Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger has said that the crisis in Ukraine should not be about the East versus West. He says that Ukraine must not be either side's outpost against the other. It should function as a bridge between them.
On Thursday, the Washington Post published Kissinger's article titled "How The Ukraine Crisis Ends". Kissinger says that far too often the Ukrainian issue is posed as a showdown - whether Ukraine joins the East or the West. He warns that any attempt by one wing of Ukraine to dominate the other would lead eventually to civil war or breakup.
Kissinger adds that a wise US policy toward Ukraine would seek a way for the two parts of the country to cooperate with each other. It should seek reconciliation, not the domination of a faction. To treat Ukraine as part of an East-West confrontation would scuttle for decades any prospect to bring Russia and the West into a cooperative international system. At last, Kissinger calls leaders of all sides to return to examining outcomes, not compete in posturing.
