| | | Weekend reading:
Why the West Failed the ‘Putin Test’
A Nobel Peace Prize winner on Ukraine’s resilience
By Garry Kasparov
.....Matviichuk: When I interviewed people who survived Russian captivity, they told me that Russians see their future like this: First, we’ll occupy Ukraine. Then, together with you, we’ll go to conquer in other countries. And the process of forcible mobilization of Ukrainian citizens to Russian army, all these years, is still going on in occupied territories. We have, in occupied territories, 1,600,000 Ukrainian children. Russia introduced the forcible militarization of these 1,600,000 Ukrainian children. For example, their parents forced to give their children to so-called “sports and reeducation” camps. In these camps, Ukrainian children learn how to use weapons. They march, they use military uniforms, they line up. And third: Russians install in the mind of Ukrainian children unquestionable obedience. So they try to convince children that they have no will, that freedom does not exist for them at all. And why I emphasize on this: It’s not just problem of Ukraine, that Russia is preparing a new generation of Putin soldiers from these 1,600,000 Ukrainian children. It’s not just human-rights violations. It’s not just international crimes. It’s a real global threat—to security of people in different countries. .....
Kasparov: Now let’s move from Europe to the United States. That’s the main backer of Ukraine. Undoubtedly, America provided some crucial support for Ukraine to survive and just to resist and keep fighting successfully against Russia. Again, going back to 2014, just tell us about the view of Ukrainians of Americans’ engagement—or you may say disengagement—at certain periods over these 11 years. Let’s start with 2014, with the Obama administration’s decision to basically accept it. So what did people think about America and America’s role and its gradual change over these 11 years?
Matviichuk: It’s a good question, because I think that the main political decision is made from the short-term perspective. But this decision will have a long-term perspective.
Kasparov: Long-term consequences?
Matviichuk: Exactly. This means that, in 2014, the international community failed the Putin test. The civilized world closed their eyes to this. The sanctions were so weak. It was ridiculous.
Kasparov: It was lip service. We know. It was lip service. No measures were taken to cut the dependence of Europe from Russian oil and gas.
Matviichuk: Germany continued to build a gas pipeline with Russia. They shake Putin’s hand. They do business as usual. So they failed the test. And that is why the long-term consequences of this political decision in 2014 now is large-scale war. There is a good Russian proverb, “Appetite grows during the lunch.” So when the West failed the test in 2014, Putin decided, Okay, I can move further. In 2022, when Russia started large-scale war, the United States and other international partners, they said, Let’s help Ukraine not to fail. And we start to receive first weapons to be able to defend ourselves, and first real sanctions against Russia, finally, were introduced in force.
And we are extremely grateful, especially for ordinary people in the United.....
theatlantic.com |
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