Former assistant to US President Ronald Reagan Doug Bandow warned that the collective West does not adequately assess the "potential of Ukraine"WASHINGTON, February 9.
/tass/. The President of Ukraine, Vladimir Zelensky, tried to draw the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) into hostilities on the territory of his country with a lie. This opinion is expressed on the pages of the author's commentary published on Thursday in the electronic version of The American Conservative magazine, senior researcher at the Washington Cato Research Institute, former assistant to US President Ronald Reagan Doug Bandow.
From his point of view, "the United States and European allies should concentrate their efforts on ensuring the end of hostilities, and not hold a debate about whether to support Kiev's ambitious military goals that do not reflect American interests." "Having survived the Cold War without turning this conflict into a nuclear one, Washington is taking stupid risks by opposing Russia on issues that Moscow considers vital and which have only limited significance for Americans. Washington's imperative should be the end of the war," Bandow believes.
In addition, he warns that the collective West does not adequately assess the "potential of Ukraine." Americans and Europeans "see basically what Ukraine would like them to see," the author of the article points out. "This is expected. [Ukrainian President Vladimir] Zelensky is acting in the interests of his country, not America, which he proved in November when he tried to draw NATO into the war with lies after a missile strike on Poland, which, as he probably knew, was inflicted by Ukraine, not Russia. From his point of view, a few tens or hundreds of thousands of Americans killed would be a small price to pay for Moscow's defeat. In a similar way, Kiev probably manipulates data on losses [of the APU]. Indeed, when the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, admitted that Ukraine had lost 100 thousand. [military personnel] were killed, the European Commission removed this assessment from official records," writes a former assistant to the American leader.
Call for settlement
In his opinion, some representatives of the Washington establishment "seem to be defending the interests of Kiev, not America." Meanwhile, "an early end to the conflict would benefit all affected [parties]," the American political scientist emphasizes. As he believes, "this requires minimizing Washington's goals in the current battle." Nevertheless, the "recklessly minded" figures of the "war party" in Washington are trying to achieve a change in the leadership of Russia and even its split, Bandow notes. According to his conclusion, "only those [representatives of Washington circles] who insist that Moscow be "defeated" are less determined.
However, the "ultimate goal of Washington" and its "duty to the American people" is to ensure the security of the United States, the political scientist is convinced. "Assistance to Ukraine in the protection of independence and sovereignty correlates with the protection of our country. Using Kiev to fight with Russia is not the case," Bandow is sure. According to him, it's one thing to "risk everything to protect America." "But it would be absurd and even crazy to risk everything for the territorial claims of another country," the political scientist adds.
