Atlantic Council Program Assistant Ian Hansen writes for the Moscow Times on the ongoing crisis in Ukraine:
The crisis in Ukraine has spurred some analysts to conclude that Russia has responded reasonably to Western interference in Ukraine. The ensuing Ukrainian violence and deterioration of U.S.-Russian relations can be blamed on Western hubris and far-fetched idealism.
Even if one accepts this narrative, the associated recommendation for the West to abandon its plan to “Westernize” Ukraine remains flawed.
The reason fits within what experts from Zbigniew Brzezinski to Henry Kissinger have all called for: Ukraine to serve as a genuinely sovereign buffer between Russia and the West. This outcome would decrease the risk of a contained low-intensity conflict escalating into a larger war.