Editor’s Note: This feature separates Ukraine’s friends from its enemies. The Order of Yaroslav the Wise has been given since 1995 for distinguished service to the nation. It is named after the Kyivan Rus leader from 1019-1054, when the medieval empire reached its zenith. The Order of Lenin was the highest decoration bestowed by the Soviet Union, whose demise Russian President Vladimir Putin mourns. It is named after Vladimir Lenin, whose corpse still rots on the Kremlin’s Red Square, more than 100 years after the October Revolution he led.
Ukraine’s Friend of the Week: William B. Taylor
Few people come out looking like winners in the Trump-Ukraine debacle that could get the U.S. president impeached by the House and, if the Republican-controlled Senate convicts him, removed from office.
But U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine William B. Taylor is definitely one of them. After serving in Kyiv from 2006-2009, he is now the charge d’affaires in Ukraine, and Americans and Ukrainians should all rejoice and hope he stays put for a long time to come.
As text messages that form part of the House impeachment inquiry show, Taylor actively resisted U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland and ex-U.S. envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker’s concerted attempts to hold Ukraine hostage to Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign. What Sondland and Volker did was undermine U.S. policy on Ukraine by discarding values.
Taylor’s indignation is clear, while Sondland and Volker, who resigned after his role became public on Sept. 27, come across as sleazy political hacks doing the bidding of Trump in trying to get President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Democratic rival and ex-U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden. Another obsession of Trump, fed by personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani’s now-indicted fixers, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, and long-discredited former Ukrainian prosecutors Yuriy Lutsenko and Viktor Shokin, is that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election on Hillary Clinton’s behalf.
While Sondland and Volker went along with Giuliani’s game, Taylor stood firm on doing the right thing and challenging the attempt to withhold $391 million in military aid and a White House meeting between Trump and Zelensky to the president’s pursuit of dirt on his rival. Trump has been fed evil myths about Ukraine and probably still carries a grudge that his former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, is in prison for money laundering and tax evasion convictions based partly on his $12.7 million in payments from Kremlin-backed ex-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, deposed by the EuroMaidan Revolution on Feb. 22, 2014.
Here are the key exchanges from the released texts that show Taylor acted honorably while Sondland and Volker acted dishonorably in doing the bidding of their fellow Republican in the White House.
Taylor on Sept. 1: “Are we now saying that security assistance and WH meeting are conditioned on investigations?” Sondland replies: “Call me.”
On Sept. 8, Taylor threatens to quit if the security aid and White House meeting are conditioned on Zelensky doing Trump’s bidding on the Bidens.
Taylor: “The nightmare is they give the interview and don’t get the security assistance. The Russians love it. (And I quit.)”
Taylor again on Sept. 9: “The message to the Ukrainians (and Russians) we send with the decision on security assistance is key. With the hold, we have already shaken their faith in us. Thus my nightmare scenario…As I said on the phone, I think it’s crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign.”
For upholding the honor of the U.S-Ukraine relationship, Taylor is most deserving of the Yaroslav the Wise award.
Ukraine’s Foe of the Week: Jon Huntsman
Jon Huntsman left his post as U.S. ambassador to Russia on Oct. 3 questioning the value of maintaining Western economic sanctions against Russia. In other words, he wants to appease Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, who plays a destructive role around the globe – interfering in U.S. elections, undermining Western democracies, waging bloody wars against Ukrainians and Syrians, and ruling ruthlessly as his domestic critics get killed with impunity or flee in exile.
He’s a Republican who served one of Putin’s most rabid supporters, another Republican, U.S. President Donald J. Trump.
“For starters, let’s dispel any lingering illusions about President Vladimir Putin and the layers of sanctions Russia is now under,” Huntsman wrote in an op-ed published by the Wall Street Journal on Oct. 7. “The U.S., acting alone, won’t succeed in changing his behavior or that of the Russian government. Only the Russian people are capable of this. In fact, demonizing the U.S. and the West with conspiratorial claims of Russophobia-inspired sanctions is good politics for Mr. Putin. His real concerns lie elsewhere. Those concerns are China (yes, China), internal and external threats from radical Islam and Russia’s own citizens—who are increasingly expressing their frustration through well-organized and large street protests.
“It’s true that Mr. Putin runs the country with unrivaled strength. But his time will pass. We need to do less obsessing about Mr. Putin and more thinking about the institutions and generations that will outlast him,” Hunstman wrote. “Rather than cutting ourselves off from Russia, which is the inescapable effect of all these sanctions, we need to cultivate constructive relationships with those who will shape Russia’s post-Putin period. The U.S. was caught off guard by Mr. Putin’s unexpected rise to power after the collapse of the Soviet Union. We can’t afford to let that happen again. We need more, not less, dialogue with Russia…It’s easy to initiate sanctions, but it has become politically perilous to discuss removing them. By the last count, there are almost 850 Russian individuals and entities that have been designated under various sanctions authorities with little or no analysis measuring their efficacy.”
His analysis is wrong in so many ways. He thinks dialogue and easing sanctions will make Russia a more trustworthy partner who helps solve global problems and stops demonizing the West.
In reality, Putin runs a criminal mafia state bent on undermining rule of law everywhere, keeping his cronies enriched and his long-suffering people oppressed. Being nice to him isn’t going to change anything for the better, it will only embolden him to have more spineless politicians like Huntsman spouting nonsense.
The U.S. alone might not be able to change his behavior, but acting in concert with Western allies to ratchet up sanctions, just might. In any case, morality and human rights need to be cornerstones of U.S. and Western foreign policy. Putin deserves to be treated like a pariah.
His campaign to demonize the West for “Russophobia” is wearing thin among Russians who cannot elect their leaders or enjoy the standard of living they deserve if only the 20-year Putin kleptocracy was not in place.
Putin does not run the country “with unrivaled strength.” He’s a fearful, paranoid dictator – a sign of weakness. He’s destroyed any semblance of democratic institutions – parliament, courts, media – who might keep him in check.
Any dialogue with him leading to agreements from the Kremlin cannot be trusted. The Republican Party, which adopted a hardline stance that helped undermine the Soviet Union, has gone soft on dictators around the globe. It’s a shame because they are only undermining the natural desires of people in all nations for democracy and prosperity.
Huntsman, come collect your Order of Lenin award anytime.
Key documents in the impeachment inquiry of U.S. President Donald J. Trump:
Whistleblower’s complaint against Trump released on Sept. 26
Text messages released on Oct. 3 by chairmen of 3 U.S. House committees
Prepared remarks of ex-U.S. special envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker to U.S. House committees on Oct. 3
Highlights of U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden’s 6 visits to Ukraine and key policy speeches
