{"id":486102,"date":"2022-01-26T20:13:49","date_gmt":"2022-01-26T20:13:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/radiofree.asia\/?guid=788d0165cd6c5427aec8ec8696826538"},"modified":"2022-01-26T20:13:49","modified_gmt":"2022-01-26T20:13:49","slug":"uss-support-for-invasions-should-disqualify-it-from-leading-on-russia-ukraine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2022\/01\/26\/uss-support-for-invasions-should-disqualify-it-from-leading-on-russia-ukraine\/","title":{"rendered":"US\u2019s Support for Invasions Should Disqualify It From Leading on Russia-Ukraine"},"content":{"rendered":"\"President<\/a>

The United States and Russia are heading toward a dangerous showdown over Ukraine, as the U.S. has <\/span>8,500 troops<\/span><\/a> on high alert, ready to deploy to Eastern Europe should Russia invade Ukraine, and a <\/span>new round of arms shipments<\/span><\/a> have begun arriving in Ukraine. <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

On the one hand, Russia\u2019s ongoing occupation of Ukraine\u2019s Crimean Peninsula, its support of armed insurgents in eastern Ukraine and threats of further military action against that country must be challenged by the international community — though not through war. Unfortunately, the United States is in no position to take any leadership in strategy or action against Russian aggression.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

Just as U.S. military action in the greater Middle East in the name of protecting Americans from ideological extremism and violence in the area has ended up largely encouraging ideological extremism, Russia\u2019s actions in the name of protecting Russians from far right Ukrainian ultranationalists — a small but well-armed minority in that country — will likely only encourage that militant movement as well. The United States, therefore, needs to avoid any actions that could encourage dangerous ultranationalist tendencies among either Russians or Ukrainians. Polls show most Russians are at best ambivalent about the Kremlin\u2019s moves in Ukraine. <\/span>Provocative actions by the United States would more likely solidify support for Russian President Vladimir Putin\u2019s illegitimate actions.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

Ukraine is seeking international military support in part because it no longer has a nuclear \u201cdeterrent.\u201d Ukraine gave up the nuclear arsenal it inherited from the Soviet Union as result of the 1994 Budapest Treaty signed by Russia, Ukraine, the United States, France, Great Britain and China. In return for Ukrainian disarmament, the treaty guaranteed the country\u2019s territorial integrity and provided assurances that signatories would not engage in threats or use of force. Putin has violated that agreement, thereby leading many Ukrainians to seek protection under the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the Cold War alliance which<\/span> <\/span>would require NATO members to come to Ukraine\u2019s defense if attacked. <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

There are quite a number of reasons why having Ukraine join NATO would nevertheless be a bad idea. Indeed, it was the eastward expansion of NATO, violating the promise made to Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev in 1989, which is partly responsible for Russia\u2019s resurgent reactionary nationalism that made possible the rise of Putin. As a country which has been invaded from Europe via Ukraine on four occasions, having Ukraine as part of NATO — which was ostensibly formed to defend Western Europe from the USSR — is unnecessarily provocative, particularly since it was originally formed back in 1949 as a supposedly defensive alliance against a superpower which no longer exists.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

Just as NATO members and the Soviet Union during the Cold War agreed that countries like Finland and Austria could develop their own democratic systems as nonaligned nations free from threats of foreign aggression, a similar agreement could potentially defuse the current crisis. The Biden administration appears to have rejected that potential compromise, however, by going on record <\/span>in support<\/span><\/a> of granting Ukraine NATO membership.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

At the same time, the United States is correct in asserting that Russia has no right to determine whether another country can or cannot join NATO or any other military alliance, even if that country is located on its border. The Biden administration is also correct in noting the absurdity of the Kremlin\u2019s claims that Ukraine is somehow a threat to the larger and more powerful Russia. <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n