Read this article posted on 16/2/25 which is related ….
Ukraine’s War is a lesson how America treats its ‘allies’!
The USA called Ukraine an ally. But when it came to the crunch, the US has sold out Ukraine. This should be a lesson for every Muslim country that looks to Washington for ‘help’!
FEB 16, 2025
Viscount Palmerston, once famously encapsulated the creed of Western foreign policy “We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow.”
Despite this being well-known, those people who choose to ally with America, Britain, France or other western states - seeking help from them - end up finding themselves betrayed at some point. Whether countries - like Pakistan who America used to fight the Soviet Union in Afghanistan and later their ‘War on Terror’ - or whether individuals like the Shah of Iran or Hosni Mubarak who were discarded when they passed their sell-by date.
Ukraine has featured in the news this week as President Zelenskyy met US Vice President JD Vance and Senator Lindsay Graham at the Munich security conference. Meanwhile the main man, President Trump, has decided to meet Vladimir Putin rather than Zelenskyy in the coming days.
This is a humiliation for Zelenskyy and will be seen as a betrayal by Ukraine. Yet for those who have watched over the years, this betrayal is no surprise.
After the fall of the Soviet Union, the United States tried to win influence in Eastern Europe. Russia was weakened but not crushed - but still had influence in the so-called Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), which included Ukraine, which acted as a strategic buffer against any hostility it might potentially face from its western frontier. The so-called ‘Partnership for Peace’ programme was launched by the Clinton administration in 1994 and was supposed to balance the desire of former Warsaw Pact countries to join NATO whilst keeping Russia on board. Yet security policy makers in Washington made aggressive attempts to win Russia’s neighbours without caring for provoking Russian fears.
In 2004, the so-called ‘Orange Revolution’ saw the rise of politicians who tried to orientate away from Russia towards NATO and Europe. Vikor Yushchenko lead the country from 2005 to 2010 solidifying this change in direction.
For Russia the idea of a potential NATO state on its border, in a country which was vital to its security policy (when Russia has been invaded, it is almost always through Ukraine), was unacceptable. Russia tried to boost Yushchenko’s opponents and was also felt to have poisoned Yushchenko himself in 2006.
But in early 2014 Russia invaded and annexed Crimea. They believed the rhetoric that America would have their back - only to find that Obama abandoned them. America’s focus was on the legacy of the ‘War on Terror’ - mainly Afghanistan - the legacy of the Arab spring - i.e. Syria - as well as wanting to pivot towards China. Moreover America and Europe were still dealing with the effects of its financial crisis of the late 2000s.
Not only did America not defend Ukraine, Obama was willing to be in dialogue with Putin in late 2014. Critics even argued that Obama ‘allowed’ the annexation.
Negotiations between Ukraine and Russia/proxies continued in the form of the Minsk Agreements - which never succeeded as Ukraine wanted the annexed territories back, whilst Russia wanted the annexed areas to have autonomy.
Negotiations between America and Russia did not resolve the key issues. During a 2021 summit, Biden not only failed to give Russia the reassurances. that would avoid invasion - he made it clear that America would not intervene militarily, merely threatening sanctions. The New York Post wrote that: “Biden advisers now admit that the sanctions back then were too timid, a concession that they let Putin off too lightly. Surely, that must have figured into the Russian leader’s calculation whether to invade yet again” This combination of messages ultimately drew Russia into a full-scale invasion of Ukraine - after more than two decades of laying the seeds for these events.
But things accelerated under the Biden administration. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had won an election promising to try to negotiate a settlement with Russia. Yet when Biden came into office he did a u-turn and pursued policies that provoked Putin . Presumably he expected that Biden would provide the lethal aid to defeat Russia. More fool him. Whilst I wish no ill for the people of Ukraine, Zelenskyy is a hypocrite who has one view of occupation and colonisation for Ukraine, but another for Palestine. So I have no sympathy for him regarding his personal on-going humiliation.
Al Jazeerah summarise the events after this. In March 2021 the think tank, the Atlantic Council, proposed provocative policies for the Biden administration that included NATO membership for Ukraine, derailing Nord Stream 2 and “enhancing security” in the Black Sea. The response from Moscow was to deploy troops on the border with Ukraine. Britain deployed HMS Defender into waters off the coast of Crimea. America started supplying weapons to Ukraine and a strategic partnership was announced.
Putin invaded in February 2022. Some think this is what Biden wanted him to do.
Biden aimed to achieve several objectives through goading Russia into an invasion. One was to mend the relations between the US and Europe that were damaged during the first Trump presidency. NATO was revived. Europe, fearful of Putin’s westward expansion and dependent on Russia for natural gas, found itself having to change its relationship with the US. Time magazine states "President Joe Biden set three objectives for the US response. Ukraine’s victory was never among them. The phrase the White House used to describe its mission at the time – supporting Ukraine ‘for as long as it takes’ – was intentionally vague. It also raised the question: As long as it takes to do what?”
America supplied sufficient support to Ukraine to injure Russia, but not to liberate Ukraine. That was never an American objective. Ukraine suffered huge losses and begged for more, yet Biden never delivered. Indeed, only this month Zelenskyy admitted that Ukraine only received $75 billion out of the $177 billion pledged from the US.
To be sure Russia has lost a lot. But they are not fatally wounded. America has been willing fight Russia sacrificing between 43 000 - 100 000 Ukrainians, countless refugees and the economy of the country.
At the Munich security conference, Senator Lindsay Graham was tone-deaf sitting next to Zelenskyy proudly boasting to that “Not one American has died defending Ukraine” whilst the latter looked visibly frustrated.
Graham, like Trump, is frank if nothing else. “This war is about money” he said during Biden’s presi. “The richest country in all of Europe for rare earths is Ukraine, worth $2 to $7 trillion Donald Trump will make a deal to take our money back so we can enrich ourselves with rare minerals".
On a BBC interview, Graham argued that Trump should secure a metals deal with Ukraine against Russia - and that Trump, the businessman, would defend that. That would be the guarantee that he would be robust with Putin during negotiations.
This shameless is something Trump has said himself in interviews. Zelenskyy knows that Ukraine cannot survive without the US in any shape or form. But this is foreign policy by the mob. Protection money, to be paid in rare earth minerals, for their ‘freedom’ - or at least freedom from Russia.
This is the approach that most Muslim countries have adopted. They look at short term interests, and allow themselves to become victims to the protection racketeers like the colonial states - or the loan sharks like the IMF and World Bank.
Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ) has prohibit this when He (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ) said:
وَلَن يَجۡعَلَ ٱللَّهُ لِلۡكَٰفِرِينَ عَلَى ٱلۡمُؤۡمِنِينَ سَبِيلً
“Allah will never give the disbelievers a way over the believers [to overcome them].” [4:141]
And He (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ) told us the consequences of inclining to wrongdoers when He says:
وَلَا تَرْكَنُوٓا۟ إِلَى ٱلَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا۟ فَتَمَسَّكُمُ ٱلنَّارُ وَمَا لَكُم مِّن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ مِنْ أَوْلِيَآءَ ثُمَّ لَا تُنصَرُونَ
“And do not incline to the wrongdoers or you will be touched by the Fire. For then you would have no protectors other than Allah, nor would you be helped.” [11:113]
It is vital that we learn the lessons from Ukraine’s tragic experience - to used, abused and then pay for the privilege for decades to come.
Abdul Wahid has been active in Muslim affairs in the UK for over 25 years. He has been published on the websites of Foreign Policy, Open Democracy, the Times Higher Educational Supplement, and Prospect Magazine. You can follow him on X/Twitter @AbdulWahid_X and elsewhere: https://linktr.ee/abdulwahid101010
