Reflections on the ceremonial arrival

The Minister of Defense of the United States in the Parade in honor of the Independence Day of Ukraine in Kyiv. If a few years ago they told me that the head of the Pentagon, surrounded by other NATO military ministers, would welcome the parade of Ukrainian military, I would not believe. What was the US Minister of Defense in Kyiv before? Ukraine has never been to the center of American political interests - and even more so the interests related to safety. If the US presidents could still occasionally visit the Ukrainian capital - in recent years, less and less, then the ministers of the defense were clearly not for time. And so James Mattis arrived.

... 18 years ago, I flew to Skopje and, with a sense of special satisfaction, saw the plane of the President of the United States at the airfield of the Macedonian capital. But by no means the leadership of Macedonia could have merit a visit to such an important guest.

Bill Clinton brought Slobodan Milosevich to Macedonia - after he expelled the Albanians from Kosovo and turned the neighboring country into a huge refugee camp. Clinton flew to Macedonia to express solidarity with hundreds of thousands of people whom the Mad Serbian dictator deprived his home and normal life. Soon the Albanians returned home, Milosevich’s regime fell, and now - despite the sabotage efforts of the Russian special services - the President of the United States is unlikely to appear in the Western Balkans. Because the madness of the universal scale is necessary to force the American president to visit regions that are clearly not priority in the foreign policy of his country. However, I do not think that the Macedonians should be upset about this. Their country has ceased to be a refugee camp - and this is the most important thing.

The Minister of Defense of the United States to the Kiev parade also did not bring the invitation of the leadership of Ukraine, but the universal madness of no less than the insanity of Milosevich - the madness of Putin and Shoigu, who organized the invasion of the Russian army into Ukraine. The consequences are very reminiscent of the results of adventures in the Balkans - a smoldering war, the death of thousands of people, millions of internal immigrants, and the degradation of the occupied regions. Like any war, the Ukrainian crisis and the clear unwillingness of Russia to promote its settlement began to affect the security of the world as a whole - and the United States in particular. That is why the American minister was in Kyiv.

Authoritarian rulers often imagine themselves great strategists, but are not able to calculate the consequences of their actions for at least a couple of years in advance. Prior to the expulsion of the Albanians from Kosovo, Milosevich was perceived in the West as a strong man of the Balkan, capable of contributing to the settlement of the situation in the region - and this despite all the wars unleashed by him. They talked to him, agreed with him, no one denied his influence in the Balkans. After the expulsion of the Albanians, he began to be perceived in one day as a butcher, which needs to be rid of. The influence of Serbia in the region was bored, Kosovo separated from it, an alliance with Montenegro broke up - but all this could not have happened if Milosevich tried to look at things realistically.

Everything is the same with Putin. Before the attack on Ukraine, he was perceived as the leader of the leading country of the post -Soviet world - despite the adventures unleashed by him, even despite the war in Georgia and the marginalization of Russia itself. They talked to him, agreed with him, no one denied his influence in the post -Soviet space. After Crimea and Donbass, he turned into an outcast. Of course, getting rid of Putin, the head of the nuclear power, is not as simple as from Milosevich. But he is finished off by sanctions, surrounded by troops - everything that would never have happened if it were not for the Ukrainian adventure.

The Kremlin explained his invasion by the fact that, he would not steal the Crimea and did not gut the Donbass, tomorrow in Ukraine there would already be Americans. But the focus that the Americans showed real interest in Ukraine only as a result of Putin's actions. That most Ukrainians thought about NATO only as a result of Putin's actions. Putin and Shoigu was built by his own crazy pens. And they achieved his own: the Russian Minister of Defense looks at the Bratsk Ukraine through the sight, and the US Minister of Defense is discussing the supply of weapons with the Ukrainian leadership.

If on Independence Day, not military parades were held, but parades of fools, Russian leaders could perfectly march.