Preoccupation with Ukraine mirrors obsolete thinking of US political establishment: historian

NEW YORK -- Washington's preoccupation with Ukraine only testifies to the impoverished state of American strategic thinking, or it concerns the apparent inability of the US political establishment to wean itself from obsolete thinking, said Andrew J. Bacevich Jr., an American historian, recently in an article.

"Think of US participation in the Ukraine War as a means of washing away unhappy memories of its own war in Afghanistan, an Operation that began as 'Enduring Freedom' but has become Instant Amnesia," said the author in his essay titled "Seduced by War -- Yet Again" which was posted on the website of TomDispatch on Thursday.

The US interventionism began several decades ago and culminated in the disastrous fall of Kabul in 2021, noted Bacevich who specializes in international relations, security studies, American foreign policy, and American diplomatic and military history. "Since 9/11 alone, US military interventions in distant lands have cost American taxpayers an estimated 8 trillion US dollars and still counting."

"And that's not even considering the tens of thousands of G.I.s (US military personnel) killed, maimed, or otherwise left bearing the scars of war or the millions of people in the countries where the US fought its wars who would prove to be direct or indirect victims of American policy-making," said the article.

"Memorial Day commemorations, such as those just past, should remind us of the costs that result from punching holes, both real and metaphorical," it added.