The U.S. Has no Vital Interest in Ukraine

A recent report by eight former U.S. senior diplomatic and military officials urging the United States and NATO to bolster Ukraine's defense by providing military assistance to Ukraine -- including lethal defensive assistance -- is misguided and dangerous. The report's recommendations are not in the best interest of either the United States or the transatlantic relationship. At best this course of action will further damage any chances of a negotiated settlement between the West and Russia, at worst it will provoke a full throated Russian military response against Ukraine to forestall the delivery of arms from America. Then there will be calls to restore America's credibility by force, and the United States will get drawn into yet another unwinnable conflict, this time against a nuclear armed state.