
<p>The political/media/academic establishment is surrendering America’s world leadership. ; Let us be very clear. ; A nation cannot be a world leader unless it is strong economically, politically and militarily. ; When that leadership is threatened in any way, there must be a MEANINGFUL response. ; America has been surrendering its leadership for decades to a combination of forces on the right and the left.</p>



<p>Those on the right preach an isolationist doctrine. ; Those on the left engage in a policy of weakness in the misguided belief that it will promote peace. ; Ironically, both extremes base their opposition to international engagements in order to finance domestic issues – from securing the border to growing the welfare behemoth.</p>



<p>As I have pointed out in the past, the most powerful nation in the world – with the proclaimed most powerful military – has lost virtually all the major military engagements since World War II. ; If the isolationist/anti-war combo have their way, we will lose the current conflicts to Russia and Iran. ; The strongest military in the world is meaningless if there is no resolve to use it when America’s leadership and national security is at risk.</p>



<p>We are currently on the verge of throwing Ukraine under the troika. MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” is one of the media platforms promoting surrender in Ukraine. Oh … they do not call it surrender, but it is.</p>



<p>Richard Haass, chairman emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations and unofficial spokesman for left-leaning international policies is proffering the argument that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy should surrender 20 percent of that nation to Russian despot Vladimir Putin in order to end the war.</p>



<p>According to Haass, there is no way that Ukraine can possibly win back the land that Putin currently controls. ; Program namesake Joe Scarborough echoes those same sentiments as if Haass’ opinion is a certainty. ; The lost irony in that perspective is that it is a self-proving prophecy. ; If the United States and NATO withdraw their commitment or support for Ukraine, it is very likely that Russia will succeed. In fact, Putin is doing as well as he is with his dirty little war because the United States and NATO have been restrained and delayed in their support.</p>



<p>Still, Haass says that a ceasefire and negotiated agreement to let Putin keep eastern Ukraine will be a great victory for … UKRAINE! ; This is the kind of ass-backwards doubletalk we can expect from the pinstriped pants set in Washington.</p>



<p>Haass’ definition of a Ukrainian victory is that the Ukrainians get to keep the 80 percent of the land and resources that Putin has not been able to conquer. ; Of course, that is only a temporary situation. ; Once Putin has essentially annexed eastern Ukraine, you can rest assured that he will be planning his future invasion.</p>



<p>If the Haass plan sounds a lot like the British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s Munich agreement with Hitler, you know your history. ; If you do not know your history … Chamberlain agreed to give Hitler his recently invaded Sudetenland in return for – as Chamberlain put it &#8212; “Peace in our time.” ; If you do not know how badly that turned out, it is called World War II.</p>



<p>It is not just those on the left. ; On the opposite extreme of the political continuum, we have a faction of the Republican Party wanting to withdraw all aid from Ukraine – and potentially even aid from Israel. ; In the current House GOP Continuing Resolution (CR), there is no money provided for either Ukraine or Israel. ; While that will come up later – with at least some level of funding &#8212; the lack of a decisive and demonstrable policy is providing aid, comfort and encouragement to Russia, Hamas, Iran and the rest of the America’s adversarial world.</p>



<p>Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States was irrefutably the most powerful nation in the world. We were the clear leader not only militarily, but in terms of commerce and the bulwark of democracy. One would have to be intellectually blind to not see how far America as fallen from that pinnacle. Unfortunately, we have not yet pulled out of that downward trajectory – and what happens in Ukraine and Israel will have a major impact on America’s future.</p>



<p>So, there ‘tis.</p>

Political establishment surrendering American leadership … again
