In partial defense of Rand Paul…
Simply put, the two strains of thought — one, the old isolationist impulse that we are a nation of immigrants who came here to get away from Europe’s wars a d territorial expansion (as European descendents here affix to solve the indigenous population here’s territorial wars by gobbling up their land, but never mind my simultaneously politically correct and politically incorrect statement), and two: the land of Ukraine has spent its time as Russian territory sometimes and as not Russian territory at other times and has in the past and will in the future are valid and, if correct or not in grand scheme of things — or even if just happens to be less correct, should not simply be demonized. The other line, more affixed with the claim that he is now just mouthing Putin’s rhetoric, on NATO expansion and “it’s Ukraine’s decision” predates Putin personally and lands back at geopolitical concerns as the Cold War wound down. Surely it is a rationalization and prefix, but one that has sat there for decades nonetheless.
But go ahead, blare away at Rand Paul in Huffington Post headlines and CNN gasping and forced tweet memes. Just recognize why people do not follow along with the insta- outrage… Whether or not his is the correct assessment.