The Fundamental Difference between Ukraine and Russia
By Thomas Walker-Werth
As I write this, more than one hundred thousand Russian troops are gathered along their border with Ukraine. Every day, Ukrainian citizens are living in fear of invasion. Why are innocent people facing the prospect of death and destruction at the hands of a foreign power? The answer is the same one that underlies so many historical conflicts: The failure of states to recognize the moral primacy of the individual.
Consider the Russian regime’s two main arguments for its aggressive behavior. One is the claim that the potential eastward expansion of NATO threatens Russia’s national security.1 The other is that Russia and Ukraine are part of the same historic Russian culture and should be united as one people.2
It’s easy to pick factual holes in these “arguments,” and many have. NATO is a defensive alliance, and none of its members are going to initiate an attack against Russia. A peaceful Russia is no more threatened by a NATO-backed Ukraine than Turkey is. Countries that trade with each other instead of threatening each other have no reason to go to war. On the historical point, the fact that Ukraine shares history with Russia says nothing about whether either or both of these governments are legitimate—and certainly does not grant Russia the right to invade Ukraine.
The arguments that the Russian regime offers tell us something crucial: Their entire approach to the issue is built on collectivism. Their arguments are either about protecting and expanding the state—which is a collective—or about expanding the Russian ethnic identity—a collectivist notion. The Russian regime does not recognize, and is not interested in protecting, the rights of the individual.
But in fact, the individual, not the collective, is what matters. Individuals have minds and lives; collectives don’t. Individuals think and feel; collectives don’t. Individual people now sleep in fear of war every night. Individuals will lose their homes, loved ones, lives, and liberty if Russia invades Ukraine.
Unfortunately, virtually no one is bringing individual rights into the discussion. People are pointing out that Russia’s arguments are false and dishonest but not the fact that they represent the evil ideology of collectivism.
The Ukrainian government is far from perfect when it comes to respecting individual rights. But, to my knowledge, it does not engage in poisoning political opponents, imprisoning dissident musicians, invading sovereign countries, or banning the promotion of homosexuality, as does the Russian regime.
Not content with violating the rights of their own people, Russia’s leaders now seek to violate the rights of Ukrainians as well.
The Ukrainian people have a moral right to defend themselves against any efforts by Russia to invade their country. And any rights-respecting government that chooses to support the Ukrainians with arms or technology has a moral right to do so.
Anyone who cares about liberty should morally support the Ukrainians against Russian tyranny.