How Ukraine Can Be Saved

New York Times Opinion ^ | Feburary 20, 2014 | ROMANO PRODI

[Navy Patriot]

Ukraine is in the middle of a violent political crisis. Dozens of people died this week and hundreds more were injured as protesters fought police in the capital, Kiev. Lethal violence has been spreading to the rest of the country, and a truce announced early Thursday fell apart as the death toll kept growing.

What began in November as a series of peaceful protests in favor of closer ties with the European Union and greater autonomy from the influence of Russia has escalated into a conflagration.

To save Ukraine, the government and opposition alike must make the difficult but necessary choice to compromise and reconcile. European leaders should immediately schedule direct talks with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and his top officials to find a temporary solution to stop the bloodshed and a longer-term plan that would allow Ukrainians to determine their political destiny in a peaceful and democratic fashion.

[cunning_fish]

>>>You oughta give credit to our beloved FDR and Churchill for agreeing to Stalin’s redrawn map at Yalta<<<

To be honest they both had little to none leverage considering Eastern Europe at the time.

[null and void]

And are we really, actually, ever considering a land war over there ?

Does it fit any of the obama criteria?

EVERYTHING obama does either:

a) Weakens America
b) Distances America's allies
c) Strengthens America's enemies
d) Serves Islam
e) Harms Israel
Or some combination of the above.

I have yet to have anyone raise a single substantive counter example in several years of posting this.

(Although AJFavish did point out that I missed "increases dependency on the government")

[Revolting cat!]

To be honest the US was arming the Soviets against the Germans.

[taterjay]

Biden has lots of foreign policy experience.

[cunning_fish]

>>To be honest the US was arming the Soviets against the Germans<<

Yes, and keeping them fighting Germans and later the Japanese made higher on list of priorities than all the Eastern Europe combined.

[Mariner]

"But the West must make clear to Moscow that Ukraine — a bridge between East and West — should not be the object of geopolitical games."

This is exactly what Mr. Prodi suggests.

The West would do well to look the other way. There is certainly no US interest involved.

[Mariner]

"The Soviets kicked out the Poles after the war. "

I believe the Nazi's and their Ukrainian collaborators killed most of them in 1941.