“Why American taxpayers should be interested in Ukraine?” — this question was asked by the Secretary of state, USA Rex Tillerson (Rex Tillerson) at the meeting of foreign Ministers of the countries “the Big seven” the day before his trip to Moscow. We don’t know what he meant by asking such a question, and the context in which this question was asked. State Department officials noted that this issue was only a “rhetorical device”.
If Tillerson was a different person, and we would live in a different era, we could ignore this strange comment and move on. But past experience Tillerson is quite unusual for the Secretary of state. In contrast to all those who have held this position in the last 100 years, before he worked in diplomatic, political and military structures. All his life he has produced and sold oil. And in this field he achieved considerable success. However, nobody knows whether he will be able to change their value system to focus on executing completely different tasks, namely, to sell much less the material product of American values — for the sake of maximizing even less real income of American influence.
To make this transition more difficult than it might seem at first glance: unlike money value and impact is impossible to measure. They cannot be attained by reducing costs and increasing production efficiency. These could be promoted using the tactics of corporate PR. During his first trip to Asia, for example, Tillerson refused to take the usual group of journalists (who, it should be noted, pay their flights), explaining that if he would take less people, he will be able to use the plane less, and return faster. If he still ran a large company, it would be a great solution. But for Secretary of state this was an unfortunate mistake. Authoritarian rulers around the world saw this as another confirmation of the fact that the trump seeks to undermine the basics of journalism, and the Americans found out about this visit of Secretary of state to Asia less than it should because it was covered by mostly foreigners.
Thus, the question Tillerson — was it only rhetorical or something else — requires a response. The answer is Yes, American taxpayers should worry about the Ukraine. And the reasons for this are not limited to a reasons that head of the oil company may deem valid and reasonable.
Why? In this case, the explanation cannot be reduced to a short main thesis or to the chart, and it is impossible to quantify. I’m not even sure that it can be summed up in a few paragraphs, but I’ll try. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea in 2014 was the blatant attack on the principle of the inviolability of borders in Europe. It is the principle of the inviolability of borders has turned Europe is a continent suffering from the endless bloody conflicts, in a safe and peaceful trade Alliance in the second half of the twentieth century. A collective decision of European countries to abandon aggressive nationalism, to open up their internal borders and to forget about territorial claims have made Europe a peaceful and rich.
It is also enriched and strengthened the US position. American companies support Europe business relations that bring them billions of dollars. American leaders for many years can count on the support of Europe in economic, political, scientific and other matters. This Alliance is not perfect, but this unusual Alliance is maintained through shared values and shared interests. If Ukraine is a country with a population of 43 million people — will establish strong ties with Europe, it too can become part of the zone of peace, trade and Commerce.
After the invasion of Russia to Ukraine aggressive, felt its power, Russia is increasingly threatening the security and prosperity of Europe and the Alliance of Europe and the United States. Russia supports anti-American, anti-NATO and anti-democratic political candidates throughout Europe. Russia is trying to find business and political allies who will promote the interests of its businesses and to close their eyes to its corruption. In the long term, such a policy threatens business and political interests of the United States in Europe and around the world.
However, it is recognized that it is impossible to make such calculations and to make such graphics that would confirm these conclusions. I can’t offer anything that could convince the head of the Corporation and its shareholders. What we “invested” in Ukraine — the International monetary Fund (IMF) and other assistance — in the near future will bring us significant dividends. To realize the value of safe, Pro-Western Ukraine, it is necessary to understand the value of the Alliance, which has existed for almost 70 years. And to keep this Alliance, you need to defend it, need to work on it, to invest time and money.
Boss Tillerson is not going to defend the alliances of America. Will it change your opinion? Unknown. However, he should reflect on the fact that the stability of these alliances and not their value in monetary terms — is the main measure of his success as President.
