Russia's War Against Ukraine
OP-ED
Vladimir Socor: Ukraine in a leaderless Europe – a net assessment (part one)
Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko (R) welcomes Sweden's Prime Minister Stefan Lovfen in Kyiv on March 11.
Russia's war against Ukraine has exposed the deepening cracks in Europe's understanding of itself as the West's core, and in its positioning vis-à-vis an openly adverse Russia. Fragmentation processes were ongoing in Europe prior to this war, both above and (with longer-term effects) below the surface of European external policies. Russia's successfully conducted war in Ukraine - as reflected in the Minsk Two "armistice" - exploits Europe's growing incoherence. Basically, Moscow and Berlin worked out Minsk Two, at heavy costs to Ukraine, while European institutions looked paralyzed. It is to a dysfunctional Europe that the Barack Obama administration has downloaded its own share of responsibility for dealing with Russia's war in Ukraine.
