Most of us know next to nothing about the Ukraine. The term Ukraine actually means borderland or at the border. People have been fighting over this territory for centuries. Ukraine declared independence in 1918, after the Bolshevik Revolution, but Soviet troops took over in 1922 and Ukraine became part of Russia. In July 1990 Ukraine declared sovereignty and in August 1991, Ukraine was declared independent of the Soviet Union.
History of Ukraine – Ukraine.com
The big question right now is whether Vladimir Putin is prepared to have Russian troops invade Ukraine. Since he ordered the invasion of Crimea in February 2014, one should not assume that Putin is bluffing. The only thing certain is that Putin is unlikely to be concerned about opposition from the U.S. There is little evidence that President Joe Biden impresses Putin. Today Russia posted pictures of tanks allegedly leaving Belarus, but the pentagon says there is no evidence of a de-escalation.
Russia Keeps West Guessing on Its Ukraine Intentions (voanews.com)
One thing to remember is that Russia invading the Ukraine, while truly terrible, is not necessarily the worst-case scenario. It is quite possible that Vladimir Putin will get everything he wants, without having to actually fire a shot. That is certainly what Russia is reporting today:
“February 15, 2022, will go down in history as the day when Western war propaganda failed,” Maria Zakharova, the combative spokesperson of the Russian foreign ministry said on social media.
“They were humiliated and defeated without a single shot,”
History has taught us that giving in to terrorist demands, like those from kidnappers holding hostages, only results in more such threats. The world should have learned that lesson after the West tried, and failed, to appease Hitler.
Perhaps the worst-case scenario is that the Biden Administration caves, gives Putin everything he wants, and he invades anyway. It is hard to be optimistic when the National Security Advisor to President Biden is Jake Sullivan. Sullivan was a senior policy advisor to the Hillary Clinton campaign and her Deputy Chief of Staff at the State Department. The recent legal filings by John Durham seem to indicate that it was Jake Sullivan who pushed a Slate report “showing that the Trump Organization had a secret server register to Trump Tower that had been covertly communicating with Russia.”
This is a very scary situation and the least likely outcome is that the Biden Administration will handle this well.
TDM