The situation in Ukraine is growing increasing perilous. Most Americans are not tuned in to this rapidly escalating crisis. They should.
Excerpted from The Moscow Times 1.20.2022
The United States and its allies Thursday warned Moscow of grave consequences if “any” of the tens of thousands of troops massed on the border were to cross the border into Ukraine.
“We want to remind the great powers that there are no minor incursions and small nations. Just as there are no minor casualties and little grief from the loss of loved ones,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on Twitter.
Hours before Secretary of State Anthony Blinken arrived in Berlin to coordinate the possible response to Russia, President Biden sparked controversy as he appeared to indicate that a “minor incursion” might prompt a smaller reaction from NATO allies.
“It’s one thing if it’s a minor incursion, and then we end up having a fight about what to do and not do, et cetera,” he said.
Following talks in Berlin with Germany, France, and Britain, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken underlined that Russia “cannot match” Western powers’ resoluteness.
Allowing Russia to violate Ukraine’s territorial integrity would “drag us all back to a much more dangerous and unstable time, when this continent, and this city, were divided in two… with the threat of all-out war hanging over everyone’s heads,” he said in the German capital.
In a show of that unity, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, speaking alongside Blinken, said the West would not shy away from taking action even if that included measures that “could have economic consequences for ourselves.”
Fears are mounting that a major conflict could break out in Europe, and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson cautioned that Russia marching on Ukraine would have repercussions beyond the continent. “It would be a disaster for the world,” he said.
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/01/20/west-warns-russia-against-any-ukraine-incursion-a76107
Lee's Perspective 