In an article for The Washington Post, the editor of The Nation Katrina Vanden Heuvel declares that it is time the United States reconsider its policy of interference in the internal affairs of other countries on the basis of the consequences caused by the U.S. intervention in Iraq and Libya, and now in Ukraine.
Heuvel calls for a response of Western liberals and neoconservatives, supporting intervention in the situation in Ukraine and believes that on the anniversary of the Maidan it is the time to reconsider the situation and to change course, which ended in the annexation of Crimea by Russia, a million refugees and 4,000 fatalities in Donbas.
In the author's opinion, Kiev, in fact, legalized the split of Ukraine having introduced the ban on the state institutions in Donbas and the country's economy is about to collapse.
According to the author, the sanctions of the West and the U.S. have already led to the beginning of the Cold War and continue to have a negative impact on already fragile economic situation in Europe.
"European unity has begun to fray, with several countries worried about the effect of sanctions on their own economies, and officials questioning the sanctions" effectiveness," Heuvel says.
In the US, this situation is called a "cautionary tale", and U.S. politicians compare Putin violating international law with Hitler thirsting for expansion, believing that he should pay for it. Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham are even calling to give Ukraine weapon to "curb Putin's aggression".
"But this perspective distorts reality," says Katrina Vanden Heuvel not denying that Russia is partly to blame. However, according to the journalist, this behavior of Russia was quite predictable. In this case, she refers to a specialist on Russia Stephen Cohen, who said that the West had to predict the reaction of Russia to Ukrainian agreement on association with the EU, as well as the split within Ukraine itself.
This opinion is shared by the professor John Mearsheimer from the University of Chicago, who said that Russia had repeatedly warned the EU and the US, that it opposes NATO accession of Ukraine and Georgia, considering the expansion of NATO as a threat to its security.
The author also mentions the interview with the former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger unnoticed in the U.S. press, where he stressed that the annexation of Crimea "was not a move toward global conquest". Kissinger holds the West partially responsible for escalation and the deteriorating situation, suggesting that Europe and the United States underestimated the "special significance" of Ukraine for Russia. "It was a mistake not to realize that," he said.
At the same time, Kissinger notes that while the West need not and should not recognize the annexation of Crimea, "nobody in the West has offered a concrete program to restore Crimea. Nobody is willing to fight over eastern Ukraine. That's a fact of life." On the other hand, Kissinger points out that Russia is a vital U.S. partner in resolving crises from Iran and Syria to the dangers of nuclear arsenals.
"It is a measure of how extreme the prevailing political-media narrative on Ukraine is that Kissinger now sounds like a dissident. He is urging prudence as opposed to the liberal-neocon interventionists. The United States should want Ukraine to retain its independence and to be able to make its own choices on how it runs its economy," says Heuvel.
On the eve of a new Cold War, the author urges America to recognize the boundaries of their power and terrible consequences of overstepping them.
"It is time for taking a sober look at the misconceptions that got us here," Katrina Vanden Heuvel sums up.
Earlier, it was reported that, according to Tony Blair, Putin's actions are dictated by Russian nationalism.