was in college and over a period of 20 years escalated into a monster that cost billions of dollars and over 50,000 lives. For most of us it was like the frog in the pan of warm water that is slowly heated until the frog dies. While I was too old to be drafted, I began to feel uncomfortable about the war in the mid 60's. I recall the government would list the fatalities but softened the blow by showing the enemy losses. They would announce that 20 US soldiers died today but 1,200 Viet Cog died so we felt we were winning but soon that no longer satisfied me. Finally in 1972 I saw in the evening news a little girl running down the road on fire from the napalm that covered her body and I was ready to join an anti war march. Many years later I went through the same growth process as I watched the US enter Afghanistan for legitimate reasons and slowly get dragged into the quagmire of war. Now we are faced with Ukraine. The enemy is the same as it was in Vietnam where there we were fighting the Soviet Union and now its Russia. Same country different name. This time I am not ready to wait. The pressure is on to continue down the path of winning but the path is fraught with danger. Now is the time to stop the war and negotiate a peace. Both sides must be willing to give. NATO must give Putin an out so he can go home and then the West can begin the process of rebuilding Ukraine. They have a large population of educated hard working people and with the help of the West can develop a fast growing economy. It will take some real statesmen to come forth and demand an end to this war. The military industrial complex will not be happy. After this election there will be time to zero in on Ukraine and the people will start to challenge the current policy. Lets hope it doesn't take twenty years.