{"id":3048,"date":"2022-03-30T06:55:45","date_gmt":"2022-03-30T06:55:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/linksus.net\/in-ukraine-a-ray-of-hope-thehill-the-hill\/"},"modified":"2022-03-30T06:55:45","modified_gmt":"2022-03-30T06:55:45","slug":"in-ukraine-a-ray-of-hope-thehill-the-hill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/2022\/03\/30\/in-ukraine-a-ray-of-hope-thehill-the-hill\/","title":{"rendered":"In Ukraine, a ray of hope | TheHill – The Hill"},"content":{"rendered":"

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It has been more than a month since Russia invaded Ukraine. In that time, the Ukrainian people have stunned the world with their courage, resilience and determination to defend their homes at all costs. The Qur\u2019an\u00a0tells<\/a>\u00a0us that \u201cGod is with those who are patient in adversity\u201d; for the Ukrainians\u2019 sake, let us pray that it is so.\u00a0\u00a0
Putin, as is his habit, has cloaked his war aims in a fog of half-truths, misinformation and outright lies. \u201cIn the foreseeable future,\u201d Putin\u00a0argued<\/a>, \u201cit was possible that the pro-Nazi regime in Kyiv could have got its hands on weapons of mass destruction, and its target, of course, would have been Russia.\u201d Such risible claims have, fortunately, found little purchase outside Russia\u2019s sphere of influence.\u00a0\u00a0
Some continue to indulge in a milder version of the Kremlin\u2019s narrative, however. So-called \u201crealists\u201d have\u00a0claimed<\/a>, \u201cIf there were no NATO expansion and no E.U. expansion,\u201d the current crisis could have been avoided. Less sophisticated versions of this view even seem to\u00a0imply<\/a>\u00a0that Russia invaded Ukraine in a belated reaction to NATO\u2019s expansion into Central Europe in the late 1990s.\u00a0
Yet through the fog of Putin\u2019s rhetoric, one can discern clear hints of his true objective: to revive, albeit in nucleic form, as much of the old Russian Empire as coercion and intimidation can bring into Moscow\u2019s orbit. In his now-infamous\u00a0speech<\/a>\u00a0of Feb. 23, he noted that \u201c[s]ince time immemorial, the people living in the southwest of what has historically been Russian land have called themselves Russians,\u201d and that \u201cwhat we now call Ukraine was entirely created by Russia.\u201d In other words, a Ukrainian identity separate from Russia is fiction, and the Ukrainian state has no true legitimacy.\u00a0\u00a0
This debate over Putin\u2019s true aims is not simply a matter of apportioning blame for the current crisis. On the contrary, it has concrete implications for what to do next. A Moscow that was truly seeking a buffer zone separating it from NATO could be mollified by credible assurances that Ukraine will remain outside the alliance. If, on the other hand, Putin is truly seeking an imperial restoration, built on the subjugation of Russia\u2019s near abroad, a commitment to international norms demands a response made of sterner stuff.\u00a0
On that front, there has been a welcome stream of good news.\u00a0\u00a0
The United States has led the way. The Biden administration has levied an\u00a0imposing array<\/a>\u00a0of economic sanctions on Russia and even banned imports of its oil, gas and coal. Congress has already\u00a0approved<\/a>\u00a0$1.2 billion in aid to Ukraine, and President Biden<\/a>\"\"Joe Biden<\/a>Trump says he’s uninterested in being Speaker if GOP retakes House<\/a> Biden administration boosts support for antitrust efforts <\/a> Energy & Environment \u2014 Oil companies rebuff House chairman<\/a> MORE<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> is widely expected to add a further $800 million in military assistance. To further underscore Washington\u2019s seriousness, the Pentagon has\u00a0deployed<\/a>\u00a0another 7,000 troops to Europe.\u00a0
Europe has shown surprising fortitude in confronting this new wave of aggression. Over the course of one week, Germany flipped from the weak link in NATO\u2019s\u00a0cordon sanitaire\u00a0to its linchpin. Under Angela Merkel, the German defense budget was chronically short of its NATO commitments and the country\u2019s energy market fell into deep dependence on Russian energy exports.\u00a0\u00a0
After Ukraine was invaded, Chancellor Olaf Scholz joined the American push for\u00a0sweeping<\/a>\u00a0EU sanctions on Russia and\u00a0expanded<\/a>\u00a0the defense budget by a stunning 30 percent. Sweden and Finland, which have long maintained distance from NATO, have publicly\u00a0floated<\/a>\u00a0joining the alliance. Even perennially neutral Switzerland\u00a0joined<\/a>\u00a0the sanctions regime in a clear repudiation of Russia\u2019s invasion.\u00a0\u00a0
Even China \u2014 which as recently as February\u00a0declared<\/a>\u00a0that “Friendship between the two States has no limits, there are no ‘forbidden’ areas of cooperation,” \u2014 has labored to take a more neutral tone since the invasion began. President Xi has\u00a0called<\/a>\u00a0for \u201cmaximum restraint\u201d in the conflict while stopping short of criticizing Putin, his erstwhile ally. Beijing has many reasons to hedge.\u00a0\u00a0
Indeed, the punishing onslaught of Western sanctions directed at Russia has given rise to widespread fears among Chinese firms that they will find themselves caught up in the same sanctions architecture that has decimated the Russian economy. Foreign Minister Wang Yi all but acknowledged as much in a recent press event where he\u00a0insisted<\/a>\u00a0that \u201cChina is not a party to the crisis, nor does it want the sanctions to affect China.\u201d\u00a0
All in all, even as we mourn the dead and rightfully decry the challenge to the Great Power peace that has reigned since 1945, there are many reasons to be hopeful. The West has shown itself to be far stronger, more resilient and less decadent than its would-be successors had imagined. Russia\u2019s vaunted military juggernaut has shown itself to be far hollower and less capable than most observers would have believed. And the Ukrainians themselves, far from the pliant vassals of Putin\u2019s imaginings, have sustained a doughty defense of their homeland that has not only won worldwide admiration but stopped the Russian military in its tracks.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
One of America\u2019s greatest strengths is its ability to summon into being and coordinate a coalition of like-minded allies. Perhaps never has that leadership been more crucial. In order to build a durable coalition to contain Russian aggression, Washington will have to reassure traditional allies that despite the withdrawal from Afghanistan, America is still deeply committed to their security and to the preservation of international norms. In today\u2019s Europe, that message will fall on receptive ears.\u00a0\u00a0
In the Middle East, among Washington\u2019s traditional allies, the administration will likely find tougher going. On the popular level, there is plenty of discontent with Russian imperialism in the Arab world, which ranges from its military engagement in Syria to its ever-deepening security and economic relationships with Egypt, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere.\u00a0
However, on the political level, concerns about America\u2019s commitment to key Middle Eastern allies \u2014 a perception of indifference to their national security concerns \u2014 have driven a number of Arab powers to develop their own relationships with Moscow. It has partly been cultivated as a\u00a0hedge<\/a>\u00a0against American withdrawal, and partly out of frustration with Washington\u2019s cultivation of its own regional and\u00a0domestic<\/a>\u00a0rivals. Bringing these allies into the process means giving their concerns a fair hearing, which can go a long way towards bolstering renewed America\u2019s new strategy of containment.\u00a0
In the end, for all the talk of American decline and a post-American age, eight decades after the guns fell silent on the last World War, it is still America that the world looks to for a last line of defense against would-be conquerors. Americans need only retain their faith in themselves, and extend an open hand to their many friends and allies around the world. They will find we are there, waiting for them.
Ahmed\u00a0Charai<\/span>\u00a0is a publisher of The Jerusalem Strategic Tribune. He is on the board of directors for the Atlantic Council, and an international counselor of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.\u00a0<\/em>
View the discussion thread.<\/a>
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© 1998-2022 Nexstar Media Inc. All Rights Reserved It has been more than a month since Russia invaded Ukraine. In that time, the Ukrainian people have stunned the world with their courage, resilience and determination to defend their homes at all costs. The Qur\u2019an\u00a0tells\u00a0us that \u201cGod is with those who are patient in adversity\u201d; for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":869,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3048"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/869"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3048"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3048\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}