https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/03/the-lefts-bad-takes-on-ukraine.htmlI'm not going to do a complete takedown of Levitz awful article, but here are some key points:
1) the DSA IC that sys referenced earlier said that NATO expansion has been bad and that NATO has been a key point of provocation for Russia and that it no longer serves a useful purpose. I think given Poland's increasing push toward direct conflict with Russia over the Ukraine invasion that is just obviously true even if nothing comes of it. NATO is supposed to be a mutual defense organization with an Article V trigger of mutual defense (war) for an attack on any member. If that ever made sense, it makes very little sense for the US now to be dragged in to a potential World War because it is suddenly in Poland and Estonia's interest to get on war footing with nuclear armed Russia.
https://www.onet.pl/informacje/onetwiadomosci/agresja-rosji-tajny-projekt-misji-pokojowej-w-ukrainie-rozdzwiek-na-linii-mon-palac/9bdp2zg,79cfc278?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wappMeanwhile, the notion that Russia’s opposition to NATO expansion was rooted in its “legitimate security interests” — as a segment of leftists routinely avow — is hard to credit. Surely, a nation’s only legitimate security interests are defensive ones. And Russia’s nuclear arsenal was always sufficient to deter the threat of an invasion (as we are now seeing, that arsenal is menacing enough to stop Western leaders from entertaining so much as a no-fly zone for Ukraine, never mind an offensive invasion of Russian territory).
Levitz's point is hilarious because if we imagine Mexico aligning in a mutual defense pact with Xi, placing missiles, training the Mexican military and placing offensive nuclear weapons there, imagine what the US would do. (I know Ukraine does not have nuclear weapons, but Turkey does and it is nearly the same distance from Mexico City to DC as Turkey to Moscow)
2) The second global point that he tries to make is that leftists are not making moral cases, only realist ones. Well, I think we really have to look at what has a better track record of explaining what has happened. I think there are all sorts of moral cases to be made for the right to self-determination but looking at the history of Cuba it is undoubtedly true that great power politics explains their situation much more clearly than some moral case. And the parallels are worth considering. It is NOT a justification for the US OR Putin's actions! But it is the only way to see what is going on.
The last part Levitz says:
"Socialists forfeit all hope of persuading anyone outside their esoteric circles if they call for choking off military aid to Ukraine and demand a “mutually agreeable diplomatic resolution” to the conflict without (1) addressing the obvious objection that Ukraine can only hope to secure such a settlement through force of arms; (2) offering an evidence-based theory for how Russia can be persuaded to respect Ukraine’s territorial integrity through sheer diplomacy; or (3) explaining why the left would oppose sending arms to a democratic government struggling against domination by a far-right autocracy, given its historic support for arming the Second Spanish Republic and the Sandinista government."
1) should Russia and China have armed Sadaam to repel the US? Would that have made it easier for Iraq to secure a just resolution? Would the US have not reacted to this provocation? It is quite possible to declare that Russia/Putin's actions are criminal and unjustified and also understand that arming Ukraine is not wise.
2) I've maintained they can't, militarily or diplomatically so best to not double down on a losing fight. But even if we play this out: Does Levitz believe that Ukraine should demand the return of Crimea in negotiations? Should the US continue to pump in arms until Ukraine can re-capture? Not one inch? Not one speck of dirt? Is anyone going to argue that is in Ukraine's interest, let alone the US?
3) See 1) but also These parallels are absurd. The Sandanistas or the Spanish republic were socialists fighting fascists, not Nazis or nationalists and, say what you will, but Ukraine has banned most of the
left wing opposition parties now so that makes the claim weaker on the democracy front and the left not finding sufficient solidarity with Ukraine.
I will conclude by saying, I obviously hope that this war ends soon, that Ukraine can get peace and that Russia comes out worse. I still fail to see how it is in the US or Ukraine's interest to fight a long war of attrition with Russia. The numbers just don't favor it for Ukraine.
