Top historian: West failed in Ukraine war - "Biden much worse than Trump"
Created: 07/27/2022, 12:15 p.m
By: Stephanie Munk
At a meeting in 2021: US President Joe Biden (right) and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
© Mikhail Metzel/Imago
"Unfortunately, time is working in Putin's favor." That is the thesis of the famous historian Niall Ferguson on the Ukraine war.
The West made too many tactical mistakes.
Harvard - The renowned British historian Niall Ferguson has dealt intensively with the Ukraine conflict - you will find a whole package of topics on his homepage.
And so he has also developed his own theses on the dispute, which he now revealed in an interview with Die
Welt
- and which do not make the West look good in the Ukraine war.
Ferguson sees serious tactical errors on the part of the US and Europe since Russian President Vladimir Putin gave the order to invade Ukraine on February 24.
The Briton believes that the West, and above all the USA, should have acted more decisively from the start.
About Niall Ferguson
The British historian Niall Ferguson taught at the universities of Oxford, Stanford, Harvard and the London School of Economics, among others, and is the author of several bestsellers.
He is one of the most renowned living historians - but also one with very controversial theses.
The 58-year-old likes to provoke with his theories, but also knows how to present them to the public in an entertaining way - for example in his latest work "Doom", which is about why great cultures are going under.
Historian criticizes West in Ukraine war: Moment to end the war was missed
"Joe Biden's administration did nothing to end this war early," Ferguson said.
"Because she believed that the longer it lasted, the worse for Russia and the better for the West and Ukraine." In his view, a "stupid" mistake: "The war should have ended when Russia was doing badly and Ukraine was doing well went."
According to Ferguson, the decisive moment for action was missed - this was about three weeks after the start of the war, after the unsuccessful offensive by Putin's troops on the capital Kyiv.
At the time, the Russians should have been persuaded to negotiate with all their might - it was too late for that now.
He was shocked "by the naivety of the Biden administration and many US commentators who believed Ukraine could win," the British historian said.
Niall Ferguson is an expert on European history and has taught at Harvard, among other places.
© Imago
Historian with gloomy prognosis on Ukraine war: "Unfortunately, time works in Putin's favor"
Because the longer the war lasts, the more Putin benefits from it: "Unfortunately, time works in Putin's favor," believes Niall Ferguson.
"Despite Russian losses, Ukrainian heroism and great sympathy for Ukraine in the West, the more Ukraine is devastated, the harder it will be for Ukrainians to win."
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In the course of the war, Putin had gained time to change his strategy, and Russia is now likely to take Donbass.
“Russia is now waging a war of attrition, a war of exhaustion.
Without temporary ceasefires.
That plays into the hands of Putin.”
Historian believes West is getting tired of supporting Ukraine
In addition, a certain war-weariness is already setting in in the West.
It is questionable whether the US will continue to provide such large financial aid to Ukraine in the future.
The Brit predicts that the West's determination will slacken as early as the fall - also because of inflation and the threat of famine in Africa.
The pressure on Ukraine to cede part of their country to Russia will increase and the division of the country will begin.
"Putin knows that Western unity on Ukraine's defense has an expiry date," said the 58-year-old.
Provocative thesis: Biden is worse for Ukraine and NATO than Trump will be
Niall Ferguson does not leave a good year to US President Joe Biden and his role for Ukraine and NATO.
Biden is responsible for the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, reduced arms sales to Ukraine in 2021 and suspended sanctions against Nord Stream 2.
In Europe, people always think that ex-President Donald Trump is "the worst" - "however, Biden is much worse," says the expert.
Trump has always urged Germany to spend more on defense and has often criticized the fact that it relies too much on Russian gas supplies.
Although Trump was a "liar" and a threat to American democracy, he was right, Ferguson said.
Ukraine war under US President Trump: historians doubt that it would have happened
"In my opinion, it cannot be ruled out that if Trump were re-elected, Putin would not have invaded Ukraine," says Ferguson.
Especially because of Trump's unpredictability in the use of nuclear weapons, which Putin was also aware of.
Joe Biden, on the other hand, ruled out military intervention by the USA and NATO in the Ukraine war from the outset, "and that will not change," according to the historian.
Another expert explained
his view of the Ukraine war and Putin in an interview with the
newspaper Münchner Merkur : Rüdiger von Fritsch, longtime ambassador to Russia, believes that the Russian president has Germany in particular in mind.
In the news ticker you will also find out everything about the military developments in the Ukraine war.
(smu)
