I began reading Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry's column for The Week with a very negative attitude, based on its title "Why the West should let Russian have eastern Ukraine." I have to admit I finished the column with a positive attitude.
Gobry makes the point that Ukraine is, like Iraq, an artificial grouping of different peoples. In Iraq the groups are the Kurds, Sunnis, and Shias. Gobry is quite correct that what held Iraq together was Sadam's terror police.
In Ukraine the groups are Ukrainian speakers and Russian speakers, who are oriented west and east respectively. And as Gobry reminds us, the eastern portion was only added to Ukraine in 1954 by its former governor Khrushchev in what was a largely symbolic move because both Russia and Ukraine were part of his Soviet Union.
Gobry suggests an interesting quid pro quo for Kyiv letting Russia have eastern Ukraine: accepting western Ukraine into NATO. That move would give Putin heartburn and make Ukrainian speakers feel more secure.
