Trudeau Is Right To Support Ukraine Using Long-Range Weapons To Defeat Russia’s Invasion

InsightSpencerFernando

While the Prime Minister lacks credibility on national defence issues, domestic political differences should not distract from the fact that Ukraine must be allowed to strike back to survive.

Some on the right are expressing outrage after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated he supported Ukraine being allowed to use Western-supplied weapons for long-range strikes into Russia.

Yet, that outrage is misplaced.

Generally, opposing Justin Trudeau on key issues – particularly economic issues – makes sense, given the fact that life in Canada is getting worse on his watch.

But Trudeau being wrong about Canada’s economy doesn’t mean supporting Ukraine is wrong.

Those are two entirely separate issues.

After all, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has also expressed support for Ukraine, as have top Conservatives Shadow Ministers like James Bezan and Michael Chong, along with many other principled Conservative MPs like Shuvaloy Majumdar and Garnett Genuis.

Reflexively opposing Trudeau on Ukraine would also mean opposing the individuals listed above.

Further, many of those criticizing Trudeau on the issue of long-range strikes are simply repeating the Russian propaganda narrative that support for Ukraine will mean WW3.

Yet as noted by Joe Barnes in the Telegraph, Russia has threatened WW3 nearly every time the Free World supported Ukraine:

“Putin has threatened World War 3 in response to UK-US talks over allowing Ukraine to use long-range missiles into Russia. But it’s also worth remembering he’s done exactly the same at almost every step of Western support for Kyiv.”

Garry Kasparov makes a similar point:

“When Putin feels safe and is given time to prepare and rearm, he goes on the offensive. He escalates against civilians in Ukraine and sabotage targets in Europe. When the Allies finally commit needed aid and weapons, his sycophants in the West start shouting about WWIII.”

As noted by Daniel Bordman, Putin is attempting to intimidate the West, knowing that direct war between NATO and Russia would not work out well for him:

So, while Trudeau is wrong about many things, he is right to support Ukraine being allowed to fully fight back:

Of course, this doesn’t change the fact that Trudeau has failed to take Canada’s national defence seriously. His words – and Canada’s words – would carry far more weight if we had long-range missile production capability of our own, if we were meeting our NATO spending target, and if we could fix our disastrous procurement system.

All that being said, Canadians must understand that it is in our national interest for Ukraine to win because if Russia isn’t stopped in Ukraine they will inevitably invade a NATO country down the road. An emboldened Russia that integrates the industrial base of Ukraine along with forcing millions of enslaved Ukrainian People into the Russian military will be a far tougher and more dangerous foe than Russia is now.

This is why we need to get back to the idea that “politics stops at the water’s edge.” We can and should have robust political disagreements here at home. But we should stand together when it comes to confronting the New Authoritarian Axis of Russia, China, Iran and North Korea. And we should stand together in support of Ukraine’s victory.

Spencer Fernando

Photo – Twitter