Chicken Kiev

(Chicken Kiev)

Chicken Kiev is a dish where one takes a filet's breast and rolls it around in butter and then add egg and breadcrumbs. It can be either fried or baked but secondhand opinion has revealed that it can be delicious. The city for which the dish is made, however, Kiev, Ukraine, is under less palpable circumstances.

Political in-fighting in the United States, the Ukraine's main source of support, has prevented a timely re-supply of supplies, with shortages in artillery becoming increasingly acute. Expendables are being rationed and if this lack of logistical assistance persists, Ukraine could be forced to the negotiating table and will be facing harsh terms.

So, more than two years in, the war could finally be getting to resolution. This is a positive development for as the Ukrainian position becomes progressively weaker, and Russia begins to prevail, hostilities could conclude in short order. A state of affairs that has been anathema to Ukraine supporters. The hated Putin could win after all. And, it cannot be lost that mere days after his latest land-slide election, an ISIS-inspired terror attack in a Moscow cinema resulted in almost 150 fatalities.

If intervention is not forthcoming from the United States and there still is agreement that a Russian "victory" is not desirable, there are those who are more proximate to the situation and in a position to affect events more directly. A factor for Russia's intervention in the first place had been Ukraine's possible Membership in NATO. Moscow has not been un-aware that the newest signatories to the Atlantic Alliance had once belonged to the Warsaw Pact.

There is a choice to be made. If the preference remains for Ukraine to prevail, whatever that means, it cannot continue to do that without external participation. But to what extent, or more specifically what will, is available to affect the situation on the ground. It might be easy to arrange a shipment of some sort of support but at the same time, if one proves un-willing to follow through with what is required for "victory," then perhaps it is best to make peace.

In this Election Year, President Biden has two conflagrations that are largely his responsibility, Ukraine and Israel. If Ukraine does not succeed, it will have been on his watch. However, what President Biden is not understanding is that Israel's is the more important conflict. It would be acceptable in a sense if Russia prevails in the end. On the other hand, it would not be acceptable if Hamas triumphs. Could Biden tell the difference ?