If Ukraine is defeated, the radical revanchist regime of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin will be massively strengthened, its strategic vulnerability at its southwestern border will be eliminated, and its forces will reach the borders of NATO countries that the U.S. is pledged to defend. Properly equipped, the million Ukrainians now under arms would represent a force that would completely preclude Russian aggression against NATO. But if they are written off the West’s order of battle, the U.S. will need to station hundreds of thousands of troops in Europe, and Americans would pay for that deployment with vast amounts of treasure for years, and possibly someday with many lives as well.

Where is the GOP critique of this massive policy failure? About 90 percent of the party’s congressional delegation are simply following Biden’s lead, while the remaining 10 percent, exemplified by the 18 hardcore isolationists who voted against allowing Sweden and Finland to join NATO last week, are essentially following Putin’s.

It’s time for the Republican Party to take a serious stand. The vital interests of the entire Western world are at stake. Putin needs to be defeated and discredited, and not only to save Ukraine and the Baltic states. Deterrence needs to be reestablished if there is to be any degree of peace in the world. Putin’s Russia is now economically dependent on China. If he remains in power, militarist Russia will become China’s sword, exhausting our efforts and resources while China proceeds methodically to achieve ever greater global dominance.