Apparently, there is a group of war hawks over at MSNBC.
Fox News reports that MSNBC’s Ali Velshi, who has been reporting from Ukraine, just called for “direct military involvement” from the U.S. and its NATO allies in Ukraine.
“Direct military involvement”
Velshi made the call in tweets that he posted over the weekend.
In one, he wrote:
The turning point for the west and NATO will come when the sun rises over Kyiv on Sunday, & the war crimes against civilian non-combatants becomes visible to all. There is no more time for prevarication. If “never again” means anything, then this is the time to act.
Given that this tweet was a bit on the vague side, Velshi was asked to clarify his statement by journalist Aaron Mate.
“How do you propose the west and NATO act? What are you calling for?” Mate asked.
Velshi replied, “direct military involvement.”
Background
Velshi, here, was specifically responding to disturbing new images that are being released from Ukraine. The images show the bodies of Ukrainian civilians who apparently were executed by Russian soldiers in the streets. The images give credence to all those who have accused Russian troops, at the direction of Russian President Vladimir Putin, of having committed war crimes during its invasion of Ukraine.
As disturbing as the images are, the Biden administration does not agree with Velshi that sending NATO forces to Ukraine is the answer. Rather the Biden administration believes that the proper approach is to continue with the sanctions against Russia, while at the same time launching a war-crimes investigation to hold the perpetrators accountable.
Velshi has received a lot of pushback for his call for “direct military involvement.” But, he has stood by what he said.
On Sunday’s broadcast of his show, in fact, he interviewed retired Army Major John Spencer to back up his point. Spencer said:
I’m ready to commit at this moment — unlike I was before this day — to put people in direct contact with Russia, to stop Russia. Call it peacekeeping. Call it what you will. We have to do more than provide weapons. And by “we,” I mean the United States. Yes, we’ll do it as a coalition with lots of other people, but we are the example. So put boots on the ground, send weapons directly at Russia. This is a massacre. This is a special kind of evil. It is a huge risk, I understand that. But today is different.
Velshi agreed, “Today is different.”
