Sunday, September 20, 2015

The CIA on Russia/Ukraine (1948): Ukraine Russia's "Middle West"


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[JB comment -- Speculation time: The below sounds very George Kennan-like; Kennan was from the midwest.]
Finally, we cannot be indifferent to the feelings of the Great Russians themselves. They were the strongest national element in the Russian Empire, as they now are in the Soviet Union. They will continue to be the strongest national element in that general area, under any status. Any long-term U.S. policy must be based on their acceptance and their cooperation. The Ukrainian territory [sic] is as much a part of their national heritage as the Middle West is of ours, and they are conscious of that fact. A solution which attempts to separate the Ukraine [note: "the" Ukraine] entirely from the rest of Russia is bound to incur their resentment and opposition, and can be maintained, in the last analysis, only by force.
--from; assume (if erroneously, please let me know) that the source is reliable, as it seems to be to me.

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