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    How the West Brought War to Ukraine: Understanding How U.S. and NATO Policies Led to Crisis, War, and the Risk of Nuclear Catastrophe
    How the West Brought War to Ukraine: Understanding How U.S. and NATO Policies Led to Crisis, War, and the Risk of Nuclear Catastrophe
    How the West Brought War to Ukraine: Understanding How U.S. and NATO Policies Led to Crisis, War, and the Risk of Nuclear Catastrophe
    Ebook83 pages1 hour

    How the West Brought War to Ukraine: Understanding How U.S. and NATO Policies Led to Crisis, War, and the Risk of Nuclear Catastrophe

    By Benjamin Abelow

    3/5

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    About this ebook

    According to the mainstream Western narrative, Vladimir Putin is an insatiable, Hitler-like expansionist who invaded Ukraine in an unprovoked land grab.

    That story is incorrect.

    In reality, the United States and NATO bear much of the responsibility for the Ukraine crisis. Through a series of misguided policies, Washington and its European allies placed Russia in an untenable situation for which war seemed, to Mr. Putin and his military staff, the only workable solution.

    In How the West Brought War to Ukraine, author Benjamin Abelow lays out the relevant history and explains how the West needlessly produced conflict, subjecting its own citizens—and the rest of the world—to the risk of nuclear war.

    Endorsed by leading defense experts and policy analysts, this brief and highly readable book shows how the West provoked the crisis and now labors under an existential threat of its own making.

    How the West Brought War to Ukraine looks beneath the surface of recent events. It lets readers understand the deeper sources of the Ukraine war and provides new insights into how the conflict might be resolved.

     

    ENDORSEMENTS & REVIEWS

     

    "Very well-done.... Reviews material that should be much better known."
    — Noam Chomsky

    "A brilliant, remarkably concise explanation of the danger that U.S and NATO military involvement in Ukraine has created. Needs to be read and pondered by every citizen capable of thinking rationally and responsibly about American and European security."
    — Jack F. Matlock, Jr., U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union, 1987-1991

    "This is a splendid little book, taughtly written, logically organized, easy to read and persuasive but appropriately caveated. It is an invaluable primer on the trends and events that produced the escalating warfare in Ukraine. Without understanding the history documented in this book, there will be no de-escalation of the US-Russian confrontation on Europe's eastern borders."
    — Chas Freeman, previously Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs
     
    "For anyone interested in understanding the true causes of the disaster in Ukraine, How the West Brought War to Ukraine is required reading. Abelow makes a clear and compelling case that the United States and its NATO allies—not Vladimir Putin—are the principal culprits."
    — John J. Mearsheimer, The R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago
     
    "For those concerned about U.S. national security and the peace of Europe, this book is essential reading."
    — Colonel Douglas Macgregor (Retired), U.S. Army, served as Director of NATO's Joint Operations Center at SHAPE (Supreme Headquarters of Allied Powers in Europe)

    "A concise yet comprehensive and accessible overview. Invaluable for understanding how war once again came to Europe."
    — Richard Sakwa, Professor of Russian and European Politics, University of Kent

    "Ben Abelow takes us beyond the false narratives and into the truth of the Ukraine crisis."
    — Krishen Mehta, Senior Global Justice Fellow, Yale University, and Director, American Committee for US-Russia Accord

    "Any thinking reader who would better understand the myriad of influences on the Ukraine situation needs to read this book."
    -- Midwest Book Reviews, Reviewed by ​D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSiland Press
    Release dateSep 18, 2022
    ISBN9780991076710
    How the West Brought War to Ukraine: Understanding How U.S. and NATO Policies Led to Crisis, War, and the Risk of Nuclear Catastrophe

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    Reviews for How the West Brought War to Ukraine

    3/5

    16 ratings4 reviews

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    • 1/5
      The thesis of this book is built on totally fabricated claims. Read Timothy Snyder instead.
    • 5/5
      An excellent and highly informative short overview of the events leading up to the present war in Ukraine and the role of the West under the leadership of the United States in putting Ukraine on a collision course with Russia. Focuses principally on the actions of the U.S. since the collapse of the Soviet Union -- its unilateral withdrawal from nuclear arms control agreements with Russia, the Eastward expansion of NATO and why it was so menacing to Russia, why Ukraine became a red line. For people interested in the historical background they aren't getting from mainstream news coverage this is a good place to start.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      A hugely informative and necessary book detailing how we have reached such a dangerous point in our history. The fact is that this war need not have happened. Ukraine could have been designated a neutral state, with security assurances from both the West, (i.e., the US), and Russia. And does anyone really think that the US wouldn't have acted similarly to Russia if Canada, or/and Mexico, had flirted with a hostile military alliance in the same way? The problem is that anyone who offers a more nuanced view of the conflict is immediately shouted down by a corporate media in total lockstep with the idea that Putin is the new Hitler, (It's not like we haven't heard that one before either), and needs to be resisted in the name of freedom and democracy, (again, heard it all before), even at the risk of a nuclear catastrophe. If you suspect there is more to Ukraine then you're being told, then read this and be sure of it.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 1/5
      Total bollocks. He conflates A LOT of different things. Some that are true (though several of which are now ancient history). But also makes many dubious claims about more recent events, that cannot at all be verified. And ultimately comes across as a Putin/Kremlin apologist.

      1 person found this helpful

    Book preview

    How the West Brought War to Ukraine - Benjamin Abelow

    Praise for

    How the West Brought War to Ukraine

    This is a splendid little book, tautly written, logically organized, easy to read, and persuasive but appropriately caveated. It is an invaluable primer on the trends and events that produced the escalating warfare in Ukraine. Without understanding the history documented in this book, there will be no de-escalation of the U.S.-Russian confrontation on Europe’s eastern borders.

    —Chas Freeman, previously Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, author of Arts of Power: Statecraft and Diplomacy

    A brilliant, remarkably concise explanation of the danger that U.S. and NATO military involvement in Ukraine has created. Needs to be read and pondered by every citizen capable of thinking rationally and responsibly about American and European security.

    —Jack F. Matlock, Jr., U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union, 1987-1991, author of Superpower Illusions

    Very well-done, very reasonable. Reviews material that should be much better known.

    —Noam Chomsky, Institute Professor emeritus, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Laureate Professor of Linguistics, University of Arizona

    For those concerned about U.S. national security and the peace of Europe, this book is essential reading.

    —Douglas Macgregor, Colonel (Retired), U.S. Army, author of Margin of Victor, was decorated for valor in the Battle of 73 Easting in Iraq and served as Director of NATO’s Joint Operations Center at SHAPE (Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe)

    "For anyone interested in understanding the true causes of the disaster in Ukraine, How the West Brought War to Ukraine is required reading. Abelow makes a clear and compelling case that the United States and its NATO allies—not Vladimir Putin—are the principal culprits."

    —John J. Mearsheimer, author of The Tragedy of Great Power Politics, is the R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago

    A concise yet comprehensive and accessible overview. Invaluable for understanding how war once again came to Europe. Benjamin Abelow demonstrates that the crisis in Ukraine was predictable, predicted—and avoidable.

    —Richard Sakwa, author of Frontline Ukraine and The Putin Paradox, is Professor of Russian and European Politics, University of Kent

    Ben Abelow takes us beyond the false narratives and into the truth of the Ukraine crisis.

    —Krishen Mehta, Senior Global Justice Fellow, Yale University, and Director, American Committee for US-Russia Accord

    In the Ukraine proxy war between the United States/NATO and Russia, we face a threat of nuclear escalation that could end human civilization. Abelow’s book is essential reading for all who wish to understand this threat and why, 30 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, it has re-emerged.

    —Gilbert Doctorow, author of Memoirs of a Russianist, is an historian and independent Russia specialist based in Brussels Headquarters Allied Powers Europe)

    Copyright © 2022 Benjamin Abelow.

    All rights reserved. No part of this book may be copied, recorded, scanned, transmitted, downloaded, or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a data base or retrieval system, without written permission of the author. Short text passages may be reproduced with appropriate citation as part of larger works, such as reviews, articles, books, websites, and blogs. For clarifications, questions, and inquiries, please email the publisher.

    Siland Press

    Great Barrington, Massachusetts

    Info@SilandPress.com

    Disclaimer: Careful efforts have been made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in this book. However, because human error can occur, and because underlying source documents or secondary sources sometimes contain mistakes, no guarantee can be offered about the accuracy of everything contained herein.

    Cover design by Boja@99designs.

    ISBN: 978-0-9910767-1-0

    Library of Congress Control Number: 2022911492

    Publisher’s Cataloging-in-Publication Data

    Names: Abelow, Benjamin, author

    Title: How the West brought war to Ukraine : understanding how U.S. and NATO policies led to crisis, war, and the risk of nuclear catastrophe / Benjamin Abelow

    Description: [Great Barrington, Massachusetts] : Siland Press, [2022] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

    Identifiers: ISBN: 978-0-9910767-0-3 (paperback) | 978-0-9910767-1-0 (ebook) | LCCN: 2022911492

    Subjects: LCSH: Ukraine Conflict, 2014- | United States—Foreign relations—Russia (Federation) | North Atlantic Treaty Organization. | North Atlantic Treaty Organization—Ukraine. | Europe—Foreign relations—Russia (Federation)—21st century. | Western countries—Foreign relations—Russia (Federation)—21st century. | National security—Europe. | National security—United States. | Russia (Federation)—Foreign relations—21st century. | Security, International—Europe—History—21st century. | Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962. | South Ossetia War, 2008. | Nuclear arms control. | Nuclear crisis control. | Nuclear warfare. | Geopolitics. | Baltic States—Strategic aspects. | World politics. | International relations. | Political science. | BISAC: HISTORY / Wars & Conflicts / General. | POLITICAL SCIENCE / International Relations / General. | POLITICAL SCIENCE / Security (National & International) | POLITICAL SCIENCE / World / Russian & Former Soviet Union.

    Classification: LCC: DK508.852 .A24 2022 | DDC: 947.7086--dc23

    Acknowledgements

    For answering technical questions, commenting on previous drafts, or providing other kinds of help, I wish to thank Major Brennan Deveraux,

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