Ukraine's most urgent defense need is to reduce their corruption.
I have to say, I agree with Biden and the CSM's editorial board:
Mr. Biden says he wants to put Ukrainians “in a position to maintain their physical security” by increasing military assistance to the country. But beyond that, the U.S. commitment is vague.
Mr. Biden is far less ambiguous about what Ukrainians must do. “The fact is they still have to clean up corruption,” he says. For NATO to protect a member’s democracy by force, the integrity of that democracy must be worth defending.
Military aid is important. And I'm glad Biden is committed to that. We don't want Russia's borders adjacent to NATO states more than they are already. Ukraine is a major bulwark against Russian expansion.
But cleaning up corruption is vital to enabling Ukraine to defeat Russia:
Only by becoming more like the West can Ukraine build the economic and military power to remain a free country, just as a free West built on rule of law defeated the USSR.
Remember, Russia is fine with a corrupt Ukraine. It allowed Russia to weaken and dominate Ukraine's government before 2014, and it will allow Russia to buy influence and control in Ukraine once again.
Stalemate, even tilted toward Ukraine as I noted in this post, in the Donbas won't matter if the real fight for Ukraine takes place in the secret bank accounts of Ukrainian officials and business people.
NATO confirms that NATO membership requires more than accepting NATO military support:
“Ukraine is an aspirant country,” [NATO Secretary General] Stoltenberg told the Washington-based Defense Writers Group on Tuesday. “We provide support to them, especially to continue to modernize and refine their defense and security institutions, civilian-political control over their security services, and not least fighting corruption.”
He added: “We have different building-integrity programs, which are very much about how to fight corruption as part of the reforms ... which Ukraine has already embarked on, but we need more. We need to do more with them to make sure they are fully implemented.”
The Russian-Ukraine War isn't "frozen" just because the low-level fighting in the stalemated Donbas region is portrayed that way. As the Christian Science Monitor's editorial board concludes:
In the strategic struggle between the U.S. and Russia, Ukraine’s local reformers may help determine the outcome. Their expectation of honesty in governance could be the strongest defense against Russian aggression.
The real war is being fought in the bank accounts of Ukrainians as Russia promotes the corruption that keeps Ukraine weak. America must promote rule of law in Ukraine and help those Ukrainian reformers who share our objectives.
