It happens I was working a contract in Kyiv on Sept. 11, 2001, when the Twin Towers were attacked by terrorists. It was evening there, and a colleague and I were working late that day. We were two of the five Americans on our staff, and the remaining 20-plus colleagues were all Ukrainian. I never travel without a small shortwave radio, being a newsaholic addicted in particular to the BBC World Service since 1973. We heard the tragedy unfold as soon as the first tower was struck.
The next morning, when we arrived back at the office, our Ukrainian staff all had tears streaming down their faces and hugged us in uncontrollable sorrow. Later that day, we went by the U.S. embassy. Local Ukrainians were openly crying in the streets and had piled flowers several feet deep around the entire embassy compound.
This was extremely moving and repeated throughout Eastern Europe in all of those countries that had previously been under the Russian boot.
Donald Trump, who admires Vladimir Putin because of the absolute, unobstructed power he wished he had, was already in the process of throwing NATO under the bus when he left office. A Trump return, without a doubt, would allow him to complete the job, adding Ukraine itself. Now, with added support from his new legislative allies, such as Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert and others, I find this situation terrifying. While admittedly a globalist, having worked in 17 countries around the world, I can understand, but don’t agree with, the “America First” mantra. But with Trump and his allies, this has morphed into “America only.”
— Martin Becker
Fairbanks
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