Letters to the Editor
To the Editor:
Mr. Dykes letter in last Friday’s paper mentioned the Budapest Memorandum. According to the Conversation. com author Borda, “The memorandum was struck in 1994, following lengthy and complicated negotiations involving the then Russian president Boris Yeltsin, Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma, US president Bill Clinton and the then British prime minister John Major.” The purpose of the Memorandum was so Ukraine could join the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) as a non-nuclear state by transferring all nuclear warheads to Russia for decommissioning. Ukraine never received “guarantees from the US that it would intervene should Ukraine’s sovereignty be breached.”
“Russia first broke its commitments under the Budapest Memorandum in 2014, with its annexation of Crimea and aggression in eastern Ukraine.” Obama was President at the time, what did he do?
The international response at the time was lackluster – although the US and the UK did subsequently step up their efforts to strengthen Ukraine’s armed forces through training and provision of lethal defensive arms.”
Eight years later, 2014, Russia invaded Ukraine.
Obviously, Biden’s foreign policy did nothing to “correct the problem of European addiction to American military welfare AND stopping a blood thirst Tsar.”
How has Ukraine been utilizing the military and financial support from the US and the UK since 1994? They have developed a successful drone offensive They’ve had 20 years to develop and prepare for their national defense. They have known the Soviet mindset to be untrustworthy. They also were aware “The Budapest Memorandum consists of a series of political assurances whereby the signatory states commit to “respect the independence and sovereignty and the existing borders of Ukraine.” But, according to a former US diplomat, “the meaning of the security assurances was deliberately left ambiguous.”
To quote Mr. Dykes, “A good President would have pulled together the European nations and solidly armed the Ukraine starting on Day One to prevent the Russian invasion.” Day One would have been the day after the Budapest Memorandum was signed, ie. In 1994.
Ukrainians have not been abandoned. The truth is they have been supported financially and militarily for 30 years.
However, the current status quo of assistance isn’t working. It’s time for a change. Trump’s disruption has had a destabilizing effect on Europe and other allies. Disruption can get people thinking. I pray people around the world are waking up just as Americans are waking up to what hasn’t worked. One example of what hasn’t worked for America as well as other counties is open borders.
Freedom is precious and worth fighting for. Bad policy and bad decisions can be corrected.
There is a lot that can happen at the negotiating table— obviously correcting bad policy won’t happen in 24 hours.
Cindy Rodibaugh Flatonia