Ukrainians are a good-humored, industrious and resourceful people who finally achieved independence in 1991 with the dissolution of the Soviet Union, precipitated by the aggressive stance against communism by President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. Democracy-loving people of the United States cheered the fall of communism in Eastern Europe. However, Ukraine’s security remained fragile.
Then, there was the question of the stockpiles of Soviet-era nuclear weaponry still on Ukraine soil. Those weapons could be Ukraine’s to keep and develop for nuclear deterrence. Along came a U.S. president, Bill Clinton, seeking diplomatic victories in the name of nonnuclear proliferation, a hot political topic in the 1990s. With Ukraine balking at the one-sided terms presented by Western diplomats, Clinton personally intervened and pressured Ukraine to ultimately sign the Budapest Memorandum Security Assurance in 1994 — giving away all its nuclear weaponry in exchange for a vague “security assurance” against possible future invasion by Russia.
Ukraine could not count on this security assurance when Russia invaded Crimea and eastern Ukraine in 2014. For that matter, would Russia even have thought about invading if Ukraine had nuclear capability? A U.S. president got his glory moment in pushing for a treaty, but what did Ukraine get?
Taking the cue that Western security assurances were ringing hollow, Russia took on all of Ukraine in 2022, a repeat of the Russian domination Ukraine endured through the 20th century. U.S. slapped on sanctions that crimped the Russian economy but not its war machine. Ukraine has been left to duke it out with Russia’s 10-fold advantage in military might with antiquated and leftover NATO military hardware often delivered too little, too late.
Currently, a U.S. president once again seeks to “make a deal,” pushing his own agenda and ego. Donald Trump favors Russia despite all the destruction, horror and atrocities perpetrated upon Ukraine in the last three years. The “deal” (note: not a formal treaty, which requires Senate input) appears very one-sided. Further, the U.S. seeks to exploit its advantage and receive some yet-to-be specified handover of Ukrainian resources. And once again, Ukraine and its 37.7 million good-humored, industrious and resourceful people are left out in the cold. Once again, they are left exposed to Russian repression, intent on destroying their culture, language and identity.
Russia would take Ukraine backward a century, versus the value Ukraine could truly offer the world in the 21st century.
— Kat Karson, Quincy, Illinois
Extortion of Ukraine
I am outraged by this shameful extortion of the Ukrainian people at a time when they have no options. My father and many Americans never asked anything of the Europeans when they bravely went to fight the Nazis.
President Donald Trump has no shame, so we can’t expect anything of him, but we, as Americans, cannot allow this to happen.
Are we so greedy a nation that we would treat others so shamefully?
— C. Huber, River Forest
Emboldening Russia
President Donald Trump is perpetrating on Ukraine a reenactment of the 1938 Munich Conference where Prime Ministers Neville Chamberlain of England and Édouard Daladier of France met with Adolf Hitler to dismember Czechoslovakia without Czech President Edvard Benes at the table. Peace never happened. Germany kept Bohemia and Moravia captive, took the Sudetenland, ceded Ruthenia to Ukraine, then invaded Poland to commence World War II.
In 1948, the Communists engineered a coup in Prague and took the Czech store of uranium. Sounds familiar. Ukraine, like Czechoslovakia, has internationally recognized, legal borders. Russia invaded Ukraine. The plan by Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, as reported in the news, will legitimize and embolden Russia. The neighboring countries are at risk of losing their sovereignty.
U.S. colleges and universities encourage students to study abroad. The Fulbright Program invites and sends scholars from around the world. The American Field Service, Rotary International and Sister Cities International conduct similar educational exchange programs in high schools. The purpose is to promote mutual understanding, friendship and world peace.
Friends, like family, are invaluable. The U.S. needs them. They came to our aid after 9/11. In one month, Trump has unilaterally changed the paradigm, disrespecting our European friends and putting us in harm’s way. In this technological world, we are no longer insulated by big oceans.
— Joe Vosicky, Fulbright (2001), Elmhurst
Obama’s sanctions
Regarding the recent editorial cartoon (Feb. 18) showing President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin walking together, with Putin saying, “I get dibs on the Crimea and Donbas”: Evidently the cartoonist does not know that Russia already has Crimea. It took the peninsula in a military invasion in February and March 2014. Barack Obama was president at that time and responded by condemning Russia and imposing ineffective sanctions. Most of those sanctions were still in place when Russia invaded Ukraine three years ago.
No one knows, but an argument could be made that if Obama and the European Union had given a more forceful response in 2014, Russia would not have invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
— Robert Gavenda, Crete
Stopping the spiral
I am an 80-year-old grandparent who is gravely concerned about the future of America for my grandchildren and their children. I also suspect that I am not alone in this concern. We “nanas” and “papas” do not want our grandchildren to experience “the ugly American” phenomenon of the 1960s and ’70s. Many of us fear a return to that era as a result of the current administration’s domestic and foreign policies.
We oldsters are looking for ways to forestall this downward spiral in the U.S. We cannot take up arms. We cannot be Rosie the Riveter or plant victory gardens. Many of us are not computer- or social media-savvy. But we are a huge voting bloc with considerable economic means looking for some way to help America become more righteous and just.
I guess I am asking: Is there someone, anyone, who can help us channel this concern into action? Perhaps, for me, writing this letter is a start.
— Mary Herrick, Gilberts, Illinois
Well-being is at stake
After serving on the faculty and staff as a medical oncologist at Rush University Medical Center for 47 years, I retired in 2022. During my Rush oncology fellowship, one of my mentors, Dr. Charles Perlia, asked me: “What are we trying to accomplish?”
I gave a complicated answer, and he asked me another question. Aren’t we trying to relieve suffering and to prolong meaningful life? Shouldn’t the Department of Health and Human Services and everyone involved in health care pursue these goals?
I’m concerned that the current secretary of health and human services who has little experience in health care and has repeatedly stated his ill-conceived beliefs regarding the effectiveness and safety of vaccines will not continue current policies and promote new policies that relieve suffering and prolong meaningful life for Americans and people around the world.
I urge individuals involved in direct patient care including physicians, nurses, physician assistants, pharmacists, therapists and technicians to be vigilant for changes in HHS policies that could endanger all of us. Equally important partners in this vigilance include basic scientists, regulatory officials, public health experts, health care educators, pharmaceutical corporations and insurance companies.
Last, I was diagnosed with multivessel coronary artery disease 30 years ago, and I’m grateful for medical researchers’ great work and for wonderful care from my Rush clinical team. All of us are either patients or will be patients. Every American should watch this administration’s HHS policies closely.
But vigilance isn’t enough. When we see policies that we believe are not based on peer-reviewed data and that appear to jeopardize minimizing suffering and our longevity, we need to voice our concerns to our elected federal and state leaders and to the media.
Our well-being and longevity are at stake.
— Phil Bonomi, Oswego, Illinois
Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.
