You might want to read Alan J. Kuperman’s piece at The Hill. Here’s its opening:
I rarely agree with President Trump, but his latest controversial statements about Ukraine are mostly true. They only seem preposterous because western audiences have been fed a steady diet of disinformation about Ukraine for more than a decade. It is time to set the record straight on three key points that illuminate why Ukrainians and former President Joe Biden — not merely Russian President Vladimir Putin — bear significant responsibility for the outbreak and perpetuation of war in Ukraine.
The piece is copiously annotated. The three points are:
- The violence that provoked Russia’s initial incursion into Ukraine was initiated by ultra-nationalist Ukrainians.
- President Zelensky violated multiple peace deals with Russia, seeking NATO membership and support instead.
- President Biden basically gave Zelensky a blank check, “escalating and perpetuating” the fighting.
Dr. Kuperman concludes:
The basic outlines of a deal to end the fighting are obvious even if details remain to be negotiated, as Trump and Putin started doing today in a phone call. Russia will continue to occupy Crimea and other portions of the southeast, while the rest of Ukraine will not join NATO but will get security guarantees from some western countries. The sad thing is that such a plan could have been achieved at least two years ago if only President Biden had made military aid conditional on Zelensky negotiating a ceasefire.
Even more tragic, whatever peace deal emerges after the war will be worse for Ukraine than the Minsk accords that Zelensky foolishly abandoned due to his political ambitions and naïve expectation of bottomless U.S. support.
I presume that Dr. Kuperman’s piece will be dismissed as Russian propaganda. Unfortunately, whatever the truth might be it has become irrelevant. We can choose from Ukrainian propaganda or Russian propaganda.
Meh. His idea of unprovoked is not what I think it should be. For example, if people in Quebec decide to be mean to English speakers I dont think that would give the US the right to invade Canada. Even less if we had ruled Quebec in the past, killed and deported millions of Quebec citizens then replaced them with English speakers.
How do you tell who is responsible for not honoring the Minsk accords? As part of the deal Russia was supposed to remove all of its troops and large weapons. They indisputably did not. It’s also indisputable that the ceasefire was broken by both sides, so Ukraine is also guilty. Still, I dont know how you conclude Ukraine is uniquely responsible.
Also just to respond to this more clearly …”The violence that provoked Russia’s initial incursion into Ukraine was initiated by ultra-nationalist Ukrainians”
That appears to refer to the initial overthrow of Yanukovych. While he was elected in relatively free elections, he did try to stop the negotiated efforts to leave the Russian sphere and join with the EU. He made some concessions when there were demonstrations and he feared he would lose his office. It’s pretty clear that he was not representing the majority of Ukrainians and he fled largely because he knew he didnt have that support. Still, this is inter-Ukraine politics and did not justify Russia putting troops and arms into Ukraine.
Steve
Whether or not it’s Russian propaganda, his accounting is, at best, incomplete.
Kuperman is just spreading Kremlin lies.
Easy to disprove his assertions.
Shameless propaganda. He has a track record of pro-Russian opinions.
Just look at a comprehensive list of his writings. Are you paid in rubles or bitcoin, Kuperman? ((Yawn))