Ukrainian fighters near Mariupol. Yahoo/AFP.
300 paratroopers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade have arrived in Ukraine to train Ukrainian soldiers. Yahoo/AFP. Their mission will last six months. Russia has criticized the move, calling it a destabilizing action. The move comes as fighting has picked up in the war between the Ukrainian government and the Russian backed rebels. For its part, Russia has provided troops and weapons for the rebels. The 173rd will train 900 troops from Ukrainian National Guard units. The United Kingdom and Canada will deploy trainers as well.
My Comment:
I've asked this question before but what is our interest in the Ukraine? If they lose the war in Donbass, how does it effect the United States in any way? They aren't our allies, we don't trade with them and they have done nothing for us. The only advantage I see is that we are screwing over Russia and Vladimir Putin. That does not seem justified at all if that is our only goal there. I guess we really are back to the cold war...
I'm not comfortable with this mission at all. Not only do we not have a good reason to work with Ukraine, there is a chance that we would be training some very sketchy people. I've talked before about how many of the Ukrainian militia units, like the Azov Battalion, are actual Nazis. That isn't Godwin's law, that is their actual ideology, National Socialism. National Socialism in a part of the world that was utterly devastated by the Nazis. That has to infuriate the Russians. It makes me angry as well.
This is realpoltik gone mad. Yes, as a nation we may have to work with people we don't like, but working with Nazis? I'm hoping we won't be training anyone from these battalions, but even if we aren't we are still joining the side that fights with them. I wish I had reassurance from the government that the Azov battalion and the other far-right groups in Ukraine weren't getting any support from the United States, but given that our government is also working indirectly with Iranian militias that were directly responsible for killing U.S. soldiers during the Iraq War, I wouldn't be surprised if they were...
In short, Obama's policy in Ukraine is incoherent at best and actively against the best interest of the United States at worst. I'd make any support to the Ukrainians dependent on them purging far-right elements from their government and military but if they did that would the war even have happened? Possibly, but it is far to late now. Also, I must point out the irony of a leftist president like Obama supporting a government like Ukraine that has far-right troops fighting for it.
As for the 173rd themselves, I am sure they will handle their mission with professionalism. The brigade has a storied history in both Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq. They are good airborne soldiers and I know they will do their job well.
Russia can't be happy about this. I personally don't blame them either. The deployment of these troops serve as a gigantic middle finger to Russia and Vladimir Putin. Make no mistake, this move is largely symbolic. Yes the 173rd is good, but this kind of limited training won't have much of an impact on the war. It does say to the Russians that we don't respect their ambitions in Ukraine and it signals to the Ukrainian government that we are doing something for them, even if it is nothing meaningful.
I still say the only way the war in the Donbass region ends is with independence for the rebels. Without foreign troops, Ukraine just doesn't have the forces to beat both the rebels and the troops that Russia has sent. Their economy is in taters and their military has been devastated. More importantly, the people are tired of war. Sooner or later this war will be over. It would be better for all parties involved if happens soon.
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