Why is the U.S. involved in the present Russo-Ukraine war and how is our involvement in that war affecting Americans?
Most people think of the war in Ukraine as having begun with the Russian invasion in February this year, but in actuality it has been going on now since February 2014 when eastern Ukrainians rejected the overthrow of a government that was friendly toward them and toward Russia. Following the Euromaidan revolution in November, 2013, which was actively supported by the U.S., the newly formed government (also supported by the U.S.) was hostile toward Russia and toward eastern Ukrainians who were largely of Russian decent and ethnicity. Now the questions are, why was the U.S. involved in the Euromaidan revolution, why has it been involved in Ukrainian politics ever since, and why is it involved in the current Russo-Ukrainian war? Related to that question is the the question, how and why did the Russo-Ukrainian war begin in the first place. I have already discussed that issue and won’t repeat it here. Readers can review it here.
So, why was the U.S. involved in the first place and why does it continue to inject itself in a conflict that would appear to be none or our business? The underlying reason has much more to do with U.S. – Russia relations than it has to do with Ukraine.
With the exception of the few years between 1989 and 1999, the U.S. has been antagonistic toward Russia and the former Soviet Union ever since the Russian revolution in 1917. Initially, the hostility arose because communism, the adopted economic philosophy of the Soviet Union, posed a real threat to capitalist countries. It was never an actual military threat. Instead, it was fear that the revolution would spread among the working class people of the capitalist nations and that they would overthrow their capitalist governments and replace them with communist governments. In the U.S., there was a period during the depression of the 1930’s when that threat was real, but for most of the Soviet Union’s existence there was no real threat of a communist take over.
Subsequent to the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1989, a period of liberalism and openness appeared in post-Soviet Russia. Relations between the U.S. and Russia were extremely friendly and, under Boris Yeltsin’s term of presidency, U.S. businesses were invited to invest in the Russian economy. In reality, what was happening was that U.S. capitalists were purchasing state owned capital1 (land, factories, hotels, etc.) at fire sale prices. Because the Russian ruble had no value in the international market, and because the Russians wanted to open up foreign trade, they needed hard currencies that could be exchanged for foreign goods. Yeltsin’s desperation to sell off state capital for hard currencies resulted in the hemorrhaging of Russian wealth to foreign investers, principally American.
At the end of the year 1999, Boris Yeltsin resigned and Vladimir Putin took over as head of government2. One of his initial actions was to clamp down on corruption, which was rampant at the time, and the sale of state owned capital at prices far below their actual value. American and other foreign capitalists were caught off guard. Plans were canceled, contracts were canceled, businesses were terminated, and substantial future profits were lost. Relations between the U.S. and Russia immediately soured. Since then, American foreign policy toward Russia has sought to replace Putin with a more business friendly ruler3.
Now there are a number of ways to go about regime change. Among them are:
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- Invade the country and overthrow the government
- Plot with the military to overthrow the government
- Impose sanctions on the government to create social unrest4
- Encourage war with other governments
and the list goes on. But, this is where Ukraine comes in.
Russia has too many nuclear weapons to risk invading, so that’s out. The military is far too loyal to Putin to engage in any insurrection, so that’s out. We have been imposing sanctions on Russians at least since 2012, and while they have economically hurt Russia, there is no evidence that Putin’s regime is in trouble. So, when all else fails, ignite an unpopular war with a neighboring country – Ukraine.
If it hasn’t become obvious by now, let me be blunt. The present Russo-Ukrainian war is a proxy war which is an extension of our war with Russia in which the U.S. is using Ukraine to fight its battles with Vladimir Putin and effect regime change. (Sadly, Ukrainian president Zelensky doesn’t realize he is being used, or else he is complicit5.) Now, to accomplish this, there is a cost to Americans. Let’s take a look at some of the costs and who pays for them.
In addition to direct foreign aid, there are indirect costs, such as soaring inflation, in which our proxy war with Russia is a major factor8. As a result of inflation, we have seen:
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- The cost of living has risen at a rate of 8% per annum.
- Interest rates on home loans have doubled.
- Gas prices have doubled, and
- the cost of food prepared at home is 10% higher than last year9.
It is fairly obvious who will pay for these costs – the American taxpayers. And since the bulk of the money for the foreign aid is borrowed and added to our national debt, which now stands above $30 trillion, it will be our children and their descendants for untold generations who will pay.
Now, fortunately for some, not all Americans will suffer losses. When we look at where the aid money goes, we find that the lion’s share of it goes to the purchase of weapons – made in the USA. Companies such as Raytheon, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics and Northrop Grumman are in line to reap billions providing weapons directly to Ukraine and replenishing Pentagon stocks that have already been delivered. And most of these weapons require fuel, so the oil companies benefit as well. And it’s not just weapons, but mundane things like boots, protective clothing, helmets, canned rations and medical supplies, not all of which, but many are – made in the USA. It is truly a bonanza for a few American corporations.
Now so far, I have only addressed the cost to Americans. What about the cost to Ukrainians and the cost to Russians? Well, we don’t care about the cost to Russians because that’s the objective – to weaken Russia in order to effect regime change. But we do care about the Ukrainians, don’t we10? Between the Euromaidan revolution and the Russian invasion there were an estimated 14,000 Ukrainian casualties. Since the Russian invasion, casualty reports are so distorted11 that they are not believable, but the number has to be in the tens of thousands. Then consider the 7.7 million Ukrainians displaced from their homes and now seeking refuge in foreign places. Finally, consider the devastation of property and infrastructure. How many homes, farms, buildings, factories, roads, bridges, power plants, refineries and other properties have been destroyed? What will it cost to restore all that? The figures are staggering.
So, summing it all up, what do we have here? What we have is a proxy war with Russia that is killing Ukrainians and destroying their country in order to effect regime change in Russia and replace Vladimir Putin with a more business friendly ruler; that American taxpayers and their descendants will be paying for, for several generations to come; and that will benefit only a small number of American employees, executives and share holders of a very few corporations.
1 Recall that, under communism, private ownership of capital was banned and all capital was owned by the state.
2 Putin was prime minister between 1999 and 2000 when he was elected president.
3 AKA, regime change.
4 It is a misconception that sanctions hurt governments. They really only hurt the people and rarely do those who rule feel any economic pain.
5 I personally believe he doesn’t realize he is being used since he is truly a political neophyte unfamiliar with U.S. foreign policy history.
6 Axios
7 Estimated to climb as high as $53 billion.
8 The war is not the only factor causing soaring inflation in our country, but sanctions against Russian oil and gas among other things make it a major factor.
9 CNBC
10 Do we? Before all this started, no one cared about Ukrainians. Before Russia annexed Crimea, most Americans couldn’t find Ukraine on a map, much less give it any thought.
11 It is not possible to cite a reliable number of Ukrainian casualties since Russia invaded because every source you go to cites a different number, and the differences vary by orders of magnitude. Only after the dust settles will we be able to know the true number of casualties.