Playing chicken Kiev
Insurgents, including perhaps Russian soldiers, in Donetsk, in contested eastern Ukraine.
Congressional Republicans, some Democrats, and the military-industrial complex want us to go deep in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia. Arm Ukraine. Send troops to nearby NATO countries. Even puts boots on the ground in Ukraine itself.
Or go deeper. Some believe Washington and the CIA played a significant role in destabilizing and ultimately ousting the elected president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych. But this overlooks Yanukovych's blunders and mishandling of both foreign relations and brutality against demonstrators. If he was corrupt, welcome to Ukraine.
Contrary to the dSi narrative, Russia actually does have vital national interests at stake. Ukraine was for centuries a province of the Russian empire and then a "republic" in the USSR. Even when things were cozy between Washington and Moscow in the 1990s, Russian President Boris Yeltsin declared Ukraine part of his country's "near abroad."
The United States has no — no — vital national interests in Ukraine.
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