Experts from the U.S. Institute of Peace provide the latest analysis and perspective on the world’s critical hot spots, U.S. and global security and issues involved in violent conflict, based on the Institute’s work on the ground and with key individuals, governments and organizations. They give interviews and background briefings to journalists and write for news outlets around the world.
Meetings between NATO and the Russian Federation were suspended following the conflict in eastern Ukraine and Russia's annexation of Crimea. Does Wednesday's meeting represent substantive progress?
More than two years have passed since Russia launched a campaign of aggression against Ukraine – and the casualties, physical destruction and economic damage continue to mount. On March 30, hundreds of people attended a forum on Capitol Hill focusing on the devastating impact of Moscow’s war against Ukraine and U.S. efforts to assist Ukrainians with the humanitarian, economic and security crises brought on by Vladimir Putin’s hybrid military invasion.
U.S. Institute of Peace Executive Vice President William B. Taylor appeared on Al Jazeera English to provide analysis about Russia’s surprise announcement that it was withdrawing the bulk of its forces from Syria.
Reaction from Amb. William Taylor, former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine
A U.S. foreign policy that prioritizes Ukraine and Tunisia is a strategic vision with the potential to transform, not just respond to, a threatening global security environment. It is a vision both Democrats and Republicans have reason to support.
In his final State of the Union address, President Obama will seek to burnish his legacy in foreign policy and national security and refute the notion put forward by his critics that he is leaving a world “on fire.”
As we did in the Second World War and during the Cold War, we should resist armed aggression against sovereign nations. We should maintain and toughen the economic sanctions in coordination with the European Union until Russia withdraws from Donbass and Crimea.
A new Ukraine was born in the Maidan, but the United States and Europe have thus far failed to make an adequate commitment to its success. That must change. The West must now provide support commensurate with the military and economic threat Kiev faces, while also pushing the Ukrainian government to reform. A global order based on rule of law is at stake. Defending it cannot be done on the cheap. For the West, a Ukraine impoverished by Kremlin aggression will be far more costly.
However, as to the Russians' political pliability, William Taylor, Vice President of the Washington, DC-based US Institute of Peace said: “They are not yet part of the solution in Syria. As long as they continue to support Bashar al-Assad in Syria ...
Ukraine must not remain a country of great but unrealized potential. The International Monetary Fund package and other foreign assistance are helping stabilize Ukraine’s economy, but only an attractive business climate can result in the level of investment that will truly transform the country for the long term.