Some Facts About the Ukraine “Crisis” by Phil Anderson

Some Facts About the Ukraine “Crisis”

Phil Anderson

 

There is much Americans need to know about the conflict in Ukraine but are not being told. The public gets the biased propaganda intended to justify the desired Washington establishment agenda. There is certainly no “fair and balanced” information coming from the corporate media.

 

To begin with the United States has no “vital national interests” in Ukraine. If Ukraine disappeared tomorrow, it would have zero impact on the vast majority of Americans.  A couple of facts make this abundantly clear:

  • There are only about 1 million, or 0.3% of our population, who are of Ukrainian descent
  • In 2019 total imports from, and exports to, Ukraine represented only 0.1% of our total imports and exports.
  • The few billion dollars in trade include no rare products or anything vital to our economy that are not available from other sources.
  • We have no significant historical, cultural, political, or economic ties with Ukraine.

Getting into another no-win war 5700 miles from home will accomplish nothing but kill people – mostly Ukrainians.

 

What will impact Americans is the costs of a war on our troops, our economy, the national debt, and our standing in the world. The costs will be high even if U.S. troops are not directly involved. The cost of war is always more than predicted. We have already wasted over $2 billion in military aid. The risk of a war escalating into a regional or possibly global nuclear conflict endangers all of us. Reviving the Cold War tensions with Russia will reduce global security and have diplomatic and financial costs for decades into the future.

 

A look at history shows a fully independent Ukraine has only existed since 1991. Ukraine has been associated with or part of Russia for many hundreds of years. The two countries are genetically, culturally, linguistically, religiously and historically connected. This does not justify Russia’s current actions, but it does put the situation into perspective.

 

The geographic area of Ukraine shares a long, colorful history with the people of Eastern Europe. The Vikings were part of the genetic mix and were involved in the development of both early Russia and what is now Ukraine. Kiev was once the center of a loosely organized medieval federation of principalities including modern Belarus, Lithuania, Poland, and part of Russia. The Kiev principality became a suzerainty of Muscovy (Moscow) in 1654. Crimea was annexed by Russia in 1783 (the same year we official became independent from England). The area of Ukraine became part of the Czarist Russian empire in the 19th century. Ukraine participated in the two Russian revolutions and civil war of 1917-1923, becoming the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1924. When the Soviet Union fell apart, Ukraine became an independent country.

 

In modern times Ukraine has been economically tied to the former Soviet Union. Ukraine was a major mining, steel producing, manufacturing and agricultural region of the Soviet Union. Today Russia is still Ukraine’s most important trading partner. The population is 73% Ukrainian and 17% Russian. Ukraine does have economic ties to other European countries and these relationships do not depend on NATO membership.

 

Today Ukraine is the poorest nation in Europe. Beginning with the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine has experienced 30 years of political and economic instability including two coups and a civil war. Ukraine has the third largest military in Europe (behind Russia and France) and this militarism is a major factor in Ukraine’s economic woes.

 

The ongoing civil war in Ukraine will not be solved by the U.S. pumping weapons and money into the conflict. Expanding NATO to include Ukraine (not just on Russia’s doorstep but a former part of the Soviet Union) is dangerously provocative and can only intensify the tensions.

 

Editor’s note: We always welcome different viewpoints in hopes that you can form your own.