[rad-green] Why Are We in Ukraine?

*https://www.thenation.com/article/why-are-we-in-ukraine/
<https://www.thenation.com/article/why-are-we-in-ukraine/>THE NATION
   NOVEMBER 14, 2019Why Are We in Ukraine?Historically and even today,
Russia has much in common with Ukraine—the United States, almost nothing.By
Stephen F. Cohen*

[image: Ukraine flag]
<https://www.thenation.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Ukraine_flag_rtr_img.jpg>

*A tattered Ukrainian national flag flutters in the wind near the town of
Maryinka in eastern Ukraine, June 5, 2015. (Reuters / Gleb Garanich)*


For centuries and still today, Russia and large parts of Ukraine have had
much in common—a long territorial border; a shared history; ethnic,
linguistic, and other cultural affinities; intimate personal relations;
substantial economic trade; and more. Even after the years of escalating
conflict between Kiev and Moscow since 2014, many Russians and Ukrainians
still think of themselves in familial ways. The United States has almost
none of these commonalities with Ukraine.

Which is also to say that Ukraine is not “a vital US national interest,” as
most leaders of both parties, Republican and Democrat alike, and much of
the US media now declare. On the other hand, Ukraine is a vital Russian
interest by any geopolitical or simply human reckoning.

Why, then, is Washington so deeply involved in Ukraine? (The proposed
nearly $400 million in US military aid to Kiev would mean, of course, even
more intrusive involvement.) And why is Ukraine so deeply involved in
Washington, in a different way, that it has become a pretext for attempts
to impeach President Donald Trump?

The short but essential answer is Washington’s decision, taken by President
Bill Clinton in the 1990s, to expand NATO eastward from Germany and
eventually to Ukraine itself. Ever since, both Democrats and Republicans
have insisted that Ukraine is a “vital US national interest.” Those of us
who opposed that folly warned it would lead to dangerous conflicts with
Moscow, conceivably even war. Imagine Washington’s reaction, we pointed
out, if Russian military bases began to appear on Canada’s or Mexico’s
borders with America. We were not wrong: An estimated 13,000 souls have
already died in the Ukrainian-Russian war in the Donbass and some 2 million
people have been displaced.

Things are likely to get worse. Democrats are sharply criticizing Trump for
withholding large-scale military aid to Kiev (even though President Obama,
despite strong pressure, wisely did so). Ukraine’s recently elected
President Volodymyr Zelensky, having been drawn into the Washington
scandal, is no longer as free to negotiate peace with Russian leader
Vladimir Putin as he hoped and promised during his campaign. And candidates
for the 2020 US Democratic presidential nomination, with the exception of
Tulsi Gabbard, are likely to compete for the role of Kiev’s biggest
military booster. Here, as generally in US-Russian relations, Democrats are
becoming a war party.

Meanwhile, as I have reported before, Russian leader Vladimir Putin
continues to be accused by hard-liners in Moscow of passivity in the face
of “American aggression in Ukraine.” Is it irony or tragedy that the
often-maligned Trump and Putin may stand between us and something much
worse—between a fragile Cold War peace and the war parties in their
respective countries?

*Listen to the podcast here
<https://audioboom.com/posts/7422729-tales-of-the-new-cold-war-complete-why-is-ukraine-corrupt-forget-it-jake-it-s-chinatown-s>*
.

Stephen F. Cohen is a professor emeritus of Russian studies and politics at
New York University and Princeton University. A *Nation* contributing
editor, his most recent book, *War With Russia? From Putin & Ukraine to
Trump & Russiagate*, is available in paperback and in an ebook edition. His
weekly conversations with the host of *The John Batchelor Show*
<https://audioboom.com/channel/johnbatchelor>, now in their sixth year, are
available at www.thenation.com
<https://www.thenation.com/authors/stephen-f-cohen/>.

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