Ehemaliger US-Diplomat: Ukraine wird durch Russophobie geopfert

Veröffentlicht am 10. Oktober 2023 von TG. „This war did not have to be fought. Every party involved has lost more than they have gained.“ These are among the „lessons from the Ukraine war“ drawn by former US diplomat Chas W. Freeman in a noteworthy lecture at the end of September. Freeman, born in 1943, was a lawyer, deputy US Secretary of Defense, US ambassador to Saudi Arabia, and director of the NATO think tank „Atlantic Council“. The Swiss newspaper Die Weltwoche has published his lecture in German in its current issue. From Freeman’s point of view, the conflict in and around Ukraine never had to escalate into war. The ex-diplomat not only accuses Western governments and other war proponents of propaganda and censorship, but also of the „bad habit“ of „inhaling their own propaganda, which guarantees delusional politics“. In his lecture, he extensively discusses the background of the conflict that escalated into war. This ranges from the mission and purpose of NATO, founded in 1949, to its expansion after the collapse of the Eastern Bloc and then the Soviet Union in 1991. Freeman traces the well-known development of the conflict in Ukraine after the „anti-Russian coup in Kiev supported by the United States“. Rejected Russian offer In the end, all Russian warnings were ignored. The Ukrainian army was armed and trained by the West to the point where it was larger than the armies of Great Britain and France combined, with 700,000 soldiers. It faced around 830,000 active Russian soldiers. By the end of 2021, the Kiev forces were preparing for a major offensive against eastern Ukraine. „It is not surprising that Russia saw this as a threat,“ comments Freeman. Russia’s attempt in December 2021 to resolve the accumulated problems and security issues through negotiations was rejected by the United States. According to the former diplomat, Washington knew that Moscow was now ready to wage war to eliminate the threats. „This refusal to engage in dialogue was a clear decision to accept the risk of war rather than seek a compromise with Russia.“ According to Freeman, the war was triggered by misjudgments on all sides: „NATO expansion was legal but predictably provocative. Russia’s reaction was completely predictable, although illegal, and has proven to be very costly for Russia. The de facto integration of Ukraine into NATO has led to its destruction.“ Dramatic consequences To assess the success or failure of a policy, it must be measured against the goals it was supposed to achieve, says the former diplomat. For Ukraine, he draws a disturbing conclusion, which includes casualty figures for Ukrainian troops that could reach into the hundreds of thousands. A „unprecedented intense information campaign“ by Kiev obscures this fact from its own population. The country has lost several million of its 31 million inhabitants at the beginning of 2022, who have fled. The infrastructure and economy have been largely destroyed, and corruption – „a long-standing feature of Ukrainian politics“ – has become even worse. Freeman points out that the Russian invasion „has united Ukrainians, including many Russian speakers, to an unprecedented extent. Moscow has unintentionally strengthened the independent Ukrainian identity, which both Russian mythology and President Putin try to deny.“ In his view, after the failed Ukrainian counteroffensive, it is unlikely that Donbass and Crimea will ever return to Ukraine

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Ex-US-Diplomat: Ukraine wird auf dem Altar der Russophobie ausgeweidet

Veröffentlicht am 10. Oktober 2023 von TG. «Dieser Krieg hätte nicht geführt werden müssen. Jeder Beteiligte hat weit mehr verloren als gewonnen.» Das gehört zu den «Lektionen aus dem Ukraine-Krieg», die der ehemalige US-Diplomat Chas W. Freeman Ende September in einem beachtenswerten Vortrag zog. Freeman, geboren 1943, war Jurist, stellvertretender US-Verteidigungsminister, US-Botschafter unter anderem in Saudi-Arabien sowie Direktor des NATO-Thinktanks «Atlantic Council». Die Schweizer Zeitung Die Weltwoche hat seinen Vortrag in ihrer aktuellen Ausgabe auf Deutsch veröffentlicht. Aus Freemans Sicht hätte der Konflikt in und um die Ukraine nie zum Krieg eskalieren müssen. Den westlichen Regierungen und anderen Kriegsbefürwortern wirft der Ex-Diplomat nicht nur Propaganda und Zensur vor, sondern auch die «schlechte Angewohnheit», «ihre eigene Propaganda zu inhalieren, was eine wahnhafte Politik

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