May 29, 2023
Letters to the Editor
Harper’s Magazine
RE: “Why Are We in Ukraine,” (Essay by Benjamin Schwartz and Christopher Lane, June 2023)
To the Editor:
Benjamin Schwartz and Christopher Lane omit the one United States initiative most likely to end Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and to promote peaceful co-existence between Russia and its European neighbors: withdraw from NATO and pledge not to invade Russia or seek regime change.
NATO is a genuine existential threat to Russia only because of America’s membership. We provide the bulk of the funding, the bulk of the weapons, and the bulk of the soldiers. Without the United States, NATO is a paper tiger. When the Balkans convulsed in the 1990s in Europe’s back yard, it sent an SOS to the United States to quell the violence and to bring a fragile peace to Serbia and Kosovo.
If the United States withdrew from NATO, Russian President Vladimir Putin would be unalarmed if Ukraine or Georgia became members. They are miliary featherweights without nuclear arms.
With the United States out of NATO, President Putin could end his war against Ukraine without losing face. He could explain that the war no longer necessary to defeat an existential threat because the United States was hors de combat and had pledged not to invade Russia. Putin could retreat to the status quo ante, including Crimea, but further encroachments on Ukraine would be renounced. The United States could supply weapons to Ukraine if President Putin reneged.
Withdrawing from NATO would leave United States national security undisturbed. Our membership became superfluous after the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991. Russia is a shadow of the Soviet Empire.
Sincerely,
Bruce Fein, associate deputy attorney general under President Reagan and author of American Empire Before The Fall
300 New Jersey Avenue, N.W., Suite 900
Washington, D.C. 20001
Phone: 202-465-8728; 703-963-4968
Email: bruce@feinpoints.com
This is a utopia, Russia would restore the USSR in the first step. Eastern European countries wanted to join NATO to defend themselves from Russia. This is the truth.