Is the Ukraine story really somehow about U.S. politics?

benfell

See updates through February 4, 2022, at end of post.

To say that U.S. intelligence agencies are not especially trustworthy understates the matter considerably. And the news on Ukraine that has lately managed to survive my bullshit filter all originates with those agencies. First, there was the possible false flag operation to justify an invasion reported about a week ago.[1] Now the U.S. is claiming that Russia is recruiting former government officials to give Ukraine a Russian government with a Ukrainian face, to be backed by Russian occupying forces, and has imposed sanctions on those former officials.[2] Both of these allegations seem entirely plausible to me. And I certainly am concerned for Ukraine.[3] But I am deeply unhappy with the sourcing and there is the possibility of a personal vendetta:

[Oleh] Voloshyn said he suspected he was being punished for calling – unsuccessfully – for a parliamentary investigation into [Joe] Biden’s son, Hunter, and his work in Ukraine.[4]

Donald Trump’s failed quest for a Ukrainian investigation of Hunter Biden was the topic of Trump’s first impeachment.[5] And of course, Trump and Vladimir Putin get on famously[6] in a relationship undoubtedly lubricated by Russian financing for Trump’s projects,[7] which itself draws in the question of Trump’s money,[8] details of which he has been fighting tooth and nail to keep secret.[9]

But Hunter Biden had a curious job with a Ukrainian firm that looked a lot more like something meant to influence a powerful politician who happens now to be president of the United States than something he had any particular expertise for or that he would actually need to work at.[10] Which is why I derided that impeachment as “[t]he stupidest impeachment ever, historically notable first for all the offenses it failed to charge Donald Trump with,[11] second for its utterly predictable futility, and third for its transparent (and apparently failed) attempt to protect Joe Biden.[12]”[13]

This is a story that should be about Ukraine facing a possible takeover, whether military or otherwise, a threat it has faced now for several years, from a powerful neighbor that does not even recognize its sovereignty and in fact already occupies some Ukrainian territory.[14] And, to be fair, my line of inquiry here is based on the reaction of a single sanctioned Ukrainian politician.[15] But the connections are real and far from insignificant; this story, propelled in some part by U.S. intelligence agencies, is starting to look very uncomfortably like a story about U.S. politics.

Update, January 23, 2022: This from the the politician, Yevhen Murayev, whom Russia would allegedly install as Ukraine’s leader in some form of coup:[16]

As someone who has been under Russian sanctions for four years, barred from Russia as a national security threat and whose father got his assets frozen in Russia, I find it hard to comment on the [U.K.] Foreign Office’s statement.[17]

But apparently Murayev has a “pro-Russian” television station. He also said, “The time of pro-Western and pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine is gone forever.”[18]

I’m pretty sure we’re being inundated with shit here. I’m not sure how much from whom, but possibly the combined content of London, Moscow, and Kyiv sewage treatment facilities. Okay, add Washington, D.C.: “U.S. officials said they have no reason to doubt the British intelligence.”[19] That’s a lot of sewage.

Update, February 4, 2022: I think my reading of that (to me) somewhat mysterious Ukrainian government claim that a Russian invasion is not imminent is that, yes, they are attempting to protect their economy,[20] but also that undermining that economy would solve one of Vladimir Putin’s problems for him.[21]

The Kremlin’s plans include undermining the situation inside Ukraine, fomenting hysteria and fear among Ukrainians, and the authorities in Kyiv find it increasingly difficult to contain this snowball.[22]

One of the red herrings I chased in researching my dissertation was a notion, which I was never able to validate, that war, prior to the French Revolution (pro tip: whenever you hear a conservative yammering about the French Revolution, you can be pretty close to certain s/he is a traditionalist conservative), was somehow more “civil,” confined to battlefields, but since has expanded to civilian areas (“total war”) on an understanding, which does seem to be current, that a country’s economic system supports its military. Undermine the economy and you undermine its military.[23]

Ukraine thus needs to keep domestic confidence high and the propaganda war between Russia and the West[24] is not helpful. The U.S., at least, is continuing that effort nonetheless.[25]

The bullshit is deep here, likely in part due to U.S. domestic politics,[26] and that’s precisely the sort of thing I instinctively disengage from. But it’s almost certainly not all bullshit. And this is a case where the bullshit can actually be important. I gotta tell you, I’m not good at this.

So I was thinking, gee, it’d be awfully good to hear from Julia Ioffe about now. She begins with the ongoing question of whether Russia will invade:

Personally, I find this feeling of stasis, one that is somehow also chaotic and tense, to be deeply strange and more than a little unnerving, especially when I go on cable news to comment on the situation and, after dramatic music and terrifying graphics, the camera cuts to me and I have to say, “We still don’t know.”[27]

She points to something I’ve also noticed that the Russians, backing away from threats, now accuse the West of hysteria:

A month ago, the talk coming from Moscow was all about Putin’s red lines; NATO’s aggressive expansion; Putin’s warning of a “military-technical solution” if his demands weren’t met; and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov backing him up with the threat of “a nightmare scenario of military confrontation” in Europe. Now, however, the emphasis has shifted to NATO’s arming of Ukraine, which, the Russians claim, is deploying more and more troops closer to the occupied regions of the Donbas in an attempt to entrap Russia in a military confrontation they are keen to avoid. [28]

And there’s more. Her article is enormously worthwhile. She’s flagging more bullshit than I can shake a stick at.[29]

  1. [1]Natasha Bertrand and Jeremy Herb, “US intelligence indicates Russia preparing operation to justify invasion of Ukraine,” CNN, January 14, 2022, https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/14/politics/us-intelligence-russia-false-flag/index.html↩
  2. [2]Julian Borger, Luke Harding, and Andrew Roth, “US accuses Russia of conspiring to take over Ukraine government,” Guardian, January 20, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/20/us-russia-ukraine-government-sanctions↩
  3. [3]David Benfell, “Poor Ukraine, so far from God and so close to Russia,” Not Housebroken, January 1, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/01/01/poor-ukraine-so-far-from-god-and-so-close-to-russia/↩
  4. [4]Julian Borger, Luke Harding, and Andrew Roth, “US accuses Russia of conspiring to take over Ukraine government,” Guardian, January 20, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/20/us-russia-ukraine-government-sanctions↩
  5. [5]Philip Bump, “Trump is making it very clear how seriously he objects to official corruption,” Washington Post, February 18, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/02/18/trump-is-making-it-very-clear-how-seriously-he-objects-official-corruption/; Susan B. Glasser, “Alan Dershowitz for the Defense: L’État, C’est Trump,” New Yorker, January 30, 2020, https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-trumps-washington/alan-dershowitz-for-the-defense-letat-cest-trump; Peter Nicholas, “Trump’s Dark Assumption About America,” Atlantic, October 30, 2019, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/10/trump-impeachment-2020/601048/; Adam Serwer, “The First Days of the Trump Regime,” Atlantic, February 19, 2020, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/02/trump-regime/606682/↩
  6. [6]Julia Ioffe, “Putin’s Post-Trump Tantrum,” Puck News, December 17, 2021, https://puck.news/putins-post-trump-tantrum/; Julia Ioffe, “Trump’s Former Russia Guru Explains His Putin Complex,” Puck News, January 21, 2022, https://puck.news/fiona-hill-explains-his-putin-complex/↩
  7. [7]Michael Hirsh, “How Russian Money Helped Save Trump’s Business,” Foreign Policy, December 21, 2018, https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/12/21/how-russian-money-helped-save-trumps-business/; Craig Unger, “Trump’s businesses are full of dirty Russian money. The scandal is that it’s legal,” Washington Post, March 29, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/trumps-businesses-are-full-of-dirty-russian-money-the-scandal-is-thats-legal/2019/03/29/11b812da-5171-11e9-88a1-ed346f0ec94f_story.html; Craig Unger, “Trump’s Russian Laundromat,” New Republic, July 13, 2017, https://newrepublic.com/article/143586/trumps-russian-laundromat-trump-tower-luxury-high-rises-dirty-money-international-crime-syndicate↩
  8. [8]Aaron Blake, “4 takeaways from the Trump Organization and Allen Weisselberg indictments,” Washington Post, July 1, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/07/01/3-takeaways-trump-organization-allen-weisselberg-indictments/; Russ Buettner, Susanne Craig, and Mike McIntire, “Trump’s Taxes Show Chronic Losses and Years of Income Tax Avoidance,” New York Times, September 27, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/09/27/us/donald-trump-taxes.html; William D. Cohan, “The Case for Not Prosecuting Donald J. Trump,” Puck News, October 13, 2021, https://puck.news/the-case-for-not-prosecuting-donald-j-trump/; Matt Ford, “The Empire State Strikes Back,” New Republic, July 1, 2021, https://newrepublic.com/article/162890/allen-weisselberg-indicted-trump-organization-tax-fraud; Daniel Hemel, “The Trump Organization Is in Big Trouble,” Atlantic, July 2, 2021, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/07/trump-organization-indictment-tax-fraud-trouble/619353/; Shayna Jacobs et al., “Trump Organization and CFO Allen Weisselberg arraigned on multiple criminal charges as prosecutors alleged a 15-year tax fraud scheme,” Washington Post, July 1, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-business-weisselberg-indictments/2021/07/01/e2b774a0-da15-11eb-bb9e-70fda8c37057_story.html; Bess Levin, “G.O.P. Voters Think Losing $1 Billion Makes Someone (Trump) a Good Businessman,” Vanity Fair, May 15, 2019, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/05/republicans-still-think-trump-was-a-successful-businessman; Bess Levin, “Report: Prosecutors Have Obtained Damning Information Allegedly Implicating Trump In His Company’s Crimes,” Vanity Fair, July 19, 2021, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/07/jennifer-weisselberg-donald-trump-prosecutors; Arwa Mahdawi, “The Trump kids look likely to turn on their dad – and I suspect Ivanka will go first,” Guardian, July 6, 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jul/06/the-trump-kids-look-likely-to-turn-on-their-dad-and-i-suspect-ivanka-will-go-first; Erica Orden, Kara Scannell and Sonia Moghe, “Manhattan grand jury indicts Trump Organization and CFO Allen Weisselberg, sources say,” CNN, June 30, 2021, https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/30/politics/trump-organization-charges/index.html; Corinne Ramey, “Trump Organization and CFO Allen Weisselberg Expected to Be Charged Thursday,” Wall Street Journal, June 30, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-organization-and-cfo-allen-weisselberg-expected-to-be-charged-thursday-11625060765; Corinne Ramey, “New York Attorney General Says Evidence Suggests Trump, Company Falsely Valued Assets,” Wall Street Journal, January 19, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/new-york-attorney-general-evidence-suggests-trump-and-company-falsely-valued-assets-11642573790; Dominic Rushe, “Trump Organization and financial chief charged in a tax-related investigation,” Guardian, June 30, 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jun/30/trump-organization-allen-weisselberg-charged-tax-crimes; Walter Shapiro, “The Worst Businessman in America,” New Republic, May 8, 2019, https://newrepublic.com/article/153855/trump-tax-returns-worst-businessman-america↩
  9. [9]David A. Fahrenthold, Rachael Bade, and John Wagner, “Trump sues in bid to block congressional subpoena of financial records,” Washington Post, April 22, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-sues-in-bid-to-block-congressional-subpoena-of-financial-records/2019/04/22/a98de3d0-6500-11e9-82ba-fcfeff232e8f_story.html; Brian Faler, “Treasury misses congressional deadline for turning over Trump’s tax returns,” Politico, April 10, 2019, https://www.politico.com/story/2019/04/10/trump-tax-returns-congress-1342027; Spencer S. Hsu, “Judge denies Trump bid to quash House subpoena for years of financial records,” Washington Post, May 20, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/us-judge-denies-trump-bid-to-quash-house-subpoena-for-years-of-financial-records/2019/05/20/74e45880-7b21-11e9-8bb7-0fc796cf2ec0_story.html; Ann E. Marimow, “Congress can seek 8 years of Trump’s tax records, court order indicates,” Washington Post, November 13, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/congress-can-seek-eight-years-of-trumps-tax-records-appeals-court-rules/2019/11/13/b4fc8002-fc07-11e9-8906-ab6b60de9124_story.html; Ann E. Marimow, Spencer S. Hsu, and David A. Fahrenthold, “Appeals court rules against Trump in fight with Congress over president’s accounting firm records,” Washington Post, October 11, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/appeals-court-rules-against-trump-in-fight-with-congress-over-presidents-accounting-firm-records/2019/10/11/42933894-b9ea-11e9-b3b4-2bb69e8c4e39_story.html; Katelyn Polantz and Tierney Sneed, “House Democrats can get some of Trump’s tax records from accounting firm Mazars USA, judge rules,” CNN, August 11, 2021, https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/11/politics/trump-taxes-mazars-house-democrats/index.html; Aruna Viswanatha and Sadie Gurman, “Justice Department Advises Treasury to Release Trump Tax Returns,” Wall Street Journal, July 30, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/justice-department-says-treasury-must-release-trump-tax-returns-11627667462↩
  10. [10]Kate Aronoff, “We need to talk about Hunter Biden,” Guardian, October 5, 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/oct/05/we-need-to-talk-about-hunter-biden; Adam Entous, “Will Hunter Biden Jeopardize His Father’s Campaign?” New Yorker, July 1, 2019, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/07/08/will-hunter-biden-jeopardize-his-fathers-campaign; Colby Itkowitz and Matt Viser, “Biden says his son’s foreign jobs ‘may have looked bad’ but weren’t wrong,” Washington Post, December 5, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/biden-says-his-sons-foreign-jobs-may-have-looked-bad-but-werent-wrong/2019/12/05/01731a76-17c0-11ea-a659-7d69641c6ff7_story.html; David Von Drehle, “The Hunter Biden story is a troubling tale of privilege,” Washington Post, October 4, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-hunter-biden-story-is-a-troubling-tale-of-privilege/2019/10/04/8ad20988-e46e-11e9-b403-f738899982d2_story.html↩
  11. [11]David Benfell, “The whiteness of impeachment,” Not Housebroken, December 15, 2019, https://disunitedstates.org/2019/12/15/the-whiteness-of-impeachment/; see also Democracy Now, “Law Professor: Trump Could Also Have Been Impeached for War Crimes, Assassinations and Corruption,” January 24, 2020, https://www.democracynow.org/2020/1/24/donald_trump_senate_impeachment_trial↩
  12. [12]David Benfell, “It’s still a smoke-filled room,” Not Housebroken, December 6, 2019, https://disunitedstates.org/2019/12/06/its-still-a-smoke-filled-room/; David Benfell, “How the neoliberal (usually known as Democratic) party may well lose in 2020,” Not Housebroken, December 7, 2019, https://disunitedstates.org/2019/12/07/how-the-neoliberal-usually-known-as-democratic-party-may-well-lose-in-2020/; David Benfell, “The whiteness of impeachment,” Not Housebroken, December 15, 2019, https://disunitedstates.org/2019/12/15/the-whiteness-of-impeachment/; David Benfell, “The least violent solution,” Not Housebroken, December 16, 2019, https://disunitedstates.org/2019/12/16/the-least-violent-solution/; David Benfell, “The sham (pick your partisan flavor) is on,” Not Housebroken, December 19, 2019, https://disunitedstates.org/2019/12/19/the-sham-pick-your-partisan-flavor-is-on/; David Benfell, “The asterisk,” Not Housebroken, December 21, 2019, https://disunitedstates.org/2019/12/21/the-asterisk/↩
  13. [13]David Benfell, “One farce down, one to go,” Irregular Bullshit, February 5, 2020, https://disunitedstates.com/2020/02/05/one-farce-down-one-to-go/↩
  14. [14]Anne Applebaum, “The U.S. Is Naive About Russia. Ukraine Can’t Afford to Be,” Atlantic, January 3, 2022, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/01/ukraine-russia-kyiv-putin-bluff/621145/; Marc Bennetts, “Russia tells Nato to back off or face a ‘nightmare’ amid spiralling crisis over Ukraine,” Times, December 3, 2021, https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/russia-has-no-say-in-ukraine-joining-nato-moscow-told-t9q3r5vx5; Natasha Bertrand and Jeremy Herb, “US intelligence indicates Russia preparing operation to justify invasion of Ukraine,” CNN, January 14, 2022, https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/14/politics/us-intelligence-russia-false-flag/index.html; Julian Borger, Luke Harding, and Andrew Roth, “US accuses Russia of conspiring to take over Ukraine government,” Guardian, January 20, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/20/us-russia-ukraine-government-sanctions; British Broadcasting Corporation, “Ukraine crisis: ‘Russians’ occupy Crimea airports,” February 28, 2014, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26379722; British Broadcasting Corporation, “Ukraine crisis: Timeline,” November 13, 2014, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-26248275; British Broadcasting Corporation, “Ukraine crisis: What’s going on in Crimea?” August 12, 2016, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-25182823; C. J. Chivers, Neil MacFarquhar, and Andrew Higgins, “Russia to Start Drills, Warning Ukraine Over Mobilization,” New York Times, April 24, 2014, https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/25/world/europe/ukraine-crisis.html; Karoun Demirjian and William Branigin, “Putin hails Ukraine separatists; Kiev raises prospect of joining NATO,” Washington Post, August 29, 2014, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/putin-calls-on-pro-russian-separatists-to-release-trapped-ukrainian-soldiers/2014/08/29/a580cb28-e6a7-4ea0-b6f4-e6ffea0162b5_story.html; Democracy Now! “Who Is Provoking the Unrest in Ukraine? A Debate on Role of Russia, United States in Regional Crisis,” March 3, 2014, https://www.democracynow.org/2014/3/3/who_is_provoking_the_unrest_in; Robin Emmott, “Ukraine PM says Russia ‘absolutely’ behind suspected coup attempt,” Reuters, November 30, 2021, https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/exclusive-ukraine-pm-says-russia-absolutely-behind-coup-attempt-2021-11-30/; Max Fisher, “Everything you need to know about the Ukraine crisis,” Vox, September 3, 2014, https://www.vox.com/2014/9/3/18088560/ukraine-everything-you-need-to-know; Michael R. Gordon, “U.S. and Russia Agree on Pact to Defuse Ukraine Crisis,” New York Times, April 17, 2014, https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/18/world/europe/ukraine-diplomacy.html; Shane Harris and Paul Sonne, “Russia planning massive military offensive against Ukraine involving 175,000 troops, U.S. intelligence warns,” Washington Post, December 3, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/russia-ukraine-invasion/2021/12/03/98a3760e-546b-11ec-8769-2f4ecdf7a2ad_story.html; Peter Hartcher, “US can’t win two wars at once: Joe Biden’s worst nightmare,” Sydney Morning Herald, December 7, 2021, https://www.smh.com.au/national/us-can-t-win-two-wars-at-once-joe-biden-s-worst-nightmare-20211206-p59f4b.html; David M. Herszenhorn and Andrew Roth, “In East Ukraine, Protesters Seek Russian Troops,” New York Times, April 7, 2014, https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/08/world/europe/russia-crimea-ukraine-unrest.html; Andrew Higgins, “Among Ukraineʼs Jews, the Bigger Worry Is Putin, Not Pogroms,” New York Times, April 8, 2014, copy in possession of author; Andrew Higgins and Michael R. Gordon, “Russians Open Fire in Ukraine, NATO Reports,” New York Times, August 22, 2014, https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/23/world/europe/russian-convoy-ukraine.html; Andrew Higgins, Michael R. Gordon, and Andrew E. Kramer, “Photos Link Masked Men in East Ukraine to Russia,” New York Times, April 20, 2014, https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/21/world/europe/photos-link-masked-men-in-east-ukraine-to-russia.html; Julia Ioffe, “Putin’s ‘Nightmare’ Threat to Europe,” Puck News, December 6, 2021, https://puck.news/putins-nightmare-threat-to-europe/; Julia Ioffe, “Putin’s D.C Masterplan,” Puck News, December 9, 2021, https://puck.news/putins-d-c-masterplan/; Julia Ioffe, “Putin’s Post-Trump Tantrum,” Puck News, December 17, 2021, https://puck.news/putins-post-trump-tantrum/; Julia Ioffe, “Putin’s Talk Therapy,” Puck News, December 31, 2021, https://puck.news/putins-talk-therapy/; Vladimir Isachenkov, “Putin warns West: Moscow has ‘red line’ about Ukraine, NATO,” Associated Press, November 30, 2021, https://apnews.com/article/europe-russia-ukraine-vladimir-putin-moscow-cd558699728e9ae935eaadf940efeb18; Meryl Kornfield, “Biden says he warned Putin of ‘severe sanctions’ if Russia invades Ukraine again,” Washington Post, December 31, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/12/31/biden-ukraine-call/; Tom McCarthy et al., “Ukraine: Dozens killed in building fire in Odessa, ministry says,” Guardian, May 2, 2014, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/02/ukraine-crisis-pro-russian-forces-claim-assault-on-slavyansk-live-updates; Michael McFaul and Oleksiy Honcharuk, “The best response to Russia’s threats is a closer relationship with Ukraine,” Washington Post, December 1, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/12/01/best-response-russias-threats-is-closer-relationship-with-ukraine/; Ivan Nechepurenko and Neil MacFarquhar, “As Sabotage Blacks Out Crimea, Tatars Prevent Repairs,” New York Times, November 23, 2015, https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/24/world/europe/crimea-tatar-power-lines-ukraine.html; Ashley Parker, Isabelle Khurshudyan, and Seung Min Kim, “Biden, Putin discuss Ukraine in video call amid growing tensions,” Washington Post, December 7, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/biden-putin-to-discuss-ukraine-in-video-call-amid-growing-tensions/2021/12/06/e089e36a-5707-11ec-a219-9b4ae96da3b7_story.html; Andrew Roth, “Why Putin is acting like a man who has run out of time,” Guardian, December 23, 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/23/vladimir-putin-russian-president-ukraine-analysis; Andrew Roth, David Blood, and Niels de Hoog, “Russia-Ukraine crisis: where are Putin’s troops and what are his options?” Guardian, December 17, 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/17/russia-ukraine-crisis-putin-troops-visual-guide-explainer; Andrew Roth and Julian Borger, “US says it will send troops to eastern Europe if Russia invades Ukraine,” Guardian, December 6, 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/06/us-says-it-will-send-troops-to-eastern-europe-if-russia-invades-ukraine; Eugene Rumer and Andrew S. Weiss, “Ukraine: Putin’s Unfinished Business,” Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, November 12, 2021, https://carnegieendowment.org/2021/11/12/ukraine-putin-s-unfinished-business-pub-85771; Teri Schultz, “Russia has been warned: So will NATO defend Ukraine?” Deutschewelle, December 1, 2021, https://www.dw.com/en/russia-has-been-warned-so-will-nato-defend-ukraine/a-59983502; Alison Smale and Steven Erlanger, “Ukraine Mobilizes Reserve Troops, Threatening War,” New York Times, March 1, 2014, https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/02/world/europe/ukraine.html; Dmitry Volchek and Claire Bigg, “Ukrainian Bloggers Hunt Down Russian Soldiers In War-Torn East,” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, May 29, 2015, https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-blogger-hunts-down-russian-soldiers-in-war-torn-east/27043337.html↩
  15. [15]Julian Borger, Luke Harding, and Andrew Roth, “US accuses Russia of conspiring to take over Ukraine government,” Guardian, January 20, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/20/us-russia-ukraine-government-sanctions↩
  16. [16]Paul Sonne, John Hudson, and Shane Harris, “U.K. accuses Russia of scheming to install a pro-Kremlin government in Ukraine,” Washington Post, January 22, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/uk-accuses-russia-of-scheming-to-install-a-pro-kremlin-government-in-ukraine/2022/01/22/41c0999e-7bde-11ec-b79d-e53ef5e1fbe2_story.html↩
  17. [17]Yevhen Murayev, quoted in Paul Sonne, John Hudson, and Shane Harris, “U.K. accuses Russia of scheming to install a pro-Kremlin government in Ukraine,” Washington Post, January 22, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/uk-accuses-russia-of-scheming-to-install-a-pro-kremlin-government-in-ukraine/2022/01/22/41c0999e-7bde-11ec-b79d-e53ef5e1fbe2_story.html↩
  18. [18]Yevhen Murayev, quoted in Paul Sonne, John Hudson, and Shane Harris, “U.K. accuses Russia of scheming to install a pro-Kremlin government in Ukraine,” Washington Post, January 22, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/uk-accuses-russia-of-scheming-to-install-a-pro-kremlin-government-in-ukraine/2022/01/22/41c0999e-7bde-11ec-b79d-e53ef5e1fbe2_story.html↩
  19. [19]Paul Sonne, John Hudson, and Shane Harris, “U.K. accuses Russia of scheming to install a pro-Kremlin government in Ukraine,” Washington Post, January 22, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/uk-accuses-russia-of-scheming-to-install-a-pro-kremlin-government-in-ukraine/2022/01/22/41c0999e-7bde-11ec-b79d-e53ef5e1fbe2_story.html↩
  20. [20]Yuras Karmanau, “Ukrainian leaders: Stay calm, Russian invasion not imminent,” Associated Press, January 25, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-russia-diplomacy-europe-baltic-sea-44821c52f54b5e927d86ea28420cb2cf↩
  21. [21]Anne Applebaum, “The U.S. Is Naive About Russia. Ukraine Can’t Afford to Be,” Atlantic, January 3, 2022, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/01/ukraine-russia-kyiv-putin-bluff/621145/↩
  22. [22]Volodymyr Fesenko, quoted in Yuras Karmanau, “Ukrainian leaders: Stay calm, Russian invasion not imminent,” Associated Press, January 25, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-russia-diplomacy-europe-baltic-sea-44821c52f54b5e927d86ea28420cb2cf↩
  23. [23]Richard M. Weaver, Visions of Order (Wilmington, DE: Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 1995).↩
  24. [24]Jon Allsop, “The information war over Ukraine,” Columbia Journalism Review, January 25, 2022, https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/ukraine_russia_america_britain_media.php↩
  25. [25]Natasha Bertrand and Jeremy Herb, “US intelligence indicates Russia preparing operation to justify invasion of Ukraine,” CNN, January 14, 2022, https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/14/politics/us-intelligence-russia-false-flag/index.html; Aamer Madhani, Lorne Cook, and Suzan Fraser, “U.S. says new intel shows Russia plotting false-flag attack,” Los Angeles Times, February 3, 2022, https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2022-02-03/russian-troop-buildup-belarus-raises-fears-ukraine; Paul Sonne, John Hudson, and Shane Harris, “U.K. accuses Russia of scheming to install a pro-Kremlin government in Ukraine,” Washington Post, January 22, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/uk-accuses-russia-of-scheming-to-install-a-pro-kremlin-government-in-ukraine/2022/01/22/41c0999e-7bde-11ec-b79d-e53ef5e1fbe2_story.html↩
  26. [26]David Benfell, “Is the Ukraine story really somehow about U.S. politics?” Not Housebroken, January 23, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/01/21/is-the-ukraine-story-really-somehow-about-u-s-politics/↩
  27. [27]Julia Ioffe, “Putin’s Pickle,” Puck News, February 3, 2022, https://puck.news/putins-pickle-russia-ukraine/↩
  28. [28]Julia Ioffe, “Putin’s Pickle,” Puck News, February 3, 2022, https://puck.news/putins-pickle-russia-ukraine/↩
  29. [29]Julia Ioffe, “Putin’s Pickle,” Puck News, February 3, 2022, https://puck.news/putins-pickle-russia-ukraine/↩

2 thoughts on “Is the Ukraine story really somehow about U.S. politics?”

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.