Making of modern Ukraine essay 3000 words
Who is to blame for the Ukraine Crisis?
John Mearsheimer: Distingueshed professor of political science at the University of Chicago.
State of discussion on Ukraine described by journalist as an intellectual
‘no fly zone’
Stephanie Hoffman (IR Cornell)
‘Multi-dimensional disaster’ – when the outcome of a war is disastrous people want to know who is to blame for the crisis.
US pushed forward policies that Russians clearly stated would create ‘existential threats’
Biden recommitted himself to bringing Ukraine into NATO in 2021.
Potential of escalation
Conventional wisdom about the causes of the crisis from a western perspective is that Putin is solely to blame for the crisis and that he is attempting to rebuild a lost imperial Russian empire.
Putins statement ‘he views Russians and Ukrainians as one people’
Whoever does not want the soviet union back has no heart, people who don’t have no brain.
Need evidence to suggest that taking over Ukraine is/was feasible, desirable and intentional to make him solely responsible.
Putins July 12th 2021 article – Putin spoke on Russian Ukrainian relations – ‘what Ukraine will be is up to it’s citizens to decide’
Feb 21st speech. Putin re-iterates that it is not his plan to occupy ukranian territory but Russia cannot continue without intervening in Ukrainian threats to Russia, and a springboard for western aggression towards Russia.
People are certain that he consistently lies and cannot be trusted. But he has made his position clear and reiterated it. He has never once hinted that he does not want Ukraine as part of Russia. The military strategy also shows that the Army did not try and take over the whole of Ukraine. Some strategists suggest that a total invasion of Ukraine requires rapid blitz-krieg stragies – which they were unable to do with such a small army.
Book – ‘Why leaders lie, the truth to lying in international politics’
Russia has a long history of invading contires that were or still are under soviet/Russian influence that stepped out of line – Georgia, Germ, Hung etc.
If putin is lying about his intentions and did indeed have imperial ambitions, why was his armny and his tatics not evidencing intention to take over Ukraine .
Revanchist Policies in Eastern Europe. Putin’s seasure of Crimea was an impulsive move after the coup. It was only after the crisis in feb 2014 that Us started to describe Russia as aggressive, revanchist. This rhetoric.
Integrating Ukraine into the Eu
Turning Ukraine into a Pro western liberal democracy (orange revolution 2014)
Incorporating Ukraine into NATO
- Ukraine and Georgia ‘ Will become members’ (NATO annual summit Bucharest 2008)
- Russias leaders responded with outrage, ‘existential threat’, Warned that if Ukraine joins nato they can do so without Crimea and the Eastern Regions – according to Russian journalist.
- Burns was a policy maker who expressed the danger of having Ukraine in NATO
- Merkel and Sarkozy were both opposed Ukrainian entry to Nato in 2008. Merkel stated from Putins perspective this would be interpreted as a ‘declaration of war’.
- Bush administration was pushing to integrate Georgia – caused a war in 2008, regarless in the wake of that war, allies continued to try and make Ukraine join.
- Russia in response took Ukraine and fuelled a pro-sepratist war in Donbass.
- Western strategy was to double down on strategy, announcing Ukraine as a defacto member of nato.
- Trump admin prodived defensive weapons in 2016.
- Ukranian and NATO forces performed naval and army exersices directly aimed at Russia 2021
- Later in 2021 US army, Europe and African allied military
- Designed to enhance ‘interoperability between departments and nations’
- Secret to Ukrainian military success is NATO training.
Zelensky who never showed much enthusiasm for joining nato
2008 – 2014 – 2022
