To the Editor,

Last week in a press briefing at the Ramstein Air base, Germany, US Defense Sec. Lloyd J. Austin III said that the current conflict in Ukraine is the result of (1.) “an unprovoked aggression” by Russian forces and (2.) that the USA must support the sovereign borders of this beleaguered country. This is the official narrative that is pushed by the military, industry, media and congressional members. Both contentions are false!

Russia had made it crystal clear that it would not tolerate a militant, armed Ukraine with NATO missiles aimed at its heartland, but would tolerate a neutral Ukraine as established in Austria. Russia was provoked, especially, when the VP Harris went to Europe with the message that Ukraine must become a NATO nation, and that is when Russia invaded eastern Ukraine in early 2022. The possibility of a settlement was very high last spring until UK PM Johnson went to Kiev and told the Ukrainian leaders to not settle because Washington had decided to continue the war against Russia. Put another way, would the USA tolerate Mexico being armed with Russian or Chinese weapons aimed at the USA? Not for a day, remember the Cuban missile crisis?

Sec. Austin continued with the assertion that the sovereign state of Ukraine must be defended to defend our freedom & liberty. Hogwash! Ukraine is not the 51st state and we have neither treaty nor obligation to defend the borders of Ukraine as she is not a member of NATO bound by Article Five. George Washington warned against such treaties: “It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the world.” Good advice! However, Congress does have a constitutional duty and obligation to defend our borders and yet does nothing to secure it even when illegals, equal to the population of RI, are invading our country every 3 or 4 months.

We are witnessing the consequence of this brutal war which could have been avoided and which has the very real possibility of triggering WW3 with a direct confrontation between the USA and Russia. Only Congress has the constitutional power “to declare war… to raise and support armies” (Article 1, Section 8). Yes, they have appropriated the monies to support this effort, but they have not discussed and nor voted on a resolution to declare war against Russia on the floor of Congress and they shouldn’t deceive themselves into thinking that the citizenry of this country want war with Russia. It is time for Congress to man up and follow the constitutional mandate for war- debate, argue, defend and declare war against Russia if that is their will, but don’t wait for some false flag like the Gulf of Tonkin attack. Our lives are at stake and it would be a shame to end them as nuclear dust on the basis of false narratives that have been heard for the last 162 years.

Erik R. Thorp

Warwick