Obama is making Ukraine into a new client of the U.S. government, as detailed in this White House fact sheet. It provides some details on U.S. security assistance or aid to Ukraine’s fight against separatists in eastern Ukraine. The existing CIA and FBI assistance is not mentioned in this report. The most serious U.S. intervention, going beyond materiel, is that of “Senior Leader Engagement”, because that’s establishing organizational links. The U.S. is engaging in a “joint venture” with Ukraine in its war; and it is also establishing links and relationships that are meant to be permanent. The U.S. officials involved are senior U.S. defense officials and, at a lower level, cooperation between the U.S. European Command and Ukrainian counterparts.
It’s impressive how readily and easily a president can get the government (and America) involved in new regions of the world and in the internal affairs of other countries, in this case a shooting war between one part of Ukraine and another. Obama has made the “judgment”, better described as a hasty and ill-considered decision, that American security depends on the territorial integrity of Ukraine’s borders as they were some months ago. Why American security is supposed to depend on this state’s borders is far from clear. Why American security is supposed to depend on any of Europe’s squabbles or Asia’s for that matter is also far from clear.
10:37 am on June 4, 2014
