Luxon the Statesman

Thomas March writes at Stuff:

The war in Ukraine entered New Zealand Parliament’s debating chamber on Wednesday in the most direct manner yet: President Volodymyr Zelenskyy beaming in to share a message from Kyiv.

It was a moment that called for a meaningful response. But the leader that rose to the occasion wasn’t Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who was ready to offer a further $3 million in humanitarian support for energy-stricken Ukraine as it heads into winter. And it wasn’t ACT David Seymour and his unashamed politicking.

It was the Opposition leader, Christopher Luxon.

What was it that Luxon said:

“This conflict is described as a war between Ukraine and Russia, but it is far bigger than that. It is a moral as well as a physical battle. It is, frankly, an existential threat to Ukraine, a war that Ukraine cannot and will not lose,” Luxon said, in a speech in response to Zelenskyy.

Luxon, who described Zelenskyy as “our generation’s Winston Churchill”, did not himself offer Churchill-style oratory. But he did speak to the war with moral clarity, calling it a conflict between “brutality or diplomacy, autocracy or democracy” and a terrible loss of life.

Spot on. It is a battle between autocracy and democracy. Russia seeks to not just beat Ukraine, but to wipe out Ukraine as a sovereign state.

“None of us, especially a small country like New Zealand, wants to believe that might is right … But this war has proved that when you have to fight for what you believe in, you need an army, weapons, ammunition, and friends to help defend your interests. 

“This war has again highlighted the shortcomings of the United Nations, whose purpose is noble, but whose impact is weak. This international group could not prevent one authoritarian power launching a war on its neighbour.”

The only thing keeping Ukraine alive is weapons.

NZ needs to reflect on the lessons from Ukraine, and we need to start investing more in our armed forces.