Editor’s note: the News + Record asked retired diplomat and Chatham resident Bob Pearson, who served under 11 Secretaries of State and six presidents, for his perspective on the crisis in Ukraine. Here’s what he shared.
No one can deny the stark reality that the Russians might invade the independent country of Ukraine. The irony is that the independence of Ukraine was in fact fully supported by Russia’s own decision in 1991 to recognize Ukraine as a separate state.
Now Putin wants that decision reversed. Putin is an arch Russian nationalist whose long term goal is to re-establish Russian domination not only of Ukraine but of the other independent countries and NATO members of eastern Europe, ranging from the Baltic states through Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Russia has a principle running back hundreds of years — that it must control its neighbors whatever their own wishes because Russian security comes first, last and always.
The deep divisions in the United States that undermine our self-confidence and the European uncertainty about how to deal with Russia and concern over U.S. resolve have given Putin his opening. He knows the U.S. doesn’t want to go to war over Ukraine. He also knows that if he can succeed in retaking Ukraine or forcing Ukraine to switch its loyalty from the West to Moscow that he can begin to undermine NATO itself by playing on fears Moscow will generate about NATO’s commitments.
That is his real aim — to destroy the Western alliance and separate Europe from the U.S. What happens with Ukraine is also the first step in his long-term strategy to intimidate the West into accepting Russian political and territorial designs for Europe.
That means this is a “Munich” moment for the U.S. and Europe, as Maia Mikhaluk has written on this page. It could not have come at a more difficult time for us, but we have no choice. Letting Russia undermine NATO would be a strategic failure of the first order for the United States. And, yes, we still have China to face and deal with.
With a lifetime of diplomatic challenges in my own career, and seven years serving at NATO headquarters, I know that this challenge could be handled short of war if Russia agrees. There are a number of ways to improve the sense of security for all parties if there is the time and commitment to do so. We don’t have to give in to Russian demands, and we have ways of addressing the Russian demands about NATO enlargement beyond its current boundaries.
Appeasement talk about how we went too far east after the Soviet Union collapsed is not helping us. I served at NATO or on Secretary of State James Baker’s staff during the Soviet Union collapse, the reunification of Germany, and the first wave of expansion of NATO. Europe “whole and free” was our goal, and we achieved it. It was a remarkable victory for freedom and democracy.
The U.S. made no promises to Moscow about moving east, though that was clearly what the Russians would have liked. They’ve now created their own myth of political history to make up for their failure to maintain an empire based on dictatorship and force. There are going to be tough times ahead for Americans. I truly hope we don’t miss the chance to do the right thing.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: W. Robert Pearson was an innovative diplomat, leader and crisis manager at the top levels of the U.S. government. He was U.S. ambassador to Turkey and completed a 30-year career in 2006 with the Department of State as director general of the Foreign Service. He is a frequent writer and speaker on diplomacy, foreign policy, Turkey, NGOs and development, and served under six presidents (four Republican and two Democratic) and 11 secretaries of state. He lives in Fearrington Village with his wife, Maggie, who also worked as a diplomat and served as a senior foreign service public diplomacy officer from 2000 to 2006 period.