As a libertarian, I oppose military entanglements beyond legitimate national self-defense. I also condemn economic sanctions as a crime against win-win free trade where the real victims ate collateral damage of consumers, generally not in power. As Otto T. Mallery sagely wrote in the spirit of Bastiat, "When goods don’t cross borders, armies will."
Let's be clear: I don't have high expectations of Putin. I am well aware of Putin's 2014 invasion of Ukraine and subsequent annexation of Crimea. I don't have unrealistic expectations of Ukraine's ability to withstand an assault from one of the world's largest militaries.with more resources of a neighbor which shares a long common border. I believe the unprovoked use of force by Russia is morally reprehensible and unjustifiable.
That being said, we do not have a constitutional basis to intervene into the indefensible wars of other countries. As I replied to a recent Biden tweet, we don't exactly model ideal behavior with our own undeclared drone wars and an overseas footprint of 800 military bases.
I've seen some coverage of the talking point that Putin in particular was sensitive to Ukraine's purported NATO ambitions, the idea of NATO soldiers at Russia's borders. One of my favorite pro-liberty senators of the last century, Robert Taft (who narrowly lost the 1952 GOP nomination to Eisenhower) had presciently objected to the formation of NATO and sending American soldiers to Europe post-WWII:
In 1950, Senator Robert A. Taft of Ohio firmly explained to dumbfounded interviewers on “Meet the Press” why he opposed sending more U.S. troops to Europe. He condemned the deployment as encirclement and warned that it needlessly provoked the Soviet Union.
Some other relevant notes of Taft's non-interventionism:
Taft's greatest prominence during his first term came.. from his vigorous opposition to US involvement in the Second World War. A staunch non-interventionist, Taft believed that America should avoid any involvement in European or Asian wars and concentrate instead on solving its domestic problems. He believed that a strong military, combined with the natural geographic protection of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, would be adequate to protect America even if Germany overran all of Europe.Between the outbreak of war ..., Taft opposed nearly all attempts to aid countries fighting Germany...In 1945, Taft was among the seven senators who opposed full United States entry into the United Nations....[[Taft] opposed NATO, as unnecessary and provocative to the Soviets. Consequently, in July 1949, Taft was one of thirteen senators to vote against the ratification of the NATO pact...He took the lead among cin condemning Truman's handling of the Korean War and questioning the constitutionality of the war itself ...On May 26, 1953, Taft delivered his final speech, in which he presciently warned of the dangers of America's emerging Cold War foreign policy, specifically against US military involvement in Southeast Asia
I strongly support Taft's relevant views, consistent with the Founding Fathers in avoiding entanglements with Europe. It's not just the oceans protect us from a land invasion outside our continent, they pose a handicap to our meddling abroad. It's why we have this enormous absurdly expensive global footprint.
Biden has been obsessively warning of a Russian invasion, with a false flag attack used to provide a rationalization. Secretary of State Blinken is threatening severe economic sanctions. Partisan senators are squabbling between which party is tougher on Russian sanctions, a prominent one targeting the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline to Germany. (The Dems, who ridiculed Romney over Russia being our biggest US adversary, has been Russiaphobic in the aftermath of the 2016 POTUS campaign.)
DC has been playing the economic sanctions game so long (Cuba and Iran among the most notable) that Russia has obviously taken them under consideration. But NATO support for such measures has basically validated Russian concerns over sharing a border with a prospective NATO neighbor, and it creates moral hazard: Ukraine on its own would likely come to an understanding with Russia avoiding an armed intervention.
There are few on Capitol Hill, other than perhaps Rand Paul and Tom Massie, who are shouting "STOP THE MADNESS". Think if Sen. Taft had been in power: there would have been no NATO, no Korean War, No Vietnam, no Gulf Wars, no Afghanistan. It is time for a change.
