The Betrayal of Ukraine By The U.S. (repost from December 2023)
First, the CIA. Now Biden,
In November 2021, just weeks before Russian armored columns raced south towards Kyiv from Belarus, American CIA Director William Burns (former US Ambassador to Russia) spoke with Vladimir Putin (via secure telephone) and senior Russian officials at the Kremlin. The only topic on the agenda was the looming Russian invasion into Ukraine. Burns knew full well that all the Kremlin talk about the Russian military merely staging pre-planned exercises on the Ukrainian border was 100%, unadulterated BS. The only challenge for Burns was making sure that both the Kremlin and the White House knew the rules for the upcoming invasion and then abided by those rules, just as they had all during the Cold War, a period for which Burns was very familiar. There were no real efforts by Burns of talking Putin out of the invasion, no mention of the 1994 Budapest Agreement guaranteeing Ukraine’s territorial integrity (and ratified by Russia), and there were no real threats of retaliation by America or NATO. The only goal of the visit by Burns to Moscow was to establish Cold War-like rules of the “Great Game” that both Russia and the U.S. would follow during the illegal invasion of a sovereign European nation by Russia.
From Newsweek, regarding that covert CIA meeting in Moscow:
“In some ironic ways though, the meeting was highly successful," says the second senior intelligence official, who was briefed on it. Even though Russia invaded, the two countries were able to accept tried and true rules of the road. The United States would not fight directly nor seek regime change, the Biden administration pledged. Russia would limit its assault to Ukraine and act in accordance with unstated but well-understood guidelines for secret operations. There are clandestine rules of the road," says the senior defense intelligence official, "even if they are not codified on paper, particularly when one isn't engaged in a war of annihilation." This includes staying within day-to-day boundaries of spying, not crossing certain borders and not attacking each other's leadership or diplomats. "Generally the Russians have respected these global red lines, even if those lines are invisible," the official says.”
I cannot adequately express my rage at knowing that my government, through the CIA, set the rules and gave tacit permission for Russia’s genocidal invasion of Ukraine, and then sat back and watched the results. If that does not make you angry as well, then you are probably a Kremlin supporter or someone for whom the Russia-Ukraine war is merely a distraction from your day to day life. As for me, I am livid at this development, an action I have actually written about previously and one that has greatly altered my view about Western support for Ukraine, as well as their cowardly relations with Russia.
Here is a new video clip on YouTube by a former Ukrainian Navy Captain, Harry Tabakh. He discusses, among other related topics, the American betrayal of Ukraine. It is available on YouTube with subtitles in many languages:
Now we read reports about what most of us already knew was coming: the Biden administration is setting the stage for Ukraine to be forced into negotiations with Russia in the near future and bring an end to hostilities.
From Politico:
“With U.S. and European aid to Ukraine now in serious jeopardy, the Biden administration and European officials are quietly shifting their focus from supporting Ukraine’s goal of total victory over Russia to improving its position in an eventual negotiation to end the war, according to a Biden administration official and a European diplomat based in Washington. Such a negotiation would likely mean giving up parts of Ukraine to Russia.
The White House and Pentagon publicly insist there is no official change in administration policy — that they still support Ukraine’s aim of forcing Russia’s military completely out of the country. But along with the Ukrainians themselves, U.S. and European officials are now discussing the redeployment of Kyiv’s forces away from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s mostly failed counteroffensive into a stronger defensive position against Russian forces in the east, according to the administration official and the European diplomat, and confirmed by a senior administration official. This effort has also involved bolstering air defense systems and building fortifications, razor wire obstructions and anti-tank obstacles and ditches along Ukraine’s northern border with Belarus, these officials say. In addition, the Biden administration is focused on rapidly resurrecting Ukraine’s own defense industry to supply the desperately needed weaponry the U.S. Congress is balking at replacing.”
My anger over the American betrayal of Ukraine was rekindled by reading this report. Let me be very clear. Putin cannot be trusted. Never, at any time, regarding anything. If Ukraine is forced by the West (with America leading the way) to negotiate some kind of catastrophic “cease-fire” or “peace treaty” "or “land for peace” with the Kremlin, Putin will take advantage in the pause in fighting to rearm, recruit, rebuild, resupply and redraft new plans to finish his conquest of Ukraine based on lessons learned since 24 February 2022. Count on it. And the cowardly and humiliated West will be in no position to contest that total conquest and occupation of Ukraine. Having achieved his goals in Ukraine, Putin will then turn to his other well publicized goal of recreating the Russian Empire by invading (possibly in a different order); Moldova, Georgia, and the Baltics. Polish borders would then be at risk as well. Kremlin agents and provocateurs in Europe would be given orders to disrupt elections and sow discord and promote pro-Russian attitudes among the population.
Once more, toothless NATO and the EU will not be in any position to stop Russia, nor will their cowardly (and sometimes, Kremlin friendly) leaders be motivated to drum up public support for the large-scale military action and financial burdens needed to respond to such a large-scale assault. Perhaps such aggressive moves by the Kremlin will happen not in 2024, 2025 or even 2026. But if Ukraine falls and Putin is left unchallenged, this scenario is almost certainly the inevitable future for Europe. The West is playing right into Putin’s hands by their hesitancy in supplying Ukraine with what it needs to win the war while he has placed the Russian economy and the Russian public on a long-term wartime footing while claiming Russia is fighting an existential battle with NATO. Look, if you bring a knife to a gunfight, you will lose 100% of the time. In the ultimate show of hypocrisy and cowardice, NATO and the EU has provided Ukraine with a knife, and then criticized Ukraine for failing to win the gun battle against Russia, all the while ignoring the Russian guns that are retooling for the inevitable confrontation with those same cowardly NATO and EU nations.