Does Anybody in Washington Care About Ukraine?

The answer, of course, is no.  Fortunately, at least some other people do, as can be seen by French President Emmanuel Macron’s meeting on Monday with Russian President Vladimir Putin.¹  When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014, annexed Crimea, and supported (including with Russian troops) a separatist revolt in eastern Ukraine, Barack Obama pretty much did nothing.  As I mentioned in my post on Monday, President Obama threatened tough sanctions but wound up, (in the words of The Economist), imposing “underwhelming ones”.  He refused to sell defensive, anti-tank weapons to Ukraine on the theory, I guess, that you can stop fighting by not giving victims the means to defend themselves.  He said, as I also mentioned Monday, “Do people actually think that somehow us sending some additional arms into Ukraine could potentially deter the Russian Army?”  (Answer: Yes.) 

Ultimately, it was German Chancellor Angela Merkel who led the effort, along with France, to try to negotiate an end to the war with Russia.²  Chancellor Merkel’s efforts led to the Minsk II agreements, but implementation of them has been limited, to say the least.  President Obama left the White House without having done anything substantive.

Not surprisingly, Donald Trump has been pretty much the same, though his administration has at least sold anti-tank weapons to the Ukraine and has ramped up sanctions against Russia.³

Now, with Chancellor Merkel’s influence declining because of political problems at home (and the UK consumed with Brexit), only France is available.  Fortunately, President Macron is willing to try, as can be seen in his meeting with President Putin.  With the U.S. withdrawing from the world since at least 2013, and maybe even 2009, it is nice to see that somebody is still willing to try to lead.
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¹ Victor Mallet, Henry Foy, and Michael Peel, “Macron to tackle Putin over Ukraine,” Financial Times, August 19, 2019; Victor Mallet and Henry Foy, “Macron and Putin raise Ukraine hopes,” Financial Times, August 20, 2019.  I link to reports in a UK paper because neither The Wall Street Journal nor the Chicago Tribune had anything on the meeting in their print editions.
² I call it a war because that is what it is.  People who are outraged at what Russia did in the 2016 elections should think about how they would feel if Russia was doing in the U.S. what they are doing in eastern Ukraine.  It is mind boggling there is not more outrage.
³ For reasons, obviously, in addition to Ukraine.