Ralph Kingsbury: I Like The Russians

I like the Russians. Not the communists, mind you. I hope every communist trips and break their necks. Given the opportunity, I would be among the first to kick them in the head when they are down.

But I like the Russians. Like us they are people of the northern plains. They know what it takes to live in a hard environment, and like us they have made it work. Look at what they did in stopping the Germans in WW II. Look at how they survived, in fact how they made all that trouble in The Cold War.

And today look what they have accomplished in space. Yes, I know we were the ones on the moon. I know we have done spectacular things in space, and maybe more in the oceans. However, they should take credit for at least part of the space lab. They are the ones who have a useable ride up there. We couldn’t even get our people home without them.

Don’t misunderstand me. There is plenty they have done wrong. Like North Dakota they have a gift in natural resources, and selling those resources is what gives them the wealth to accomplish some of the things they have.

But there are other things they are doing right as a country. Remember The Monroe Doctrine? Remember when the United States told the powers around the world to stay out of the western hemisphere. Don’t think you can come over here and set up a bunch of phony countries in order to rob this hemisphere of its natural resources we told Europe. We meant it and they knew it.

We were also telling them to not even think of coming over here. Don’t come to any place on this side of the world and threaten us, or any of the other countries here. It wasn’t perfect even from the beginning. England already had Canada, and some of the Caribbean islands. Spain still had a lot of influence, and many of the other countries in the western hemisphere didn’t think too kindly of the United States.

However, we did draw a line in the sand. This is it we told them, and it worked. Remember, Monroe was only the fifth president. From 1817 to 1825, so this line was drawn early in our history, and it did make a difference.

So why am I giving these history lessons? Because I think that the reasons the Russians, not the Soviets although they are certainly part of it, are now, and always have been so involved in the Ukraine, and in Crimea, is for those very reasons. It is why there was the Iron Curtain; Poland, the Czechs, the Romanians, all those countries. It was to give Russia protection. A wide line in the sand. Remember, Russia had been invaded by Western Europe three times and they had never invaded Europe. Who was the aggressor? Not the Russian. The European. Who started WW I? WW II? Not Russia?

Do you think we would do that today? We are getting run over by a bunch of kids and we can’t think of how to stop it. Yes, we should have some humanity. We should help starving kids. I mean it, but we shouldn’t let them define our country, but they are.

Especially with the President we have now. What a mixture. When he can depend on the Seals who are willing to put their lives on the line he can look like a man, but when he is the one who must stand and deliver, well, Lord help us.

Anyway, thanks to the Russians someone is showing the world how to do it. It is terrible what happened to that airplane, but remember what happened to that Iranian airliner in Gulf War I. Stay out of a war zone. Does the rest of the world think those are just fun and games we were playing after 9/11/? We used to play for real. Hope we can last for the next two years until we can put a real leader back in.

Then the Russians will understand that they can draw their line in the sand, but they will know that over here there is a more obvious line drawn by us, and we mean it.