Why did Vladimir Putin’s Russia invade Ukraine? Ukraine posed no threat to Russia, and it was smaller and poorer. The Russians and Ukrainians shared some history, ethnic background and religion.
To the extent that Russia wanted Ukrainian wheat or coal, it would have been much cheaper to buy them rather than wage war. Was there anything that the U.S. and Europeans could have done differently when socialism crashed in Central and Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union broke up in the 1989-91 period that would have likely prevented the Ukraine war?
So once again, after World War II, the victorious allies redrew the map of Europe. Poland was moved west to punish the Germans and to make Stalin happy. Ukraine, home to the largest tank battles of the war, was once again forced to be part of the Soviet Union. Soviet dictator Nikita Khrushchev “gave” the Crimean Peninsula to Ukraine in 1954 as a goodwill gesture.
When communist Central and Eastern Europe started breaking up in 1989, there was no plan from the Bush administration or the European leaders regarding what to do. Although there was active covert support for the democratic forces in the “captive nations” during the Reagan administration, the collapse of communism caught most governments by surprise.
Those of us on the ground with some experience would see particular needs and do our best to fill them. I served as co-chairman of the Bulgarian economic reform and transaction group in 1990 and, working with the Bulgarian and U.S. governments, was given an almost free hand in determining what experts and resources were needed.
After the fall of the Soviet Union, it might have been possible to also set a course for Russia, Belarus and Ukraine to become part of the EU, with full economic integration. If that had happened, which would have been a very heavy lift, there would be no use for NATO in at least its present form, and that tension would be gone.
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