Editor, Gazette-Journal:
The Ukraine/Russia conflict is terrible all the way around. Nearly 1 million killed on both sides (Wall Street Journal), and many thousands displaced. Ukrainians have suffered before from Soviet Russia. During the Holodomor (famine) of 1932-33, Stalin collectivized Ukraine’s extensive grain-producing areas. Harvests were confiscated leaving Ukrainian peasants and farmers to starve, resulting in approximately 3.9 million deaths (Britannica). After President Reagan’s efforts ended the Cold War in the late 1980s, Ukraine regained its independence from Russia in 1991.
Unfortunately, due to government corruption, this independence was compromised in 1994, when Ukraine relinquished its ability to defend itself by agreeing to give up its nuclear weapons in exchange for a promise from other nuclear powers (Russia, U.K., U.S.A., France, China) to provide security should military force be used against Ukraine. Russia broke this treaty in 2014 when it invaded Crimea. Pres...