Wwherever I come to UkraineI find that words which elsewhere have lost their essence swell again with meaning. The fight for “freedom” is not an ambitious slogan here, but something you do every day. “Leadership” is not a slippery abstraction, but the difference between deciding your fate or Moscow’s.
Even in Ukraine it is understood that “freedom” and “government” exist in a collaborative relationship with others. Ukraine is now defending the independence of its neighbors from advancing Russia. The Kyiv resistance also supports the independence of Taiwan. Meanwhile, without help – especially from America – Ukraine would still struggle but, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy admits, it will not be difficult. As speculations about negotiations and the potential for peace around 2025 abound, the precise meaning of Ukraine’s relations will have to be defined. What does a “partner” really mean today? What is the real security order? We just mean peace, in the words of Olga Myrovych, CEO of Lviv Media Forum; that Ukraine “rest in peace”?
Just as Ukraine’s resistance to the Russian invasion has redefined some words, so it has shown the lightness of others. Many of the ideas that shape our political imagination have escaped when it has turned out to be too weak to take action against Russia in an attack on the “rules-based international order.” Indeed, that phrase was used more and more with irony attached to it. Joe Biden tried to invoke Cold War 2.0 between “democracies” and “dictatorships”. Many democracies around the world see the invasion as a remote problem they know nothing about. Ursula de Leyenthe president of the European Union speaks emotionally of Ukraine as part of the “European family”; however, when it comes to security, the EU has so far been well-meaning but powerless. Meanwhile, NATO’s commitment to collective defense has always rested on America’s plan, which now seems too erratic to be based on.
As Ukraine prepares for possible negotiations, its leadership asks what “sponsors” its partners can give. If the “international order”, “Europe” and “Nato” are fragile concepts, how can guarantees be obtained in reality? I will remember the Ukrainians Budapest memorandum of 1994when Ukraine returned its nuclear weapons, in exchange for promises from Russia, the US and Britain to respect their borders. Everyone is afraid of those empty words. Even if Russia agrees to a ceasefire next year, what is to stop it from planning and attacking again? Russia’s intention to destroy Ukraine is ancient; in 2025. In a world where so many well-known assumptions are rotten, the only final “guarantee” is for Ukraine to be well-armed so that it can always resist a Russian invasion. In Kyiv this month, members of the European Parliament’s self-defense committee, military intelligence chiefs, drone manufacturers, Ukrainian officials and weapons manufacturers discussed how to combine high political language with the reality of howitzers, drones and board factories. Event, hosted by the friends of the We build Ukraine thinktank dedicated to how Europe can deter Russia’s common defense industry. There was a lot of talk about chains. Ukrainian drone manufacturers, for example, are worried that Chinese sanctions will end their production of microchips – Taiwan will surely win, they wondered. In this format, the abstract treatment of “companies” becomes tangible through secure supply chains or “friends of the undercover”.
The definition of economics also needs to change. “It was a sad revelation for us when we realized in the EU that there is no real union when it comes to industrial production,” one Ukrainian expert told me. “All countries are competing with each other. This is the reason for peace. In war, it is necessary to direct and implement mass industrial capacity. Change regulations to facilitate production; encourage business to invest long term; unite the fronts of studies and universities.”
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Ukraine can be at the center of nations that recognize the Russian threat to their collective freedom, and in this way they can change industrial production and supply chain networks. These countries will probably be around North-Eastern Europe, with Britain potentially playing a vital role, but also from Asia and beyond who will see our interdependent existence as allies. Instead of aging Acronyms will fight political contradictions, Edward Lucas, Center for European Policy AnalysisHe says that it is necessary “coalitions of the willing, capable and aware of the threat”.
Since this new network exists, it will also need to disrupt the network of its adversaries. A new report from the Open Source Center details confidence in Russian howitzers to “kill their way” to victory in Ukraine. But the howitzers are fast without the basic chromium to refresh the barrels. Chromium is supplied from outside Russia and is therefore vulnerable to targeted sanctions, export controls and creating more disruption. Russia also needs a central Asian cannon to propel the artillery fire. Recent PBS polling report by Simon Ostrovsky in mysterious explosions at a gun warehouse in Uzbekistan. Were the Ukrainians responsible? Americans? Or are the Russians angry that the Uzbeks are selling cotton guns to Western powers that are helping Ukraine? As this new industrial war becomes central, we will have more stories about its shadow wars. Finally, the writers will also need to focus on: new bands and slow horse it will be dedicated to its invariable moral compromises, hidden heroism and dirty secrets.
In fact, the idea of freedom and military production can be so hostile to the pacifist instincts of some progressives. But Ukraine can offer a notable lesson here. Since winning the Nobel Peace Prize, Ukrainian human rights lawyer Oleksanda Matviichuk has clearly explained to the world that even though he is a human rights activist, he also advocates Ukraine’s right to self-defense and return. fire inside Russia to the military bases used for the slaughter of Ukrainian citizens. “International law” is also an empty term if it cannot be properly defended.