How the West Brought War to Ukraine: Understanding How U.S. and NATO Policies Led to Crisis, War, and the Risk of Nuclear Catastrophe

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Since the start of the war, Ukrainians have emerged and shattered the country’s inferiority complex of being Russia’s ‘little brother’. On the contrary: in the view of many people outside the West, their own countries are also democracies – and are perhaps even the best democracies. Even at times of war, he stresses commitment to tackling corruption and strengthening the rule of law in Ukraine.

Although significant numbers of European citizens still wish the war to cease as soon as possible, the poll appears to show a clear trend over the last year towards preferring Ukraine to win even if the conflict endures some time longer. The most popular view in Russia and China is to expect a more even distribution of global power among multiple countries – namely, for multipolarity to emerge. They will never again live in shadow of the Russian empire and are confident it will collapse,’ says Orysia Lutsevych, head of the Ukraine Forum at Chatham House.

President Joe Biden has framed the war as a struggle between democracy and authoritarianism, and he has sought to use the defence of democracy as a rallying cry at home and abroad.

It’s pretty remarkable that states have agreed to get around the table on these issues because there’s been so much trust and good will lacking, an increase of nationalism and so on. Dr Lewis argues that if the war is truly about Putin’s ‘imperial legacy project’ and an attempt to bring Ukrainian territory back under his control, then creating an uninhabitable post-nuclear wasteland, would make ‘little strategic sense’. Irrespective of the strong political rationale, the move is likely to steer the country further away from accountability for human rights violations,’ says Sagoo. An estimated one trillion US dollars has left Russia in ‘capital flight’ according to author Oliver Bullough, with a significant amount ending up in the UK and London as a ‘capital haven for dirty money’. Dragging Ukraine into NATO by the hair was an act of vandalism and political stupidity and we are all paying for it now.Although central, eastern and Baltic states have been more hawkish on Russia compared to states like Germany and France, they haven’t stopped the EU’s overall response. But the move by Europe’s largest and oldest intergovernmental organisation, established to protect human rights, democracy and law, could have other serious ramifications says Sagoo.