Fareed ZakariHa sees the war in Ukraine as Russia trying to retain a former colony. He discounts the “realist” view that the West angered Putin by expanding NATO too close to mother Russia. He agrees with the opinion in the Wall Street Journal article that the 2008 Bucharest declaration was a disaster because it dangled NATO membership in front of Ukaraine and George without actually setting a way for them to get it. On the other hand, the eastern European countries that had lived under Russian domination as part of the Soviet Union or the Warsaw Pact desperately wanted to live like those in western Europe. Fareed sees these newly freed central European countries as colonies who were released from their former imperial master, Russia, just like Algeria and Vietnam were released from their French master. Now, Russia is trying to hang on to its former colony, Ukraine, as France tried to hang on to Algeria.

Taking Fareed’s viewpoint, I think Russia waited too long to try to reassert its authority over Ukraine. In the last ten years Ukraine has developed a feeling that it is an independent country that should be free to associate with the West. That feeling is evident in their determination to fight sp bravely against the Russian assault.