LETTER TO EDITOR / Ukraine Game Over–Mercy Rule

By Rick Boettger

There has been unique public debate on the Ukrainian War here in Konk Life for the last few weeks. In brief, I want to negotiate for piece, Roger Kostmayer has supported keeping it going for as long as it takes, including cluster bombs and F-16’s. His view has dominated the media—any actual discussion has been “an intellectual no-fly zone,” with the few prominent intellectuals who question the war being canceled from media coverage. Well, hooray for Konk Life and its not being 1918, when I’d be jailed like 300 others under the “Sedition Act,” for even questioning a war.

Sadly, Roger has declared “The party’s over” and will no longer stand up for the war against my arguments. More sadly, he says some rather mean things, utterly unlike his gracious nature. I will say he has done the best job he could have in a tough challenge, and I give him great credit for standing up for his and the West’s bare majority in favor of Ukraine fighting as long as it takes, despite any losses, until it gets its land back. Understand, usually fearless Rachel Maddow and the NYT or Post editorial pages have not once allowed any questioning of this war. Roger dared, soaring into his people’s “no fly” zone.

I actually wished he could have won the debate, so I could change my mind and join his side, the side I am usually on. The nastiest thing he says about me is the standard applied to anyone questioning the war these days—that “Putin, Trump, and you” spout “Russian propaganda” supporting “a murderer and dictator.” Roger made no objection to the facts of Zelinsky’s autocracy–his denying opposition parties, press, religions, and even any elections. He made no defense of NATO’S 30-year encirclement of Russia. And his only response to my three arguments was to point out the differences between the Cuban missile crisis and the Ukraine war.

My point there was the critical similarity, that we compromised to win. We did it secretly, removing our threat to Russia, secret new nukes in Turkey, in exchange for Russia removing its secret new nukes in Cuba. The negotiations were also secret, the now-famous “backdoor” contact between Kennedy and Gorbachev. This conflict meant a lot to Roger, his having been a Naval Officer blockading Russian ships at the time.

I have a similarly intense military relation with Russia. I was a Russian specialist in the Army Security Agency (ASA). I’d read Conquest’s The Great Terror about Stalin, and hated the Russians so much, that when even my stellar credentials in the program offered me no chance to go over there as an operative to kill them, I took one of the early discharges they were offering everyone at the end of the Vietnam war. (It turns out ASA is a geek division, not for warriors.) In an incredible turn of events, I was a Russian-speaking business professor after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and I was the second one sent to Moscow as a Fulbrighter to try to introduce them to Western, free-market business practice.

I went with optimism, but ended with outrage. The new Russia took the very worst, most rapacious tenets of capitalism and scorned the best. My best Russian student was worse than my worst U.S. student. And any joint ventures Western companies had with a Russian counterpart ALWAYS ended up screwing the Westerner. I wrote a disgruntled 90-page report detailing the intractable futility, and recommending they waste no more Fulbright money on professors like me (they had also sent two law professors over in those two years, ’91-2). Apparently, they listened to me. Fulbright shut down its association the the Academy of Foreign Trade, ostensibly the “Harvard Business School” of Russia.

So calling me a Russian stooge could not be further from the truth. I want peace, not out of any sympathy with Russia, but out of love for the Ukrainian state and its people, who are suffering greatly due mainly to our egging them on in their futile heroism. And out of a true concern for what this is again doing to our country.

Ironically, we just “celebrated” our 20-year anniversary of attacking Iraq. It was amazing to me to see the blank lack of recognizing any parallels between then and now. Even the only congressperson who opposed not only the Iraq war, but was the only one of 520 to oppose the use of force in Afghanistan, has supported the Ukraine funding, at least until the cluster bombs.

So Americans under Biden are just following our country’s usual love of war, any war. I actually liked our wars not only in Panama, Grenada and Kuwait, but I also think we should have taken some kinetic action against our real threats, nukes in North Korea and Iran, where it is now too late for ether. But I’m sorry, I joined ASA to avoid killing gooks in Vietnam, and quickly saw the futility of our wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and turned against both.

This war is NOT popular in the majority of the world. A large, very reputable world survey at the beginning of the year showed three of the largest countries, India, China, and Turkey, overwhelmingly against “Ukraine needs to regain its territory, even if it means a longer war and more death and displacement” versus “The conflict needs to stop as soon as possible, even if it means Ukraine giving control of areas to Russia.” The percents average 48% for peace, 25% for more war. And even the EU is only 38-30 pro war. Only the U.S. and Britain are 2-1 in favor of regaining the territory at any cost. And this survey was before the cluster bombs and dispiriting slog of the vaunted “Spring Offensive” that has little hope.

The Blues these days are very proud of presenting a united front against the Reds, Pelosi uniting the Reps, even beating down in a single day 30 Progressives who dared to sign a modest request to consider diplomacy. The head honcho of CNN was summarily fired for allowing any debate at all with Trump, even though that debate clearly exposed Trump’s arguments to an audience which rarely got to hear them. Roger himself risked being canceled by his admirable cadre of Blue friends for any discussion of this war, and I suspect he received clear pressure to cut it off.

He called it our “party.” I think of it as a “game,” as in “game theory” or “war game.” Again, my life would be easier had he won. I think he did better than the NYT, Washington Post, WSJ, the Atlantic, USA Today, or any of the network or cable news channels. But I think any such debate on this war would be called on the Mercy Rule, even should it be allowed to begin. Thank you again, Konk Life and Roger Kostmayer, for giving it a unique shot in American media today.