American Interests at Stake in Ukraine

At stake with the threat of Russian invasion of Ukraine are the principles of independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity. The United States and its allies must continue their longstanding policy of opposing aggression, like conservatives had opposed appeasement of the Axis Powers in the 1930s in the face of their aggression around the world. It is not only in America’s interest to oppose the use of force for international disputes and to defend its allies, but by standing for these principles, we thereby are defending our own independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity. The Russian Federation agreed by treaty with Ukraine to accept its independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, which was part of a deal with the West to eliminate Soviet nuclear weapons in the former Soviet Republic. In exchange, Russia was allowed the use of a base for its share of the former Soviet Black Sea Fleet on Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula. Under ex-Soviet intelligence officer Vladimir Putin, the Russian tyrant, Russia violated the treaty in 2014 when it invaded Ukraine and seized Crimea. He had also invaded the former Soviet Republic of Georgia in 2008. Russia then backed ethnic Russia separatists with arms and materiel in eastern Ukraine and covertly sent troops. Putin now threatens a large-scale overt invasion of eastern Ukraine. Like Germany’s invasion under Adolph Hitler of the territory of foreign States where there were German-speakers, the Russian dictator claims he has the right to invade his neighbors where there are Russian-speakers, which is only an excuse for aggression. The ethnic minority of Russians has more freedom in representative republics like Ukraine than Russians do under the tyranny of Putin. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was formed in 1949 as a defensive military alliance to defend Europe and North America against the Soviet Union and International Communism. The Russian Federation succeeded the Soviet Union in 1991. Putin has lamented the breakup of the Soviet Union and has attempted to reinstate it by interfering in politics in the former Soviet Republics through using various means. His claim that NATO is a threat to Russia is baseless, as it is only a defensive pact. Its defense procedures were only ever invoked after the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks on the United States. It poses no threat to Russia. Putin simply rejects NATO as an obstacle to his ambition of reconstituting the Soviet Union and he feels threatened that former Soviet Republics and former Soviet satellites in Eastern Europe want closer political and economic relations with the West because liberty and representative government are a threat to any authoritarian. The U.S. and its allies are right to stand by Ukraine and other former Soviet Republics and must continue to hold firm against tyranny and aggression.