BETRAYING THOSE WHO FOUGHT WITH US

In order to understand how the Ukrainians must be feeling at this time, we need to go back in time to the Battle of Britain that took place between July 10 and October 31, 1940.  After conquering Poland, Belgium, France and other European countries, Hermann Göring, the commander-in-chief of the German Luftwaffe, assured Adolf Hitler that he would destroy the Royal Air Force which was a necessity prior to undertaking an invasion of Great Britain across the English Channel. The Luftwaffe greatly exceeded the number of aircraft and pilots possessed by the British. Fortunately, some 30,000 Polish military personnel — about 8,500 of whom were in the air force — escaped France and made their way to England where Prime Minister Winston Churchill informed them, “We shall conquer together or we shall die together.”

Despite their enormous contribution, none of the pilots who fought for Britain were invited to march in the VE parade held in 1946

When the British suffered more and more losses by late August of 1940, they enlisted the Poles who were eager to avenge the atrocities the Germans inflicted on their countrymen. Once committed to action, the Polish pilots fought incredibly well, shooting down 203 German aircraft for the loss of 29 pilots. No. 303 Squadron, one of two Polish squadrons to fight during the Battle of Britain, was the most successful Fighter Command unit that shot down 126 German aircraft in only 42 days. By the end of World War II, 14,000 Polish airmen were serving in fifteen RAF squadrons or with the U.S. Army Air Force. Despite their enormous contribution, none of the pilots who fought for Britain were invited to march in the VE parade held in 1946.  Winston Churchill did not want to offend Joseph Stalin who was upset that the Polish government in exile accused the Soviets of massacring nearly 22,000 Polish military officers and intelligentsia in the Katyn Forest. The betrayal the Poles felt in supporting Britain and the Allies during World War II is similar to the betrayal the Ukrainians feel after supporting the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan.  As Russian troops mass along the Ukraine border and some news commentators are heard saying, “It’s not our war,” Ukrainian troops cannot help but feel betrayed while Ukrainian officials must realize what a huge mistake they made when they signed the Budapest Memorandum in 1994 along with the United States, Great Britain, and Russia.

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The Ukrainian soldiers were angels. They did an exceptional job

The 1994 Budapest Memorandum was supposed to assure Ukraine: 1) Respect for its sovereignty; 2) Inviolability of its international borders; and 3) Abstention from threat or use of force.  In exchange for these promises, Ukraine relinquished as many as 3,000 nuclear weapons which made it the third-largest nuclear arsenal in the world at that time. Most military analysts believe Russia never would have annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and violated the first principle of international law – that countries may not acquire territory or change borders by force - had Ukraine not relinquished possession of its nuclear arsenal. The way President Joe Biden orchestrated a botched withdrawal from Afghanistan that led to the deaths of 13 American service members; scenes of chaos at the Kabul airport; and the abandonment of American citizens and at-risk Afghans; make allies question how they can depend upon the United States and its woke military to defend them from aggressive forces that are eager to invade and subjugate their populations. Similar to the stellar record of the Polish pilots during the Battle of Britain, Ukrainian troops also were hailed for their courage and success in evacuating not only their own citizens, but also endangered Afghans.  When two rescue attempts organized by the Canadian military and the U.S. State Department failed to get besieged Afghan translators and their families into the Kabul airport, the Ukrainian military deployed Special Forces into the city on foot to conduct the rescue. A Canadian news correspondent reported that Jawed Haqmal, one of the rescued translators who worked two years with Canadian special forces in Kandahar, said, “The Ukrainian soldiers were angels. They did an exceptional job.” The British sold out the Poles despite the fact that following the Battle of Britain, Churchill said, “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.” It remains to be seen if the United States Canada, and other NATO allies will appease Putin and sell out the Ukrainians or come to their aid in gratitude for their active military support of NATO operations in Iraq and Afghanistan in the war on terror.