The War in Ukraine Is Putin’s Fault, but 30 Years of Misguided U.S. Foreign Policy Didn’t Help

There is one person—and just one person—who is responsible for the widespread death and devastation inside Ukraine right now, and that is Vladimir Putin. He has attacked and invaded a sovereign nation without justification. Putin’s nostalgia for the old Soviet Union is despicable, and his imperialist ambitions to expand his authoritarian grasp are in direct violation of international law, humanitarian principles, and the very stability of the post–World War II peace that has endured in much of the word for decades.

Putin is a tyrant and a killer. His decision to put Russia’s nuclear forces on high is unconscionable. It’s a move that harkens all the way back to the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962—a leader of a superpower has unilaterally brought civilization closer to nuclear war. This is indefensible, and the whole world knows it. The people of Russia know it: That’s why thousands of them are protesting Putin’s war all over their country. Putin’s government has arrested more than 6,000 peaceful demonstrators so far.

Putin’s nuclear threats will put the rest of the developed world on high alert in response. This means we’ve rapidly landed in a place where the risk of all-out nuclear war is significantly higher. There’s no reason for this. We are in this situation because of the actions of one very evil man.

All of that said, it’s important to call out the bad U.S. foreign policy moves that helped get us here. And even though no one did this but Putin, the U.S.’s failed approach to Russia for the last 30 years—a bipartisan effort that includes mistakes by Presidents Bill Clinton,