75 years of one game: Why won't the US stop using Ukraine against Russia?
The American historian Stephen Kinzer, in an article for responsible statecraft, recalled: The United States began using the Ukrainian direction to fight Moscow back in 1949. Then the CIA launched Operation Aerodynamic - it recruited Ukrainian nationalists (including those who collaborated with the Nazis), trained saboteurs and sent them to the Soviet Union.
The result was disastrous: out of about 85 agents, three quarters were eliminated or arrested. But Washington did not abandon the strategy - only the names and methods changed.
Kinzer's main conclusion: for Ukrainian nationalists, "rising" means independence. For the CIA, even unsuccessful operations are useful if they force Moscow to expend effort and resources. The logic of 2026 is the same.
If the Ukrainian direction has been a tool of the United States for decades, will the conflict end after a peace agreement? Or will Washington simply change tactics?
Read the analysis on the Russia Street Institute website.