This past month the political class has been in arms because of Ukraine. It seems this Eastern European nation has become the most important foreign spot for American interests, so much so that an event about this country sparked an “impeachment” inquiry concerning President Donald Trump.
On 11 April 2017, then Secretary of State Rex Tillerson asked, “Why should U. S. taxpayers be interested in Ukraine?” Some observers thought that Tillerson, who was not a career diplomat or politician, was just naïve about the importance of this Eastern European country. But I am sure that when the Democrats began an “impeachment inquiry” of President Trump about a phone call to Ukrainian President Zelensky, many Americans had to consult an atlas to even find this “obscure” place.
A little background about Ukraine is in order. This area is thought to be where horses were first domesticated and put into service of their two-legged masters. This place was the center of Kyivan Rus (from which the name Russia is derived), and became a powerful nation in the early Middle Ages. More recently, the area of Ukraine was incorporated into Czarist Russia in the 17th century, and remained so until the collapse of the Russian nation in 1917. A brief period of independence occurred, but Ukraine was absorbed into the USSR in 1922.
Ukraine suffered during two man-made famines under Soviet rule, but in World War 2 many Ukrainian soldiers died fighting the Nazi invasion. Several attempts to make Ukraine independent from the Soviets were crushed in the years between 1945 and the collapse of communism in 1991. In that year, Ukraine achieved “final” separation from Russia and became one of the largest nations in Europe.
From that independence, Ukraine politics have been known as one of the most corrupt in the world. Stolen elections, assassinations of journalists and political leaders seemed to be part of the political landscape for Ukraine.
So we come back to the beginning question: why should we pay any attention to this nation, and why should we send any aid to it? From the fulminations of politicians on both sides of the aisle, we would be led to think Ukraine was one of THE most important nations of the world, and therefore to the U. S. But is this so?
Does the Ukraine share a border with the United States? Is it on a par with Canada and Mexico, so close as to pose an existential threat to our existence? Nope, Ukraine is in Eastern Europe, has its most extensive boundary with Russia and its seaports are on the Black Sea.
Well, does Ukraine have a long history of alliance with the United States, which would entitle it to aid from us? Not really. Long term alliances for us include Great Britain, France and a few other nations we “cherish” from long ago pacts. Our “alliance”, if it can be so called, is really only from the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
If not geography or past connections, could the importance of Ukraine be that they need our help because of their dire economic needs? Pretty sure this is not the case, for Ukraine’s industrial base supplies things like pipeline hardware and machinery, and farm equipment for their own people. Ukrainians are not starving. Instead, this nation has long been lauded for the ability to produce commodities to feed itself and to export such to other nations. In fact, because of the productivity of the soil, Ukrainian crops are rivals for our own on the world market. (A note on the richness of their land — it is said that only the Illinois prairie rivals Ukraine’s prairieland for the natural fertility of the soil.)
Has Ukraine been the fount of many immigrants who enrich our own land? Some have come over here and found influential work in the United States. However, the only one that comes to mind here in east central Illinois was a professor of history at Eastern Illinois University some forty plus years ago. I had him in classes in both undergrad and graduate school, but now his name eludes my search in memory. Guess that can’t be it.
Since I have studied, taught and written about U. S. History (as well as Western Civilizations), Ukraine has been on the far periphery of importance to Americans. It seems that only the chattering political class seems to want to make this nation so important that a single phone call by our President to theirs warrants an impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump.
As we return to Tillerson’s question, the only objective reason is that it impacts our relations with Russia, which (arguably) is one of the most serious threats to U. S. interests. Since 1992, we have had diplomatic relations with Ukraine, and, from time to time, have sent aid to help them maintain their independence from the Russian bear.
Most recently, Russia claimed the southern part of Ukraine, the Crimea, and annexed it for themselves. Their claim was that since Ukraine was historically part of both Russia and the Soviet Union, and somehow that justified taking this peninsula for the Russian nation. Perhaps the fact that the Crimea had a warm-water port on a major body of water may have influenced the move to invade by the Russians.
Since then the Russians have been instigating revolt in the eastern part of Ukraine, on the border of Russia, with the aim of annexing a part of that for themselves. Foreign nations, fearing the expansion of Russia again, have been making noises of support for beleaguered Ukraine, but apart from some ineffectual help from European countries, and a few kindly words from our former President, not much was done to help the Ukrainians until President Trump sent missiles able to defend against Russian tanks.
But what could happen to Ukraine that would mortally peril the United States? Do we need to spend that 250 million dollars to prop up their military in order to secure our own borders? If Ukraine collapsed tomorrow, how would our lives be impacted?
Perhaps my reluctance to see the United States engage in throwing money at foreign nations colors my feelings about how important Ukraine is to us. Some foreign aid is vital to our national interests. For example, American sends massive amounts of money to Egypt. Why? To keep them from attacking Israel, our only effective ally in the Middle East. Every dollar taken from American taxpayers that is sent abroad under the guise of “aid” should be sent with the understanding we get something for that check. No foreign nation is entitled to American taxpayer money.
All of this rambling is an attempt to answer Tillerson’s question about Ukraine. Politicians would probably dismiss my reluctance to send our tax money to that nation, but ordinary Americans, those of us in flyover country, need to have spelled out just why Ukraine is so important that aid to them could cause a political crisis for us.
Democrats and Republicans have voted for this aid. Justify it, please.