JRL NEWSWATCH: “The Peril of Abandoning Ukraine; If Congress forces Kyiv to accept a Russian victory, the result won’t be peace but a new war. – WSJ
“… If [U.S.] aid is cut off and Ukraine is forced to accept a Russian victory, the result won’t be peace but Russian preparation for a new war. The war in Ukraine activated the Soviet totalitarian psychological inheritance in Russia … [that] never disappeared. … Russia is more dangerous than … since the height of the Cold War [with] [m]ilitarization … matched by a surge in nationalist fanaticism. The budget … increases defense spending for 2024 by almost 70%. [War] [i]ndustries … have seen spectacular growth … difficult to sustain without a fall in living standards, and any reduction in military spending would lead to a massive structural shock. … Putin said [on TV] that 99.9% of Russians would be willing to sacrifice their lives for the country. In a televised message to schoolchildren on … Putin said … he ‘understood why we won [World War II]…’ …. ‘It is impossible to defeat such a people with such an attitude. We were absolutely invincible and still are.’ … Russia’s position in the world is defined by the personal interests of its rulers. Under wartime conditions, they have made national fanaticism the key to their hold on power. A Russian victory would reinforce a war psychology that has gripped the population and can’t be abandoned without the leaders themselves being threatened. Allowed to win in Ukraine, they would defend their positions by looking for new conquests, creating a massive and long-term security threat ….”