Should Canada, the United States, and Europe arm Ukraine with anti-tank missiles and other defensive weapons?
When Vladimir Putin was handed Russia’s presidency by an ailing Boris Yeltsin in 2000, the country had few, if any, enemies. During the ensuing 15 years, Putin constantly demonized the West to the Russian people, while rebuilding the country’s military largely with oil and gas revenues from customers in Europe.
Putin’s self-created war in eastern Ukraine appears aimed at achieving control of a large swath of the country and rendering its overall transition to democracy and independence as difficult as possible.
Sanctions are unlikely to alter his aggression quickly because the nationalism he has unleashed among Russians appears to be trumping economic considerations.
