I’ve heard often enough that “the Russians aren’t coming this far, especially if you don’t provoke them,” and I’ve struggled to answer without resorting to a Hitler analogy. Yes, it’s in Europe - but then, Bakhmut is about as far from Madrid as Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. I couldn’t reproach them for not caring who wins in a relatively faraway conflict. Many Europeans volunteer for Ukrainian refugees in their own countries or help individual families for many, that’s a better outlet for solidarity than backing further weapons supplies or privately funding drone deliveries to Ukrainian troops.Yet I couldn’t blame an American, a German or a Spaniard for not caring about rules, customs and living conditions in Ukraine or Russia. Ukraine the country is known to be corrupt, and the latest scandal involving the biggest Ukraine charity in Estonia shows how easily aid can be misdirected. It requires less imagination, however, to fear a Russian nuclear strike on Western “decision-making centers” if Putin faces defeat in Donbass.Įven solidarity with Ukrainians - a nation brutally attacked, bombed out of its homes, forced to fight or flee - isn’t a universally appealing cause. In any of these countries - and in the US, too - it’s hard to imagine Russia attacking one’s hometown as it has attacked Ukrainian cities. For many who live in Germany, France or Japan, the liberal world order is at best an abstraction and at worst an attempt to put a favorable spin on American dominance. While the West’s political and security establishment (with a few exceptions, notably Hungary) agrees that Russia must be defeated to uphold the liberal world order, prevent Russian aggression from spreading and teach a lesson to dictators tempted to follow Vladimir Putin’s expansionist example, millions of people outside this establishment are unmoved by such arguments. In the US, the share of people who say the government is doing too much for Ukraine is on the rise, and in Germany, a steady majority contends that diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict are insufficient. Throughout the West, support for supplying Ukraine with weapons has been wavering.
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