The U.S. Continues the Ukraine War

Jan 23, 2023

U.S. military and political leaders met in Germany with their counterparts from NATO to discuss increasing military aid. While the U.S. said they would supply Ukraine with armored vehicles and personnel carriers, along with more ammunition and air defense missiles, they said they would not be sending tanks to Ukraine, at least for now, despite Ukrainian president Zelensky’s requests. The U.S. and NATO leaders continue to make the decisions about how the war will be conducted, while the Ukrainians serve as their proxies, supplying the soldiers.

The decisions that the U.S. leaders made on what weapons to send, and not send, to Ukraine were in line with what they have done during this war. The U.S. has been providing much of the ordnance; they have been training Ukrainian forces in tactics and use of weaponry. U.S. military leaders have been planning strategy and providing the Ukrainians with intelligence from their spy satellites and other technology.

But at the same time, the U.S. appears to be careful not to go beyond a certain point. They have not provided the Ukrainians with the kind of weapons that would likely lead to a larger escalation of the war. The result is that this war has settled into a kind of stalemate, at least for now.

The war in Ukraine started when Russian president Putin ordered an invasion of Ukraine last February. The flashpoint for the war in Ukraine came when Putin demanded a commitment that Ukraine never be allowed to join NATO, and the U.S. refused to agree to this.

But the real causes of this war go back many decades, as the U.S. brought the countries of Europe into the NATO alliance, which was aimed against Russia. NATO forces and U.S. troops and bases have now surrounded Russia, right up to its very borders.

The way the U.S. government has conducted the war suggests that the goal of the U.S. government is a weakened Russian regime, but not one that would fall and leave a power vacuum in the areas where the Russian regime maintains order against the population, by military force, when necessary.

This war in Ukraine continues to devastate the populations involved. Many thousands of civilians have died, both as a result of Russian attacks on Ukrainian areas and Ukrainian attacks on Russian-held areas. Millions of Ukrainians have been displaced from their homes, while many Russians suffer as their economy is affected by the war and sanctions. It is estimated that over one hundred thousand soldiers on each side have been killed or wounded. Many of the Russian soldiers killed are draftees forced into the army. And much of the Ukrainian economy has been destroyed, with the Ukrainian working class paying the biggest price.

The blood and devastation, the inhumanity of this war, falls on all those leaders conducting it. Meanwhile the Ukrainian people, the Russian people and the rest of the world’s population pay the price.