If President Barack Obama was to star in a cowboy movie, he would get neither the role of the cowboy, nor the villain. He would be the barman who gives clever advice at peaceful times, and in times of turbulence hides the booze under the counter. He is a good guy, but not the fighting sort.
When asked recently by Thomas Friedman of the New York Times, what happens if President Vladimir Putin rolls his troops into Ukraine, the American leader responded that there will be new sanctions, but it will be “much more difficult” to then fix the relationship between the Russia and the West.
In that case, the president said, “trying to find our way back to a cooperative functioning relationship with Russia during the remainder of my term will be much more difficult.”
Yes, it’s awfully nice that the killer, Putin, who murders Ukrainians, will then suffer financially.
But is this it? Is this supposed to be leadership? What happened to America’s values?
When faced with a Hamlet-style question, “whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles,” Obama chooses the third, compromise-style formula: do no stupid shit.
It may seem wise to some people in the US, but in reality it’s a trap. It’s an enticing justification of inaction and indifference, and I cannot shake off the feeling that on its way from the 1990s into 2010s the U.S. has lost something important – faith.
When a Ukrainian soldier goes to die in Donbas, he is not just fulfilling his duty to defend his motherland. He believes in freedom.
The Russian fanatic Igor Bezler, better known by his nom de guerre “Bes” (Demon), also believes that freedom is a myth, a bait to destroy the Great Russia. Just like the Bible says, the demons also believe.
But I no longer understand what America believes in. The America that no longer fights for freedom is not an America that believes in freedom. Where did this come from?
Some time ago, Obama said that Ernest Hemingway’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls” is one of his favorite books. How do we get him to re-read it? Ask not for whom the bell tolled, the bell tolls for thee. Believing that the horrible summer of 2014 is just a global hiccup is for the deaf and the blind. It’s like believing that if you live on the fifth floor, the fire on the first floor does not concern you.
When talking to journalists in April, Obama called on them to think about what they expected him to do about Putin. Really, would it be wise to start World War III over Ukraine? Or send American soldiers to yet another global hot spot to fight? And surely nobody expects the same security guarantees applied to Ukraine that are applied to NATO members? As I understand, there was no mention of the Budapest Memorandum assurances.
Editor’s note: the Budapest Memorandum, signed in 1994, provided security and territorial integrity assurances to Ukraine by Russia, the U.S. and United Kingdom in exchange for Ukraine’s pledge to give up its nuclear arsenal.
But if you set aside the moral issues and the cynical betrayal Ukraine received in exchange for giving up its nuclear weapons, Obama’s question is legitimate. What exactly is needed from the U.S.?
Firstly, American needs to stop radiating helplessness in the face of aggression. If Ukraine, even in its weak state, finds strength to stand up to the hatred of a nuclear state, why can’t America find courage?
Sanctions are a great thing, but if the American eyes are filled with fear and if the U.S. keeps reminding the world that it won’t go further than sanctions, it undermines their effectiveness.
Secondly, you have to stop living the illusion that irrational Russian hatred to America will lessen with inaction, negotiations or something of the kind. No gestures of goodwill will help at this point, regardless of how hard America tries. Putin and the majority of Russians will continue to fill the gaps in their logic by blaming what they say is America’s ill will.
Thirdly, there is a need to realize that sanctions and pressure will only happen at the first stage – but they are still needed simply because there is no alternative. Evil needs to be stood up to not because it will give up, but because it’s evil.
Fourthly, another thing that needs to be realized is that Ukraine is a special country for the U.S. It’s not just looking for a counter-balance. And it’s certainly not looking for someone to defend it on its behalf. Ukraine is a nation, which in a very cynical and bad time consciously chose democracy and freedom. It’s a nation which is ready to fight and die for freedom.
This is not a situation when we happen to temporarily be in the same boat. This is sharing of ideals and historical choices. This makes Ukraine a natural ally of the U.S. Unless, of course, Ukraine is strangled by an enemy of the U.S.
So, America needs a new strategy. It needs a strategy of more active restraint of the aggressor. Russia is destroying Ukrainian border guards with gunfire, supplying the so-called “rebels” with the newest weapons and allows for open recruiting of so-called “volunteers” to wage war against Ukraine. America, on the other hand, supplies us with ready-made food and blankets.
But NATO’s stockpiles are overflowing with weapons that could decide the destiny of this war, or at least help Ukraine to lessen its military losses. But where is it? And why are there no American forces somewhere close to Ukraine, for example in Poland, where they would demonstrate that there is a friend who cares, is not weak and will not allow this beating to continue?
What you are ready to fight for defines where you really place your trust. And where you place your trust defines who you really are. America has to start believing in Ukraine, because in this region Ukraine is for America what Israel is in the Arabic world and what Turkey is in the Islamic world. And it deserves its utmost attention and support.
Olexander Scherba is an ambassador-at-large at Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.
