For their freedom and ours- why arming Ukraine is the Libertarian position

 

Penal colony FKU IK-3 is located near Kharp, a village of some 6000 people in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug of Russia, just north of the Arctic Circle. There, on the 16th of February 2024, Alexei Navalny- the last significant opposition figure remaining within the borders of the Russian Federation- was murdered by The State.

Libertarian ideals naturally compel us to minimise the power of The State as far as possible. They compel us to view authoritarianism with revulsion. They tell us that the individual has the absolute right to free speech without fear. Having lived in Russia I have for myself experienced first-hand the effect constant self-censorship has on the human psyche. I have seen a proud and honest people once again either silenced or lobotomised by their leaders. Most would agree that Putin's regime constitutes nothing less than the antithesis of Libertarian values.

More contested is the extent to which the freedom of others is intertwined with our own. After all, no sane individual would want to be taxed to fund the letting of blood in a foreign land. Unfortunately that is precisely what the situation now demands of us.

Prior to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and more recently in the Tucker Carlson interview, Putin denied the very existence of Ukraine as a nation in a monologue filled with historical revisionism and imperialist overtones. In fairness, perhaps he was genuinely surprised with the courage and ferocity of the Ukrainian defence, surprised at the humiliation of the Russian army at the gates of Kyiv and surprised that an adversary without a navy had converted half his Black Sea fleet into submarines. Not bad for a country that doesn't exist.

Regrettably these successes will be short-lived without continued technical and military support to Ukraine from liberty-minded Western nations. This necessitates the taxation of individuals in the UK. Many will find this taxation unpalatable, and it is right and proper that they are able to say so.

It is also right and proper that an individual assists another when they see their liberty under threat. Liberty is absolute, not relative. Sending arms to Ukraine is merely the foreign policy application of this principle. We are duty bound.

The economic case is as sound as the moral- to arm Ukraine is to invest in both our own arms industry and our future security: Putin has made no secret of his view that Russia's legitimate sphere of influence mirrors that of the Soviet Union. While the armed forces of Ukraine have shown great efficiency with the support already provided to them, should this support dry up, should Kyiv fall, we would be faced with an emboldened authoritarian adversary pushing further westwards, and the potential for a far costlier conflict in both lives and capital.

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."