NEW YORK, NY April 15 (DPI) – The young first-term Senator from Ohio, JD Vance, wrote a shockingly obtuse editorial on Friday calling for the US to stop supporting Ukraine, and force the country of 44 million to surrender to Russia because the “math doesn’t work.”

Writing in The New York Times, Vance, a former Marine who worked in the Pentagon public relations department during the Iraq war, declared that notions to reclaim territory from Russia were “fantastical” in part because the US and other allies will never be able to produce enough weaponry for the battlefield. Moreover, he says Ukraine is outnumbered, since Russia, population 140 million, has more than three times the population

But as some readers pointed out, Ukraine, the second largest country in Europe after Russia itself, has 164 people per square mile; Russia has only 22.

As others pointed out too, Vance never once used the word “freedom” to describe the Ukrainian cause or the words “war criminal” or “dictator” to describe Vladimir Putin.

Somewhat reassuringly, at least for Ukraine and Free World, NYT readers teed off on the young politician in unusually fierce fashion. Here the most popular of nearly 2,000 comments, in order:

So according to Senator Vance, we should just give up on Ukraine and cede it to a despot that violated their sovereignty? Strong Neville Chamberlain vibes and I am thankful as an American that people like him were not in charge in 1941. The world is a better place when we support other democracies.

Dear Senator Vance. I could not disagree with you more. Who am I? A retired physician, former Air Force Officer who deployed with NATO at the end of the Cold War and during Desert Storm. First, Russia is not our friend. Their goal continues to be the degradation of our military, economic and political power. They were and are still a totalitarian country that leads by murder , imprisonment and force. Period. Second, our reduced manufacturing capability that is actively damaging our national security, is not a reason to stop supplying munitions to a country invaded by Russia who does not want to be occupied by a totalitarian army. Rather it is a reason to have industrial policies to enhance our ability to produce such material. I do not recall you advocating for any legislation that would improve our manufacturing of munitions, ships and other defense materials. Third, one never negotiates from a position of weakness. Starving the Ukraine of ammunition and then claiming we can successfully negotiate with Putin is laughable. He wants the whole country and has said so. In fact, he wants the previous Soviet Union boundaries. Shall we give up Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and the rest of eastern Europe next? Finally, history shows that appeasing an aggressor never resolves an issue. Rather it encourages more aggression. I suggest you go to Kyiv. Tour the damage. See what Putin has done. These people want freedom. You need to reflect on what is worth fighting for.

Note the complete absence of moral reasoning from this United States senator.

I am glad the Times gave Vance the opportunity to state his point of view. It allows us to see first hand his feckless behavior and reasoning.

Mr. Vance ignores the impact the US support has on the rest of our NATO allies. In addition he is essentially ceding Ukraine to Putin. He ignores what JFK said in his integral “Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.”

Defeatism, isolationism and yielding to Putin’s aggression is the gist of this article. Respect for sovereignty and established borders, liberty and peaceful coexistence are not values Mr. Vance felt were worth mentioning. Good to know where the Republicans stand. Chamberlain would approve.

As far as I can tell the main point here is “the problem is too big so why try at all?”

The math of the American Revolution didn’t add up either, but we fought the battle anyway. Ideals like freedom and liberty outweigh simple arithmetic, just as Ukraine’s struggle against Russia demonstrates today.