WTH Happened to Western Resolve In Ukraine? Yaroslav Trofimov on the Long War Ahead
What the Hell Is Going On
AEI Podcasts
4.4 • 633 Ratings
🗓️ 1 February 2023
⏱️ 47 minutes
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Summary
Next month will mark a year since the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine has continued. The Russian military has proven to be disorganized and surprisingly inept, President Zelensky by contrast has shown incredible resolve and organization, and the West is by and large committed to a Ukrainian victory. So why is that victory, nearly a year later, still so uncertain? The Biden Administration continues to pursue correct policy, but far too slowly – Washington’s “drip drip drip” approach to aid has left Ukraine approaching something more akin to stalemate than advancement as we reach mid-winter. A pervasive hesitancy to provoke Putin is still holding the West hostage, and plays directly to Russia’s advantage. We have passed the point of immediate and swift defeat, and the war is unlikely to end anytime soon and perhaps not even fully in Ukraine’s favor. Time is not on Ukraine’s side, but the West is not prepared for that reality.
Yaroslav Trofimov discusses his WSJ piece, The War in Ukraine Will Be Long, Is the West Ready? Trofimov is the Chief Foreign Affairs correspondent of the Wall Street Journal. He covered the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in 2021 and has been working out of Ukraine since January 2022. He previously served as Rome, Middle East, and Singapore-based Asia correspondent, as bureau chief in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and as Dubai-based columnist on the greater Middle East. He is the author of two books, Faith at War and Siege of Mecca.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This podcast is brought to you by the American Enterprise Institute. |
| 0:03.0 | If you like what you hear, please subscribe, rate, review, and share. Thanks for listening. Here's our show. What the hell's going on? What the hell is going on? What the hell is going on? I don't know what the hell he's talking about. You don't have to know what the hell is on it. What hell's the matter with these guys? We don't know what's going on. What hell's going on? |
| 0:01.1 | Who in God's name |
| 0:21.7 | knows what it's all about. Hi, I'm Daniel Plekka. And I'm Mark Thiessen. |
| 0:38.0 | Welcome to our podcast. What the hell is going on? Mark, what the hell is going on now? |
| 0:45.1 | Well, we're talking about Western resolve in the fight in Ukraine. |
| 0:49.8 | And, you know, it is dawning on people in the West slowly that this war isn't going to end |
| 0:56.3 | anytime soon. |
| 0:57.2 | There's not going to be a quick victory. |
| 0:59.1 | And that it may take a long time for the Ukrainians to secure a decisive defeat of Russia |
| 1:06.0 | and take back the territory that Russia has unlawfully taken from them. |
| 1:10.1 | And the question is, will the West stand |
| 1:13.2 | by Ukraine and help them achieve that goal? Or will we suddenly start getting weak knees and start |
| 1:20.6 | pushing the Ukrainians to cut some sort of a deal that makes land concessions to Putin in exchange |
| 1:26.7 | for an end to the war. |
| 1:28.1 | What do you think, Danny? |
| 1:29.3 | I'm beyond worried about this, you know, and it's not because we don't have the tools, |
| 1:35.2 | and it's not because I'm worried about our stockpiles, and it's not because... |
| 1:40.5 | Oh, that's a worry. |
| 1:41.5 | It is, but the biggest problems are not those. |
| 1:43.9 | The biggest problems are to be found in the quality of leadership we have. It's not just Joe Biden. It's not just Kevin McCarthy. It's not just Olaf Schultz. It is the fact that within NATO and among our allies, we simply don't have the resolve for a long conflict. |
| 2:06.5 | We spend all of our time trying to think about how to get out of it, trying to game it out |
... |
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