50,000 Russian Troops March on Kharkiv — Meanwhile the US Threatens Ukraine

We are living at a peculiar point in US foreign policy.

On the one side, the US expresses (almost unconditional) support for Israel’s targeting of Houthi, Hamas, and Hezbollah targets in Syria, Jordan, Iran, Gaza, and elsewhere. At the same time, the US has banned Ukraine from targeting Russian military targets inside Russia for fear of an “escalation.”

Many discuss the equivalency and differences of the conflicts between Hamas and Israel and Ukraine and Russia. There are far more differences than similarities. Hamas and Russia are fundamentally different. You won’t find me defending Russian humanity in their war, but their targeting is not precisely the indiscriminate killing Hamas is responsible for on October 7.

Many of us want Hamas defeated but disagree with the possibility of this aim especially through Netanyahu’s maximalist attack on Gaza which has displaced the entirety of the population, destroyed Gaza, and killed tens of thousands. Support for Netanyahu also dismisses the fact that he propped up Hamas in order to disregard a two-state solution for Israel-Palestine.

It is the right of a country to defend itself, but it must adhere to the rules of war and engagement. These rules allow targeting military targets within the country of the invader.

For months, tens of thousands of troops have been preparing for an invasion of Kharkiv from Belgorod, neighboring northeastern…