U.S. Arms Ukraine with Tasty Meals to Fight Russian Tanks

On Thursday, I wrote about how the Obama administration had denied military aid to Ukraine, as Russian troops continue their buildup in Crimea and threaten to invade the eastern part of the country. But the story is far worse: we are actually sending Ukraine help, in the form of “meals ready-to-eat,” or MREs. Rations.

The idea, I suppose, is to give the Ukrainian military something, just not weapons. Even if one assumes that Ukrainian soldiers are hungry enough to want lemon poppy seed pound cake or whatever, does anyone imagine that the problem might be the lack of food supplies, instead of the challenge of delivering the food in the field?

If you’re going to give military aid, give military aid that will do something. Unless the plan is to greet invading forces with poisoned casseroles, the MREs are going to be useless–and will still allow Russia to claim that the U.S. is intervening militarily. Why not real weapons? Why not move naval and air assets to deter the Russians?

Because of the threat of “nuclear war,” according to Secretary of State John Kerry. Funny how Vladimir Putin never bothers to worry he might trigger a nuclear war by starting a land war in Asia that threatens our NATO allies. We assume the burden of peace–and so we have war. Perhaps the Ukrainians will nuke their rations.