Ukraine attacks in Russia should be an alarm bell for Washington - Responsible Statecraft

Ukraine attacks in Russia should be an alarm bell for Washington - Responsible Statecraft From Anatol Lieven on Thursday: Having been invaded by Russia, Ukraine of course has a perfect legal and moral right to hit back at Russian territory. Whether this is in the interests of the United States is a very different matter — and given the critical American role in arming and supporting Ukraine, the U.S. administration also has the right to a say in how its aid is used. Indeed, it has not just a right, but a duty to the American people to exercise this influence. On whether Zelensky is telling the truth: Assuming that there has been no shift in US policy, the Belgorod raid could therefore be an indication of the degree to which Kyiv now feels able to ignore U.S. wishes while continuing to receive huge amounts of U.S. assistance. As so often in the past, U.S. aid backed by domestic American political forces, far from strengthening U.S. influence over the recipient government, would in fact be making American policy dependent on that of its client.