Looking for a passage about Ukraine and America's choice

October 18, 2022 5:34 PM

I think it was a screengrab from the New Yorker, written about eight years ago, and it essentially said the West has a choice: build up Ukraine with NATO and everyone loses OR demilitarize Ukraine and try to rebuild a relationship with Russia. But now my google-fu turns up short. Help.

I'm not interested in debating the merits of the analysis, just trying to find it and the source. Maybe not the New Yorker but a similar publication.

posted by history is a weapon to Media & Arts (1 answer total)

Sounds like it might have been the last paragraph of John Mearsheimer's Why the Ukraine Crisis is the West's Fault (link to PDF download from his site):

The United States and its European allies now face a choice on Ukraine. They can continue their current policy, which will exacerbate hostilities with Russia and devastate Ukraine in the process — a scenario in which everyone would come out a loser. Or they can switch gears and work to create a prosperous but neutral Ukraine, one that does not threaten Russia and allows the West to repair its relations with Moscow. With that approach, all sides would win.

I do not endorse his views on this, but it seems a likely match for what you remember. From Foreign Affairs.
posted by the primroses were over at 7:20 PM on October 18, 2022 [1 favorite]