Why are we in Ukraine? Over 16 months after the February 22nd invasion of Ukraine it’s one of the questions we’re all asking ourselves. That’s the question that author and editor Benjamin Schwarz and his colleague Christopher Layne sought to answer with their article in Harper’s Magazine. In it they lay out the conveniently forgotten history of American post Cold War triumphalism that set the stage for the current war in Ukraine. This hubris of the 1990s and 2000’s that culminated in a 2008 invitation at Bucharest for Ukraine, and Georgia, to join NATO, a longstanding red line for Russia. America amnesia, along with the simplistic good vs. evil framing of the current struggle, has led us all into an intractable situation. The end of the war is difficult to see and the risk of all out conflict between nuclear armed states is growing. By examining the history we hope to find clues that lead to a way out, and a peaceful resolution.
