Urged to provoke Russia and then left to its own, the West has made things much worse – and Ukraine will pay the price.
By Ryan Cooper, The Week
We might soon witness an honest-to-God war of conquest in Europe. Russia’s Vladimir Putin already chomped Crimea off Ukraine in 2014, and now it appears he’s hungry for the rest of the country.
If Putin does attack, a major reason will be the bungling diplomatic incompetence of the United States and its principal allies in Western Europe. Western nations have repeatedly raised Putin’s ire using Ukraine as a proxy but have refused to dedicate the money or military might to actually defend it.

Western states’ behavior isn’t the sole factor here, of course. There’s the fact that Putin is basically a dictator and has a habit of using wars of aggression against weaker neighbors to boost his public profile (a short, successful war is a classic political sugar high). And there’s is the fact that Russia today is smaller than it was from the mid-17th century through 1991, and that much of Ukraine was included in both the old Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, leading to an apparently widely-shared belief among Russian nationalists that Ukraine is a rightful Russian possession.
Recent Posts
Palestinian Student Organizer Arrested And Detained By U.S. Department Of Homeland Security
March 10, 2025
Take Action Now The arrest of Palestinian student activist Mahmoud Khalil took place in the wake of increased threats by the Trump administration to…
Elon Musk Has Triggered A Corporate Deregulation Bomb
March 10, 2025
Take Action Now A Delaware bill would award Elon Musk $56 billion, shield corporate executives from liability, and strip away voting power from…
The Pentagon’s Budget Priority? Maintaining Golf Courses
March 10, 2025
Take Action Now The Pentagon owns 145 golf courses. As Trump cuts key government services, we found it aims to spend on sand traps and clubhouses.……
Columbia University’s Nazi Tradition
March 9, 2025
Take Action Now Columbia is back, for the first time since 1936, to expelling students for nonviolently protesting Columbian support for genocide…