Friday, July 13, 2018

America is Not the Problem in Ukraine

People need to calm down:

Some comments Trump made on the presidential election campaign trail in 2016 made Ukrainians nervous about a Trump presidency, but such worries have proved premature.

Kiev has continued to enjoy strong bilateral support from the United States, and sanctions imposed against Russia after the Crimea annexation have been strengthened, not, as some feared, lifted.

In Kurt Volker, Washington appointed a hawkish special envoy to the Ukraine conflict after Trump's election victory, and went as far as providing military aid to Ukraine, a step Trump's predecessor Barack Obama had shied away from taking. [emphasis added]

The article notes all the ways that Trump has been more supportive than Obama in reaction to Russia's 2014 (and ongoing) invasion of Ukraine, but that evidence is only sufficient for the writer (no doubt reflecting widespread liberal sentiment) that fears Trump might throw Ukraine under the bus are simply "premature." Not evidence of being "wrong"--just premature.

If Trump should do something like that--and his "unpredictability" that makes "some" worry has been in rhetoric, basically--I would surely blog to high Heaven in opposition.

I don't think we need to worry. And again, I welcome liberals to my side of the debate on Russia.