WAR of Bombs and Words

Two days after my last post, Putin invades Ukraine. Very few believed he'd actually do it. He himself denied he would do it. A "Special military operation" he calls it. The free world has responded, this time the slap on the wrist has been harder and repetitive, but sanctions are still a slap on the wrist. All this while Ukraine battles for its freedom and the right to preserve democracy. Yes, the west is "assisting" Ukraine with supplies and arms, but not quite all the arms they need for a proper defence. Zelenski's pleas to close the skies has been flatly rejected. Promised MIG fighter jets offered by Poland have been stalled or blocked by NATO states fearful that Putin might take revenge and attack them. Yet NATO sends all kinds of other arms seemingly without restraint. So why doesn't NATO want Ukraine to control its own skies? The issue may be more complicated than meets my eye. Though Ukrainians' fight with a passion that puts Chuck Norris to shame, there's still the question of whether Putin's forces will succeed in subduing the Ukrainian army. If the Ukrainians would have proper air support the Russians would most certainly have not gained so much ground. But if the Russians did win, then perhaps these powerful former Polish jets would be claimed by Putin as the spoils of war. Maybe that's what's holding NATO back, perhaps they fear the jets would end up in Russian hands and used against them. So the Ukrainians are left alone to fight of an enemy which clearly has superior firepower in the air, though their ground assault seems to be taking a beating. I already wrote to some NATO leaders urging them to support Ukraine's air defence capabilites. But as hindsight is 20/20 perhaps sending the jets now would be too little too late. By rights the time to send those jets should have been days before the war started. More troubling to me is the war of words, in which NATO seems to be weak right from the start. While Putin threatens the free world with nukes, the west preempts any possibility of NATO becoming involved in the conflict. It's like saying "the door is open, go on in". Sure we threaten to sanction Russia to death, yet fail to realize Putin and most of Russia is not afraid of sanctions. Biden basically gave a carte blanche for Putin to act as he wills. This also plays deeply into how China might move on their geopolitical interests in the future. I don't know how this war will end, though i pray Ukraine will prevail as the free world steps up its tangable support in the process. But it certainly gives an eyeopening view into such varied strengths of strategies in the politics of war.