x.com/LamareSaint/status/2110146211067892130
2 corrections found
Ukraine, in the eyes of US foreign policy, has always been and is critical to undermining Russia.
The word "always" is inaccurate. In 1991, U.S. policy explicitly backed continued relations with the Soviet central government and publicly warned Ukrainians against pursuing independence, so Ukraine was not consistently treated as a tool for weakening Russia.
Full reasoning
This claim overstates U.S. policy by saying Ukraine has always been viewed as critical to weakening Russia.
A clear counterexample is President George H. W. Bush's official speech to the Ukrainian parliament on August 1, 1991, when Ukraine was still part of the USSR. In that speech, Bush said the U.S. would "maintain the strongest possible relationship with the Soviet Government of President Gorbachev" and that the U.S. would "not try to pick winners and losers" between the Soviet center and the republics. He also said "freedom is not the same as independence" and that Americans would not aid those promoting "suicidal nationalism." He further praised the "nine-plus-one" process, saying it offered hope for republics to combine greater autonomy with greater voluntary interaction rather than isolation.
That is strong evidence that, at least at this crucial moment, U.S. policy was not treating Ukraine as a constant strategic instrument for "undermining Russia." Instead, the Bush administration was still prioritizing stability in a reforming Soviet Union and did not recognize Ukrainian independence until December 25, 1991, after Ukraine's independence referendum.
Because one well-documented period of U.S. policy contradicts the word "always," the statement is factually incorrect as written.
3 sources
- Remarks to the Supreme Soviet of the Republic of the Ukraine in Kiev, Soviet Union | The American Presidency Project
Bush said the U.S. would "maintain the strongest possible relationship with the Soviet Government of President Gorbachev," would "not try to pick winners and losers" between the republics and the center, and that "freedom is not the same as independence."
- Ukraine - Countries - Office of the Historian
The Office of the Historian states that the United States recognized Ukraine's independence on December 25, 1991, after the breakup of the Soviet Union.
- Records on U.S. Recognition of Ukraine | George H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum
The Bush Library notes that Ukrainians voted for independence on December 1, 1991, and that "On Christmas Day 1991, the United States announced its formal recognition of Ukraine as a sovereign nation."
its access to the Black Sea
This overstates Brzezinski's point. He wrote that Ukraine's independence deprived Russia of its dominant position on the Black Sea, not of all access to it.
Full reasoning
Brzezinski's argument in The Grand Chessboard was that losing Ukraine weakened Russia's position on the Black Sea, not that Russia lost all access to the sea.
In the book, he wrote that Ukraine's independence "deprived Russia of its dominant position on the Black Sea" and later added that, by the mid-1990s, Russia was still "left with a small coastal strip on the Black Sea." Those statements directly contradict the claim that independent Ukraine stripped Russia of Black Sea access altogether.
So this part of the post is an inaccurate paraphrase of Brzezinski: his point was loss of predominance and strategic depth, not total loss of access.
1 source
- Zbigniew Brzezinski, The Grand Chessboard (CIA-hosted PDF)
Brzezinski says Ukraine's independence deprived Russia of its "dominant position on the Black Sea" and that Russia was still left with "a small coastal strip on the Black Sea."