Like you, I’ve been both devouring and hating the news that is pouring out of Ukraine these days. Putin has dramatically and horrifically begun in earnest his plan to reunite (by force, where necessary) the old Soviet Union.

The Russian people have been told that this is not a war, but merely a police-type action to remove “Nazis” from their positions of power in the Ukrainian government. Of course, the fact that there are no Nazis in the government leadership there (in fact, President Zelenskyy is Jewish) and there very much is a Russian war going on, is well known in the rest of the world. There certainly are neo-Nazi elements in pockets of the Ukrainian military, and that’s a legitimate problem, but Zelenskyy has been working to oust those individuals and they are in no way the majority of the military, let alone the Ukrainian government overall.

I am also both amazed and delighted at how the world and the United States are coming together to oppose the Russian aggression. And while I know my GOP readers will likely dismiss this idea, I am quite sure that having a true foreign policy expert like Joe Biden as president has been enormously helpful in bringing the world together and focused on opposing the Russian invasion. One can’t help but wonder if a second-term Trump administration would be on the right side of history on this one.

Like it or not, the United States is the dominate global superpower. And that really bugs Putin. Russia is a global power these days in only a few areas, including oil and gas and, well, nukes. It is otherwise a largely failed and fragile country with quite limited abilities to influence the world.

The previously vaunted Russian army has proved to be profoundly inept. The famous “40-mile-long truck convoy” hasn’t been able to move in days, and most of Ukraine appears to still have power and, amazingly, internet access. The world (other than maybe Syria and the allegedly independent country of Belarus) is solidly behind Biden’s efforts to arm and aid the Ukrainians. Heck, major corporations are shutting down operations over there, including banks, international traders, and even McDonalds.

Which, of course, brings me to Jared Polis…

A recent Colorado Politics story highlighted Polis’s announcement that Colorado will send 750 helmets and 80 sets of body armor to Ukraine. Now, clearly, that is a drop in the bucket of what is needed. But lots of drops can add up. And if you are the Ukrainian soldier who gets a helmet or body armor, it is a very big deal indeed. Polis didn’t have to do anything; we don’t really expect our state-level governments to provide international assistance, but it is a fine gesture, and it will do a bit of good, especially if other states follow suit.

There are other Colorado actions taking place that just might contribute to the “death by a thousand cuts” that will hopefully wound Putin and his standing with his oligarchs and (more importantly) the generals who commands the actual Russian military. We’ve seen steps like CU liquidating their investments in Russia, and PERA is following suit, amid many actions by many others here in the Centennial State. If we make the lives of the Russian elites, and, frankly the regular Russian citizens, difficult enough, you might see the ground under Putin’s feet getting more and more shaky.

As an aside, I have been asked by a few civilian friends why we don’t set up a no-fly zone over Ukraine, and isn’t Biden a wimp for not setting one up? The answer is that there really isn’t a single military operation involved in a no-fly zone. Before you can set one up, American (and other NATO) aircraft must be free to fly anywhere in the country to enforce the policy. Before you can send in such aircraft, you must attack and destroy any and all anti-aircraft batteries and radars. You need to bomb Russian runways and other support facilities.

That means that to create a no-fly zone would require that American pilots, in American aircraft, attack and kill Russian soldiers at those locations. That would be a massive and extraordinarily dangerous escalation of the war, and I’m sure it would delight Putin, who could then assert his war was with the West. We don’t want to think about the consequences of that action, as it might well involve Russian tactical nuclear weapons. A no-fly zone might feel like a good thing, but the requirements to create one make it far too dangerous.

I’m proud of our governor and our state for taking actions that, on their own, don’t add up to a huge amount, but when coupled with the actions of many others may well put needed pressure on a war criminal. And while I don’t like paying this much for gas, I remind myself that I’m buying gas and then going home, where I have food in the fridge and a furnace to keep me warm. I’m not hiding in a subway station while bombs rain down.

If the price of supporting Ukraine and her people means I feel pain at the pump, I say bring it on.

We often say the name of our great country quickly and tend to skip over that wonderful and vital word, the UNITED States of America. And I do believe we are united and firmly on the right side of history.

Hal Bidlack is a retired professor of political science and a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who taught more than 17 years at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.