In 2022, there was nothing more important than the fate of Ukraine. Nothing will be more important in the coming years. No fire in the last 40 years has caused so many victims: the wars in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s brought about 130 thousand dead, the war in the Persian Gulf (1991) approximately the same number (mostly soldiers), 50-60 thousand .casualties in the 2003 invasion of Iraq (many lives were lost in the ensuing civil war, as was the case with the US intervention in Afghanistan). According to the most reliable English and American sources, the number of dead in Ukraine already exceeds the highest values ​​listed above.

Today there is a complete understanding of every facet of the “Ukrainian affair”. In several authors we find impeccable descriptions of the logic and stakes of resistance to the “modern empire of evil”. Among them are several Romanians, led by Armand Goshu. I have long admired good American authors who know the Slavic world. I read their great reviews. I would like them to be fully adopted by the Romanian press, because any addition and interpretation can only lower their level. I present here two such analyzes of the unity of interests between the United States and Ukraine. Soon I will make a synthesis translation, so when I have completely gone through certain parts of their texts, I will write ad litteramand I don’t “quote” – because in a way I quote them all the time.

Timothy Snyder

Timothy Snyder is an American historian specializing in the modern history of Central and Eastern Europe. He published several books that immediately became famous, among them: The realm of death. Europe between Hitler and Stalin (Humanitas, 2022) and Black soil.The Holocaust as history and warning (Humanitas, 2018), About tyranny. Twenty lessons of the 20th century (Editura Trei, 2018) are available to the reader in Romanian.

I summarize some of the messages published by Timothy Snyder on Twitter on November 6, 2022, during the election period, when a “red wave” was expected, resulting in a radical change in the situation in the House of Representatives and the Senate. This context may have forced Snyder to comment on US-Ukraine relations in a somewhat polemical tone after “hearing from some Republicans the idea that Ukraine’s resistance is costing the Americans.” Nothing could be more wrong than this view, he notes, since “Ukrainian resistance gives the Americans enormous security advantages.” These are Snyder’s arguments, allegedly in anticipation of Zelenskyi’s visit to the US, starting on December 21 this year (October 6, incredibly).

Ukraine’s resistance to Russia’s genocidal invasion is doing more for the security of the United States than any American policy, says Timothy Snyder. The changes that Ukraine is making in the global balance strengthen the hope of maintaining peace for decades to come.

Republicans portray China as America’s long-term rival. Both Republicans and Democrats agree that a war between the two giants, should it happen, would follow China’s invasion of Taiwan. However, by resisting the Russian invasion, the Ukrainians demonstrated to the Chinese the risks of such an adventure.

By defending themselves, Ukrainians reduced the risk of a major war and nuclear war. For this extraordinary achievement, thanks to the courage and skill of Ukrainians, they deserve more appreciation and more support. By defeating the Russian armed forces and revealing Russia’s weakness, the Ukrainians made a war covering the entire European continent unlikely.

The following reasoning is worth repeating ad litteram: “For decades, Republican and Democratic administrations have failed to formulate policies capable of thwarting Russia’s intentions to weaken and overturn the international order. Russia is playing the role of a cat’s paw, doing things that China would not want to be seen to do.”

Ukrainians reduced the probability of Chinese aggression by Russia and reduced the likelihood of China’s direct aggression against US interests. This was enough to defend itself without taking any steps against China. By resisting, Ukrainians created an opportunity for US policy that might not have existed otherwise. And all this without risking the lives of Americans. Should the resources that the US sends to Ukraine be too great? The equivalent of the defense budget rounding error.

In the end, according to Snyder, the benefits that Ukrainian resistance brings to American security are so huge that the US national security establishment is ashamed to talk about them directly. I repeat again: “It is inconvenient to say that another country does so much for us. It is surprising to say that Ukrainian resistance has done more for American security than any US policy since the end of the Cold War. But it’s true, and it needs to be said.”

Ann Applebaum

And Anne Applebaum can be read in Romanian: Gulag. History (Humanitas, 2011), Twilight of democracy. The seductive allure of authoritarianism (Letter, 2021). The translation of her book about the 2017 Holodomor would be important in context: The Red Famine: Stalin’s War Against Ukraine. Applebaum published in Atlantic article “Cruel alternative world in which the USA left Ukraine. Ukrainian resistance and American support prevented a wide range of horrors” (here) on December 22. So, the day after Zelensky’s visit. The text analyzes, first of all, the interests of the USA. Or, Applebaum insists, Americans should recognize how much Ukrainians are doing for American security. Helping Ukrainians simply means “being on our side.”

Context. Ad litteram: “Nothing from this trip [la Washington] – no applause, no flag, no speech – were inevitable. Zelensky’s survival was not inevitable. The existence of Ukraine as a sovereign state was also not inevitable. In February, many thought these things unlikely. On the eve of the invasion, some American experts advised against providing military aid to Ukraine, as the war would end too quickly. Other Americans echo Russian propaganda, questioning whether Ukraine should exist or defend itself. Some American politicians echo these views and indeed continue to do so. If [Ucraina] would she be defeated? What if there was another president in the White House? What would happen if another president was elected in Ukraine? Let’s imagine for a moment a world without Ukrainian courage, or American and European weapons, or without the unity and support of democracies around the world.”

If the Russian plan had been implemented, Kyiv would have been conquered literally in a few days. Zelenskyi, his wife and children would be killed, the Ukrainian state would be seized by collaborators who have already chosen apartments in Kyiv. The Russian army would fight the remnants of the Ukrainian army city after city, and today Ukraine would be dotted with concentration camps, torture camps and temporary prisons – such as Bucha, Izyum, Kherson, etc. A generation of Ukrainian writers, artists, politicians, journalists and public figures would have already been buried in mass graves, books removed from schools and libraries, Ukrainian language suppressed in all public places. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian children were allegedly kidnapped and transported to Russia or sold on.

Russian troops are already on the borders of Poland. NATO will be in chaos and will have to spend billions preparing for the inevitable invasion of Warsaw, Vilnius or Berlin. Millions of Ukrainian refugees would roam Europe. The Moldovan economy would undergo a complete collapse, and the government formed in Chisinau in the wake of the Russian victory would plan to join the Russian-Belarusian-Ukrainian federation, the propagandist praised on February 26, 2020.

On the other side of the world, Chinese plans to invade Taiwan were reportedly in full swing. Beijing would assume that America, unwilling to defend a European ally, stuck in the face of an onslaught of Russia, would not rush to the aid of the Pacific island. The Iranians, emboldened by Moscow’s success, reportedly announced that they had finally acquired nuclear weapons. Ad litteram: “From Venezuela to Zimbabwe to Myanmar, dictatorships around the world have strengthened their regimes and intensified persecution of their opponents, now convinced that the old rules—human rights conventions and genocide, laws of war, taboos against changing borders by force—no longer applies”. Read the entire article and comment on Contributors.ro