JRL NEWSWATCH: “America Must Embrace the Goal of Ukrainian Victory; It’s Time to Move Past Washington’s Cautious Approach” – Foreign Affairs

May 12, 2022 JRL Russia List Headlines, JRL NewsBlog, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

“… [Previously] [t]he Ukrainians could not understand why the U.S. national security establishment continued to privilege maintaining stable relations with Russia — an irredentist and revanchist authoritarian state — over support for Ukraine, a democratic state that had made important strides in weeding out corruption and implementing democratic reforms. In the two months since Russia attacked Ukraine, the United States has thus far lived up to this ambivalent reputation. It has committed aid to Ukraine in fits and starts and has sought to avoid an escalation with Russia at the expense of more uncompromising support for Ukraine’s defense. But Washington can and should do more. The United States can shore up regional stability, global security, and the liberal international order by working to ensure a Ukrainian victory. To achieve this goal, Washington must finally abandon a failed policy that has prioritized trying to build a stable relationship with Russia. It needs to discard the desire — which seems to shape views on the National Security Council — to see Ukraine ultimately compromise with Russia for the sake of a negotiated peace. And the United States must give Ukraine the support it needs to bring this war to a close as soon as possible. …”