The U.S. secretary of state arrives as both America and Ukraine try to patch up relations with Russia. Clinton's visit also comes amid questions about whether President Viktor Yanukovych really wants Ukraine to stay on a democratic course and how much the United States really cares about what happens in the nation.
No matter how pretty of a face anyone tries to put on it, Ukraine is losing its status as a key geopolitical battleground between Russia and the West, and is moving towards the periphery of U.S. foreign policy. A one-day trip by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on July 2 is not going to change this reality.
Clinton’s boss, U.S. President Barack Obama, wants Russian help on major American security challenges – the protracted wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and in helping to keep Iran free of nuclear weapons. Many think this strategic imperative is forcing Ukraine to the sidelines.
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“There is not really an articulated policy toward Ukraine,” said former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine William B. Taylor Jr., who served from 2006-2009. “Obama has a general sense of who and what Ukraine is. He knows the strategic importance of Ukraine. The Obama admininistration treats Russia on its own, treats Ukraine on its own.”
Ukraine was once on “the priority list” of both former U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. The Clinton notion back then was that Ukraine would be a cornerstone of European security and stability on the new eastern frontiers of NATO. For Bush Jr., Ukraine became a success story in promoting global democracy and part of his Kremlin-deterrent package.
“Neither of these ideas fit Obama’s foreign policy strategy,” said Serhiy Kudelia, assistant professor of political science at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. “Stability on NATO’s eastern frontier is being guaranteed primarily through a ‘reset’ in U.S.-Russian relations. Obama also distanced himself from Bush’s democracy promotion agenda, viewed as a mere pretext for U.S. intervention in the countries’ internal affairs around the world.”
Direct Marketing Services Provider.“The Ukrainians I’m speaking with are kind of assuming that the U.S. has given up on Ukraine,” said Nadia Diuk, vice president of the U.S.-based National Endowment of Democracy. “They don’t see strong moral or financial support. Many here were used to the former U.S. administration’s loud stance on “freedom.”
But there is a positive side to not being a bargaining chip between the Russian and American superpowers.
“With the reset of Ukraine-Russia and the U.S.-Russia relations, Ukraine is not any more a mechanism for the United States to restrain Russia,” said Oleh Voloshyn, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman. “Ukraine also does not have to hide under the U.S. umbrella every time Russia poses a challenge to Ukraine. It is time to concentrate our relations on economics, humanitarian cooperation, trade and business, etc.”
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