APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — A former senior U.S. Diplomat visited Lawrence University Tuesday to give a lecture on the Russia-Ukraine conflict: specifically the U.S. involvement in it.
“This is a clear case of aggression by one state, Russia, against another state, Ukraine, in an attempt to take its territory and basically destroy its independence and sovereignty,” Jon Greenwald said. “This happens in the center of Europe where the United States has its closest security and economic political partners.”
Greenwald said the success or failure of that aggression can in turn largely affect the United State’s own security. As for where things currently stand, he says Ukraine’s success hasn’t been what many had hoped.
“This year the going has been tough,” Greenwald said. “The counteroffensive that Ukraine had placed a lot of hope in or a lot of expectations that it would produce a significant victory has been somewhat disappointing.”
Especially given the feelings toward the initial invasion in early 2022. Greenwald said the assumption that many people had was that Russia would “crush” Ukraine in a matter of days or weeks.
“I happened to be coming back from Israel with a group of members of the U.S. congress on the day the war started,” Greenwald said. “Certainly that was the feeling and the United States at that time was offering to fly President Zelenskyy out of Kyiv so that he could start a government in exile.”
Greenwald fears it could now turn into a conflict that has no immediate resolution.
“You basically have a stalemate and you have what is now I think going to become a long, grinding war,” Greenwald said.
Greenwald said the end result is also very much up in the air. He believes it’s in the best interest of not only the United States, but other countries, to provide Ukraine with what they need to survive and come through still as an independent democracy.
“Our European friends and allies in NATO and the European Union have really contributed a little bit more in terms of military equipment and in terms of financial aid and humanitarian assistance that we have,” Greenwald.
According to Greenwald, the U.S. still plays a vital role in Ukraine’s success.
“We provide a lot of things like intelligence help for example and coordination of the assistance that’s given.”
Greenwald also says that if the United States doesn’t keep up, it would greaten the chances that other European countries would also pull back.
The lecture was one of a series hosted by Lawrence University- called the Povolny Lecture Series, which focuses on foreign affairs.
