Wesley Clark: "Remember Rwanda. Arm Ukraine."
Wesley Clark: Remember Rwanda. Arm Ukraine.
6:31 p.m. EST February 26, 2015
Retired General Wesley K. Clark, a former supreme commander of NATO, led alliance military forces in the Kosovo War. He is a senior fellow at the Burkle Center for International Relations at UCLA and author of Don't Wait for the Next War: A Strategy for American Growth and Global Leadership. Clark's Ukraine trips were paid for by the Potomac Foundation and the Open Society Institute.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2015/02/26/wesley-clark-balkans-putin-aggression-ukriane-us-role-column/23953497/
In the old days of the post-Cold War world, the U.S. learned the hard way that when we could make a difference, we should. In Rwanda, we didn't, and 800,000 died. In Bosnia, we tarried, and more than 100,000 died and 2 million were displaced before we acted. It's time to take those lessons and now act in Ukraine.
In the Balkans in 1991, we let the Europeans lead with diplomacy to halt Serb aggression disguised as ethnic conflict. Diplomacy failed. We supported the Europeans when they asked for United Nations peacekeepers, from Britain, France, Sweden and even Bangladesh. That also failed. Only when the U.S. took the lead and applied military power to reinforce diplomacy did we halt the conflict. And we did succeed in ending it with minimal expense and without losing a single soldier.
In Ukraine today, Russian-backed forces continue to reinforce and attack Ukrainian positions. The Minsk II agreement that calls for a cease-fire, pullback of heavy weapons, and withdrawal of foreign forces hasn't been implemented. Losses on both sides are heavy, far heavier than publicly acknowledged. Russia is using its newest equipment — tanks, long range rockets, cluster munitions, drones, electronic warfare — to slowly grind away Ukrainian forces that lack modern equipment. Russia, of course, still denies its troops are present: This is "hybrid warfare," military aggression covered by the cloak of lies and propaganda. But, actually, except perhaps for a few stubborn European diplomats, there is surprisingly little dispute as to the facts.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel insists there is no military solution — but, as in the Balkans, there will be no diplomatic solution until the military "door" is closed for Russian President Vladimir Putin. And closing the door is actually simpler than many would have you believe.
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For diplomacy to work, the front must be stabilized. Ukraine needs the means to defend itself: anti-armor, counterfire radar, drones, night vision capabilities and secure communications. All this is readily available from the stocks of the United States, Poland and other allies. It requires no U.S. soldiers in the fight and no U.S. air power. It is not a proxy war against Russia; it is simple assistance to a fledgling democracy seeking the right to choose its own course.
The U.S. should take the lead now, as we did in the Balkans: Tell Putin he'll get some eventual phased sanctions relief if he halts aggression, pulls back and obeys international norms of behavior. The Minsk II agreement is a starting point, but Russia needs to recognize all Ukraine's borders, including Crimea. If not, the Ukrainians will receive all the arms they need to stop his aggression. This can all be couched in the normal diplomatic terms, and we can invite Germany to come along to deliver the message. In the meantime, we need to accelerate the delivery of the minimal assistance we have already promised and encourage our allies to immediately deliver anti-armor and artillery ammunition.
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http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2015/02/26/wesley-clark-balkans-putin-aggression-ukriane-us-role-column/23953497/
= new reply since forum marked as read
I have no IDEA ....but it seems to do with his Funding.
But, I don't want to be too harsh on him since many DU'ers supported him as Presidential Candidate and probably still do.
He just never turned "Me" On...because I had worried about MIC taking over. Eisenhower was an exception after WWII ....but, after that, I think "We Voters" would want to avoid "Military" as President because of the obvious bias of MIC/Wall Street, Arms Manufacturers and "other ops."
But, that's just me.
I thought, also, that Wes Clark was against the "Project for New American Century" view of Military expansion of USA. I must have read his other views in the wrong way. He seems, in this post, to be very much in favor of WAR wherever it takes us.
I'm not in favor of Endless WAR or Wars that can't be Resolved through Tedious DIPLOMACY...which anyone who has read my posts since I joined DU in 2001 would realize. So I just keep on going in "WONDER" of what we in the USA (Me,Us Citizens Out Here) have gotten ourselves into. 
