There is one prevailing, acceptable narrative in the collective West on how we must view the war in Ukraine. We try to expand that view by bringing you alternative voices. The video contained in this article is one of those voices. As always, please give us your thoughts.
Center for Citizen Initiatives
Mainer going viral for passionate speech against Ukraine resolution
The measure passed the state legislature by huge margins but Eric Brakey believes his words have resonance outside the Beltway.
March 13, 2023
By Kelley Beaucar Vlahos
A Maine state senator’s statehouse remarks on Friday about the Ukraine war have made a big noise outside the Pine Tree State, particularly on Twitter. Eric Brakey, a self-described libertarian Republican, took advantage of a vote on a joint resolution, “Expressing Support for the People of Ukraine on the One-Year Anniversary of Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine,” to criticize the current Biden policy in Washington as eschewing diplomacy to prolong the war, which he said is ultimately the worst thing to happen for the people of Ukraine, and the world.
So it is not for the sake of any despot that I oppose this resolution, but for love of our country and the wisdom of early leaders, like George Washington and John Quincy Adams, who warned our country against entangling alliances, being drawn into European power struggles, and going abroad in search of monsters to destroy.
And for the love of all people caught up in this war — for the conscripted and enslaved men of Ukraine and Russia pitted against each other to the death for the benefit of oligarchs; for the many dead and displaced civilians; for those starving across the world from the consequences of war in the Ukrainian breadbasket; for those in Europe, America, and Maine freezing this winter due to natural gas shortages; and for everyone alive today and generations yet unborn who face the very real threat of nuclear annihilation — we must demand immediate diplomacy to end to this war.
Yet we see no diplomacy from Washington. In the rattling of their sabers for war with Russia, the uniparty claims it is love of democracy and hatred of tyrants that drives them.