by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright February 18, 2015
All Rights Reserved.

             Telegraphing that the White House won’t be drawn into a proxy war with Russia in the Ukraine, 49-year-old Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko won’t be getting defensive or offensive weapons from the U.S. anytime soon.  Afraid of a proxy war with Russia, the White House heeded calls from the European Union that supplying arms to Ukraine would throw gasoline onto a raging civil war.  Inking a ceasefire deal in Minsk, Belarus Feb. 12, Poroshenko agreed to cede Southeastern Ukraine or what’s known as the Donbass region to the Kremlin.  Under pressure from German Chancellor Angel Merkel, French President Francois Hollande, Poroshenko gave Russian President Vladimir Putin everything he wanted, essentially handing Moscow its land bridge to Crimea.  Merkel and Hollande took the easy way out to stop the Ukraine civil war from spreading to Europe.

             Worried about another Greek debt crisis and ongoing recession in the EU, Merkel and Hollande let Putin call the shots.  All the tough talk of sanctions by Merkel against the Kremlin melted away, acquiescing to the Kremlin.  Merkel stated publicly that no matter what weapons Ukraine gets from the U.S. or elsewhere, it’s no match for Putin’s superior land army.  Merkel knows that the debate in the U.S. over Ukraine’s sovereignty rages on in Capitol Hill where hawks, led by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), chairman of the Armed Services Committee, believe its dangerous letting Putin go unchecked.  Unlike the U.S., Germany has a complex history with Russia, where Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich was responsible for some 20 million deaths in WWII and around $3-4 trillion in property damage.  Backing Russian-controlled peace talks with Ukraine, the EU wants to avoid conflict with Putin.

             Since the end of WWII Sept. 2, 1945, the U.S. was busy rebuilding Europe through the Marshall Plan and containing Soviet expansion, explained away by the Kremlin as a defensive strategy to prevent another war in Europe.  Unlike the U.S., modern-day Germans like Merkel bear the responsibility for Nazi atrocities perpetrated on the Soviet Union and other countries.  While the U.S. operates from its Cold War paradigm of containing Russian expansion, Germany comes from a different perspective, one of appeasement and passive resignation.  Heeding calls from German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier to not arm Ukraine, the White House showed big rift with conservative on Capitol Hill led by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), chairman of the Armed Services Committee.  McCain and other Capitol Hill hawks don’t want Ukraine to accept Putin’s land grab.

             Obama created an uproar in Europe announcing Feb. 5 he was considering arming Ukraine with so-called defensive weapons.  When the EU flinched and the White House realized its was going it alone, Obama did an about-face.  “Our belief here in the administration, and I would be surprised if others disagree, is that getting into a proxy war with Russia is not anything that’s in the interest of Ukraine or in the interest of the international community,” said State Department spokeswoman Jill Paski.  Paski knows that conservatives on Capitol Hill completely disagree with the White House appeasement strategy.  Showing Obama’s inchoherent foreign policy, it backs Ukraine but sides with the Feb. 12 Minsk agreement that gives Southeastern Ukraine to the Kremlin.  “And certainly, as we weigh our options, we weigh that as one of the “factors,” said Paski about avoiding a proxy war with Russia.

             Handing over Southeastern Ukraine to rebel Donetsk and Luhansk military chief chief Alexander Zakharchenko is the equivalent to ceding the region to the Kremlin.  “As long as there is a signed deal to which the parts still refer as something that needs to be implemented, I will not say there’s a failure,” said EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini in Lisbon.  Mogherini’s on the same page as Merkel and Hollande, tossing Poroshenko under the buss.  After losing Crimea March 1, 2014, EU officials expect Poroshenko to give up another 50% of Ukraine’s sovereign territory.  Signing the Minsk agreement requires Poroshenko to implement immediate Constitutional reforms to hand Southeastern Ukraine to Zakharchenko.  Despite the ceasefire, Russian-backed rebels battle for the strataegic railway hub of Debaltseve, where Putin can complete his land bridge and supply lines to Crimea.

             White House officials have signed onto the EU’s capitulation to Moscow, handing pro-Russian separatists Southeastern Ukraine.  Poroshenko only reluctantly signed on to battle for a news day, hoping, against all odds, that he’ll be rescued by the anti-Communist U.S. government.  Merkel, Hollande and Putin conspired to turnover more sovereign land to Moscow in exchange for peace.  Reversing course on considering arming Ukaine, Obama no longer backs Ukraine’s old sovereign borders.  After winning the battle for Kiev Feb. 22, 2014 against Russian-backed Viktor Yanukovich, Ukraine lost the war against Moscow.  No one in the EU or the White House has the stomach to escalate the conflict into a proxy war with Russia.  EU and White House officials now agree with Putin’s new Ukrainian map, ceding Southeastern Ukraine to Zakharchenko’s pro-Russian separatists loyal to the Kremlin.

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