{"id":1360088,"date":"2022-03-05T10:00:46","date_gmt":"2022-03-05T15:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1360088"},"modified":"2022-03-05T15:07:40","modified_gmt":"2022-03-05T20:07:40","slug":"prager-on-ukraine-comedians-nato-america-and-environmentalists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/prager-on-ukraine-comedians-nato-america-and-environmentalists\/","title":{"rendered":"PRAGER: On Ukraine, Comedians, NATO, America And Environmentalists"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fprager-on-ukraine-comedians-nato-america-and-environmentalists%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1360088&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2022\/03\/7809FEDC-125B-496E-AFFB-FA67DDA2009B-scaled.jpeg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.3.0\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p>No. 1: The NATO excuse<\/p>\n<p>A widely offered explanation for the Russian invasion of Ukraine is that Russia \u2014 which at this time essentially means President Vladimir Putin \u2014 fears the expansion of NATO to its borders, especially Ukraine. The argument is often presented as an analogy: How would the United States react if Mexico had a mutual defense pact with Russia and received weapons from Russia?<\/p>\n<p>A second explanation is that Russia is \u201cparanoid\u201d as a result of its having been devastated by the invasions of Napoleon\u2019s France in the 19th century and Hitler\u2019s Germany in the 20th. This was the excuse that many professional excuse makers made for the Soviet Union\u2019s shooting down \u2014 without any warning \u2014 Korean Air Lines flight 007 in 1983, killing all 269 passengers and crew.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Russians are paranoid\u201d became a widespread explanation. Seymour Hersh, the best-known New York Times investigative reporter for decades, wrote a book on the shooting down of KAL 007. As described in a 1986 New York Times book review, \u201cOn the Soviet side, writes Mr. Hersh, there was paranoia.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When I was a graduate student at Columbia University\u2019s Russian Institute, I regularly encountered the \u201cparanoid\u201d explanation for Soviet\/Russian policies. It struck me then, and even more so now, as pathologic or false, or both. Russia is by far the largest country on Earth, spanning approximately one-ninth of all the world\u2019s land surface. When that fact is combined with Russia\u2019s vast nuclear weaponry, the \u201cparanoia\u201d explanation for Russian aggression is rendered absurd.<\/p>\n<p>It is even more absurd when one considers the countries Russia allegedly fears will invade them. Which one of their Western-border countries \u2014 Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Moldova, Belarus, Ukraine \u2014 is likely to invade Russia? Wasn\u2019t every one of them invaded by Russia? Shouldn\u2019t every one of them be paranoid?<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ll end the \u201cparanoid\u201d discussion with this rule of history: Generally speaking, wars are either between two police states or between a police state and a free state. And the latter are nearly always initiated or provoked by the police state. Russia has nothing to fear from its neighbors. Its neighbors have plenty to fear from Russia.<\/p>\n<p>2. America is watching, not intervening.<\/p>\n<p>I know of no American, on the Right or the Left, who has called for sending the U.S. military into Ukraine. But every American should feel awful \u2014 morally and as an American \u2014 about America sitting by and watching the first major invasion of a peaceful country since Hitler and Stalin. One reason is that since World War II, the weaker nations of the world have all held onto the hope that should they be attacked by a stronger nation, Americans would come to their aid.<\/p>\n<p>America is aiding Ukraine with arms and economic sanctions, but as I watch peaceful Ukraine devoured by aggressive Russia, I can\u2019t help but think that it appears that evil will triumph \u2014 and lead to more evil on Earth. I have never agreed with the throwaway line, \u201cAmerica is not the world\u2019s policeman.\u201d Does the world not need a policeman? And if not America, who? China? Russia? The U.N.?<\/p>\n<p>If the strongest boy in high school, one whom the weakest boys and girls looked to for protection, decided one day to watch rather than to protect them as they were beaten by the school bully, even if there was good reason for the lack of intervention, wouldn\u2019t that be a very sad day? And wouldn\u2019t it affect the way the protector saw himself?<\/p>\n<p>Most Americans see themselves as protectors of the weak against bully nations. This is the first time in our lifetime that America has abandoned that role.<\/p>\n<p>No. 3: A comedian is the world\u2019s most courageous political leader.<\/p>\n<p>By general consensus among the world\u2019s media and world\u2019s nations, Ukraine\u2019s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is the most courageous leader in the world today.<\/p>\n<p>For many people, this is particularly remarkable since Zelenskyy\u2019s professional background is that of a comedian. It strikes most people as amazing that a comedian turns out to be the world\u2019s most inspiring leader.<\/p>\n<p>That, of course, was the reason so many dismissed Donald Trump when he ran for president: \u201cHe has no political experience, he\u2019s just a wealthy real estate developer.\u201d However, that real estate developer also turned out to be the most courageous leader in the world. Honest haters of Trump must at least acknowledge his courage \u2014 just as supporters must acknowledge his lack of a filter between his brain and his mouth.<\/p>\n<p>It was Trump who had the courage to demand that our NATO allies live up to their obligations with regard to military spending. Ironically, thanks to Putin, the NATO countries are finally doing so. It was Trump who uncovered a deep state of corruption in nearly every major American governmental institution. It was Trump who took on the mainstream media, regarded by half of America as little better than Pravda, the Soviet newspaper. It was Trump who had the courage to do what president after president and Congress after Congress called for but never acted on: moving the American embassy in Israel to Israel\u2019s capital city, Jerusalem. He did this despite the opposition of almost every world leader and his own State Department. If that\u2019s not courage, what is?<\/p>\n<p>And it remains a fact that Putin did not invade Ukraine while Trump was president. Putin feared Trump. Neither Putin nor anyone else fears President Joe Biden.<\/p>\n<p>It is therefore not at all surprising that a comedian is the world\u2019s most courageous leader. It is surprising that people still think a lifelong political career produces leaders. Biden is a lifelong politician and, as his behavior during COVID-19 showed, may well be the least courageous president in American history.<\/p>\n<p>4. Western environmentalists made the invasion possible.<\/p>\n<p>It is overwhelmingly likely that American and European environmentalists made the Russian invasion of Ukraine possible. Under Trump, America became energy independent and was even able to supply Europe with energy. But the environmental movement, which dominates the Democratic Party and nearly every Western European country, has made Russia the major supplier of natural gas to Europe, and especially to the most important country on the European continent, Germany.<\/p>\n<p>The environmentalist movement uses climate change to achieve its primary objectives: undoing of the West\u2019s economic foundations, reshaping the Western way of life, dismantling capitalism and transferring wealth to the Third World. They will pursue these aims at any cost \u2014 whether crippling inflation, energy blackouts, even the strengthening of Russia and China.<\/p>\n<p>If you really believe climate change poses an \u201cexistential threat\u201d to human life, there is no price too high to pay in order to eliminate fossil fuel-based energy. That includes empowering and enriching evil men.<\/p>\n<p><i>The views expressed in this piece are the author\u2019s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>Dennis Prager is a nationally syndicated radio talk-show host and columnist. His latest book, published by Regnery in May 2019, is \u201cThe Rational Bible,\u201d a commentary on the book of Genesis. His film, \u201cNo Safe Spaces,\u201d was released to home entertainment nationwide on September 15, 2020. He is the founder of Prager University and may be contacted at dennisprager.com.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><span class=\"s2\"><i>member<\/i><\/span><\/a><i>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>No. 1: The NATO excuseA widely offered explanation for the Russian invasion of Ukraine is that Russia \u2014 which at this time essentially means President Vladimir Putin \u2014 fears the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1894094,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1360088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1360088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1360088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1360088\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1894094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1360088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1360088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1360088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}