In the annals of President Donald Trump's odd dealings with Russia's Vladimir Putin, give Trump credit for making a straightforward decision to defy Putin by supplying arms to Ukraine.
The State Department says the U.S. will provide Ukraine with "enhanced defensive capabilities" to protect itself against Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. What this means, according to news reports, is that the U.S. is finally prepared to help Ukraine's military punch back in a murky conflict cooked up by Putin. American weapons going to Ukraine will include Javelin anti-tank missiles and sniper rifles.
You may be surprised to learn there still is a conflict in eastern Ukraine. Indeed there is, with reports of intensified shelling in recent days, though an ostensible cease-fire has been in place for more than two years. Violence there has killed more than 10,000 people since 2014 and driven 1.5 million people from their homes.
Putin is the scheming villain responsible for splintering Ukraine as part of his ambition to reassert Russian power. In 2014, he waltzed into Crimea (there is no better verb to describe his actions). Putin seized and annexed that vital region of Ukraine in the wake of Ukrainian political upheaval. He followed up by orchestrating the uprising in eastern Ukraine, intentionally destabilizing a country that had dreams of joining the European Union and NATO.
President Barack Obama imposed sanctions on Russia but did little else after Putin took the Crimean Peninsula in what was the first big European land grab since World War II. Obama decided that providing lethal weapons to Ukraine would accomplish little but antagonize Putin. Yet refusing to arm Ukraine had the opposite effect: It emboldened Putin. Obama's hesitance is one reason why Russia-backed rebels control eastern Ukraine today.
Putin's meddling in the affairs of other states won't stop unless he is challenged. Trump has done that.
FROM AN EDITORIAL IN THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE
