{"id":113939,"date":"2022-04-27T16:50:44","date_gmt":"2022-04-27T20:50:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=113939"},"modified":"2022-04-27T18:45:44","modified_gmt":"2022-04-27T22:45:44","slug":"read-this-unusually-sane-and-sober-piece-on-americas-burgeoning-relationship-with-ukrainian-madman-volodymyr-zelensky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=113939","title":{"rendered":"

Read this unusually sane and sober piece on America’s burgeoning relationship with Ukrainian madman Volodymyr Zelensky.<\/b><\/h3>"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Risking Nuclear War for a\u00a0Corrupt, Increasingly Repressive Ukraine<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n
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The Biden administration needs to take several firm steps back from the abyss.<\/h3>\n

By\u00a0Ted Galen Carpenter
\nCATO Institute<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Fortunately, President Biden thus far has rejected the most risky policies that hawks are pushing in response to Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine. Despite being under intense pressure, he\u00a0continues to rule out<\/a>\u00a0proclaiming a\u00a0no\u2010\u200bfly zone, and he flatly rejects suggestions (including from\u00a0one close political ally<\/a>) that he consider sending U.S. troops to Ukraine. However, even the policies the administration has embraced entail an unacceptable risk of entangling the United States in a\u00a0military confrontation with a\u00a0nuclear\u2010\u200barmed power. The United States and some NATO allies are pouring\u00a0increasingly sophisticated weapons<\/a>\u00a0into Ukraine to bolster that country\u2019s resistance to the invasion. Russia recently\u00a0reiterated its warning<\/a>\u00a0that such shipments are legitimate military targets. In addition to lavishing arms on Ukraine, Washington is sharing\u00a0key military intelligence<\/a>\u00a0with Kyiv. The United States is skirting very close to becoming an outright belligerent in an extremely dangerous war.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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It would be imprudent for US leaders to put America at such risk even if Ukraine were the most splendid, pristine democracy in history. It is utterly irresponsible to do so for an appalling corrupt and increasingly authoritarian country. Yet that is an accurate characterization of today\u2019s Ukraine.<\/p>\n

The twin problems of corruption and repression were evident well before Russia launched its invasion. Ukraine has\u00a0long been<\/a>\u00a0one of the\u00a0more corrupt countries<\/a>\u00a0in the international system, and that situation did not improve appreciably after the so\u2010\u200bcalled Orange Revolution put pro\u2010\u200bWestern Viktor Yushchenko in the presidency in January 2005. Corruption charges continuously plagued Yushchenko\u2019s presidency. The optics were not improved by his\u00a019\u2010\u200byear\u2010\u200bold son\u2019s ostentatious lifestyle<\/a>, including tooling around the streets of Kyiv in a\u00a0new BMW sports car worth $120,000. Media accounts proliferated about the apparent financial improprieties involving the president and his family.<\/p>\n

A similar process occurred after the so\u2010\u200bcalled Maidan revolution in 2014, when U.S.-backed demonstrators overthrew Ukraine\u2019s elected, pro\u2010\u200bRussia president, Viktor Yanukovich. The new president who emerged from that turmoil, oligarch Petro Poroshenko, was at least as corrupt as any of his predecessors. Indeed, public frustration at the pervasive financial sleaze in his government was\u00a0a\u00a0prominent reason<\/a>\u00a0for the victory of maverick comedian Volodymyr Zelensky in Ukraine\u2019s 2019 presidential election.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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