When the Soviet Union broke up land Russia shed its Communistic past, I was ecstatic. I began writing essays on how the U.S. could help Russia become a free and prosperous country by using its resources.
I have written to then President George H.W. Bush, along with other politicians, advertised organizations (AmeriCares) on a campus church (University of North Dakota), published two letters in the Dakota Student, the university newspaper, and had a letter published in Time magazine, urging the U.S., Europe, and Japan to seize this opportunity to help Russia.
“The choice is clear - pay now or pay later.”
I was right, and we are paying right now for what we neglected to do when we had the chance.
Regardless of our own mistakes back in the 1990s, none of this justifies Putin’s actions in the invasion of Ukraine today.
As it is right now, Russia, under the tyranny of Vladimir Putin, made an unprovoked attack on Ukraine for the purpose of annexing it to Russia. All of these other excuses are simply that, excuses. Ukraine was not under Nazi rule, nor was it about to join NATO. NATO didn’t want Ukraine.
Putin has acted in this manner before for the past 15 years or so. In 2004, Russia invaded Georgia, and the world did nothing. In 2014, Russia invaded eastern Ukraine, the Donbass region, and annexed Crimea. Again, the U.S. and the West did nothing.
So now, in 2022, Russia decided to invade, and annex all of Ukraine, thinking that the U.S. and the West would react in the same manner. They thought the Ukrainians would turn and run, and that other Ukrainians would welcome them with open arms. They thought the whole invasion would be a cakewalk. Only it didn’t turn out that way.
Instead, the Ukrainians fought back, fiercely, killing or wounding over 20,000 Russian soldiers and destroying their artillery.
The Russians then turned around and massacred civilians in Kyiv, Bucha and other places, destroyed entire towns, but the world is condemning Russia and Ukraine fights on nonetheless.
The Russians sadly misjudged. The Ukrainians continue to fight back, fiercely, even with Russia flattening their cities and killing off tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilians.
On the other hand, the Ukrainians are killing Russian soldiers, 20,000 so far, wounding thousands more and causing many others to desert. Russian artillery, including ships, planes, tanks, and helicopter are being destroyed, so Russia seems to have gotten more than they expected.
Many countries, including the U.S., are sending Ukraine weapons and the Ukrainians are using them, which accounts for so much success on their part. Many volunteers from all over the world, including Russia and Belarus, and coming in giving the Ukrainians a helping hand in fight Russia. It’s working. So far, the Ukrainians, and their allies, have driven the Russian from the north, especially away from Kyiv, Ukraine’s capitol.
At present, the Russians are regrouping, amassing troops to the Donbass region, in the eastern portions of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Normally, this region mostly consisted of pro-Russian separatists. Russia needs to have a victory, taking land that would provide a land bridge from Donbass to Crimea, which Russia took/“annexed” back in 2014. Many of these separatists also suffered, having their homes destroyed, so many may be turning against the Russians.
There is another reason why Russia desperately wants this strip of land. There are natural resources, being natural gas, possibly oil, and other minerals, all of which powers Ukraines industries, and Russia wants it.
It seems if any of Russia’s neighbors has any valuable resources, energy or otherwise, Russia wants to step in and grab them, and THIS is the real reason why Russia wants Ukraine, or Eastern Ukraine anyway.
Before the invasion, Ukraine was prospering from their mineral wealth, so well that it made Russia envious, and angry.
Russia, being a third world country with nuclear weapons, decided to make an unprovoked attack for these resources, even though Russia’s oligarchs, with Putin at the top, and profiting from Russia’s own mineral wealth - oil, natural gas, vast mineral resources, and THAT is the theme of this essay.
I have written a lot leading up to this point, and the question I have, as in the title, was any of this necessary? Did Russia HAVE to be our enemy?
Russia is vast country spanning 11 time zones, the biggest country in the world, having a vast amount of oil, gas, and mineral resources, and ample farmland, all more than any other European country, combined.
Even without any other former Soviet republic, and this includes Crimea, belonging to Ukraine, Russia, with its borders, could form an independent world within a world. They have enough farmland and resources to not only provide for their entire population, in comfort, but an extreme surplus of food, resources, and manufactured goods to sell to the rest of the world, becoming one of the richest countries in the world.
Russia could work side by side with the West. They can control their own resources, set their own rules, but still work prosperously with the West.
They could form their own alliances, anywhere on Earth, they can help the rest of the world in our present environmental crisis (climate change, for example), and culturally, they have a lot to offer.
All this without being a military threat to anyone.
Russia would have made a powerful ally, even forming a partnership with the U.S., not only militarily, but economically as well. They would definitely be an asset to Europe, with all of Europe willingly cooperating.
Imagine NATO going out of existence because it would no longer be needed. There would be nothing to fear from Russia. Is that a possibility? NATO still exists because they fear an aggressive and threatening Russia that would cross their borders and invade, like they did with Ukraine and Georgia.
If only Russia would realize that if they did not threaten any other country, if they would respect their borders and their territorial integrity, and recognize all other countries, with no border disputes, including those in the former Soviet Union, there would be no need for a NATO.
As it is, Vladimir Putin wants to rebuild the Soviet Union and the former Soviet bloc into a new Russian Empire, starting with Ukraine. He does not care what the people of these countries want, or don’t want.
If Putin succeeds with Ukraine, which, at present, isn’t very likely, he’ll target Georgia next, then Moldova. There is the Transnistria region, the very eastern strip of Moldova occupied by Russian troops. Moldova is a weak country and not in NATO. Romania, ethnically related to Moldova, is in NATO so if Moldova is willing to reunite with Romania, even without the Transnistria region, they would have automatic membership.
All other former Soviet republics are either a part of NATO, Islamic, or, like Georgia and Armenia, very small countries.
The Soviet Union with never reunite. Vladimir Putin is simply living in the past. He is focusing on his enemies, on land that he wants, rather than focusing on his own country, where he should spend his time, energy, and resources on rebuilding.
The reality is, Russia is so vast and rich with resources that it literally does not need one more square meter of land, including Crimea. Yes, Crimea is a tourist resort, but in 1954, Khrushchev gave Crimea to Ukraine as a gift, and this should be considered a done deal.
Before the seizure, Ukraine did allow Russia to keep its Naval Base in Sevastopol.
So, as a vision, we have Russia proper, before it seized Crimea.
Russia claimed that they were trying to prevent Ukraine from joining NATO, but NATO had no plans, or interest, in admitting Ukraine, or Georgia, even though NATO “promised” they would back in 2014. This was not about to happen anytime soon. Therefore, this was simply an excuse on Russia’s part.
President Joseph Biden did talk with Putin personally, and warned that there will be severe consequences if Putin invades Ukraine. He also stated that he will not send NATO troops in if Putin does. This sounded like an easy go for Putin.
Putin supposedly respects strength, but only if Putin is winning. If he loses, Putin will throw a temper tantrum and will resort to chemical and nuclear arms. He hasn’t done that yet, but he will. Meanwhile, we are ignoring many of Putin’s warnings. He threatened to ship warships to the Baltic Sea, possibly armed with nuclear weapons should NATO admit Sweden and Finland. I believe NATO will nonetheless. Does Putin respect strength in this case?
Also, Putin is warning Biden of unintended consequences should he send any more arms to Ukraine. Biden committed on sending $800 million more of arms. Does Putin respect Biden’s strength here.
Biden knows that if Putin is pushed too far, he will resort to nuclear and chemical warfare, which would be a disaster for the entire globe (World War III, and it CAN happen). However, he is doing the NEXT BEST THING, by arming the Ukrainians, regardless of what any general from the Pentagon might say. History will be the final judge in this matter.
Biden warned Putin of severe consequences for Russia should he invade Ukraine, and there were; more than Putin, or the West, could have imagined.
All of Putin’s goals backfired on him. Before, NATO was disorganized, now it is more organized than ever before, and is about to admit the formerly neutral countries and Sweden and Finland. This will result in doubling in size the NATO - Russian border. The U.S. and other countries are sending lethal weapons to Ukraine by the billions of dollars, and Ukraine is using them. More and more countries are sanctioning Russia, costing the Russians money and people. Many talented people are leaving Russia, in the form of a “brain drain.” Worst of all, most of the world is turning against Russia and Vladimir Putin. How long will Putin stay in power? We don’t know.
When the Ukrainian War ends, and Ukraine emerges as a free country, they will apply to join NATO. Should Russia get some Ukrainian land, and they might, Ukraine will join NATO for sure, no matter what. Ukraine WILL be in the European Union.
Georgia and Moldova are still questionable. Moldova could join Romania, which is already in NATO. There is still a matter of the Transnistria region, a Russian occupied sliver on the Ukrainian-Moldovan border.
Georgia may or may not be considered, that has yet to be seen.
It has been said that NATO should never have admitted eastern European and former Soviet countries to NATO, but I disagree. I think this was a wise move, because if NATO didn’t, Putin would have invaded them, especially the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania by now, and would have been reabsorbed into Russia.
This is all the doing of Vladimir Putin.
None of this was necessary. Putin did not have to invade Ukraine, at all, because Ukraine posed no threat to Russia. Russia simply wanted Ukraine’s mineral wealth and land, thinking that the Ukrainians and the Russian are one people.
The bottom line is GREED!
Greed for land, mineral wealth, power, for Putin and his oligarchs, those who own, who stole Russia’s industries when the Soviet Union dissolved, and they simply want more.
Ukraine, like Afghanistan, wasn’t going to give up their land, so they fought back, fiercely, and all of Russia is now paying the price.
Again, none of this was necessary.
Russia has all that land, spanning across eastern Europe, Asia, all the way to the Bering Strait. True, Asiatic Russia is the coldest region on Earth, is you discount Antarctica, but hard core Russian live there and there is still industrial activity going on there.
Minerals are being mined, ports on the Arctic Ocean are opening up, there is a vast supply of oil and natural gas, and minerals, even vast amounts of farming in the southern regions.
Russia, as it is, does not need any more land.
If there is a way for Russia to defeat NATO, it’s to respect the territorial integrity of all other countries, big or small. Any country not threatened by Russia isn’t likely to have a military base on its borders.
Russia needs to realize that the past historical threats of invasion, from the Mongols up to Nazi Germany are gone. The only threat Russia might have is China, but even China isn’t likely to invade. They have their own internal affairs and the Siberian plain are too vast.
Russia can do much better with commerce, and up until the invasion, they were trading minerals, commodities, for manufactured goods.
Putin is living in the past. If he survives this war, he, or his successor, will need to get back to the present and focus on the future.
Alastair Browne
