Dear Editor:
On October 2, I was fortunate to take part in a teleconference of ethnic leaders with former President Bill Clinton. I posed the following question: “Mr. President, I have found Donald Trump’s praise of Putin to be particularly outrageous and disturbing. Many in the Ukrainian American community are alarmed by this rhetoric. But, there are others that think Trump may soften his rhetoric once in office. Do you think Trump will continue to align with Russia and use anti-NATO rhetoric if he were elected president?”
In answering the question, President Clinton stated, “History shows that most candidates do what they say, you can’t vote for someone assuming they won’t do something.” The former president continued with an expanded answer that took into account the political environment that surrounds the current presidential elections. He spoke about the “very large number of Republicans and non-political people who have spent their careers trying to advance American security and agreed with me,” he said “to protect Ukraine with an agreement (the Budapest Memorandum) which stated that Ukraine’s character and territorial integrity would never be compromised if they gave up their nuclear weapons.”
“That agreement,” Mr. Clinton said, “Mr. Putin tore up.”
He continued: “…you have to be especially cautious when you are dealing with things like NATO, relations with Russia and our historical obligations to Ukraine. When you just look at the map, it was apparent to me 20 years ago, when I became president, that the whole future of Europe and the possibility of having a constructive relationship with Russia depended on what happened in Ukraine.”
The former president further pointed out, “Mr. Trump’s pro-Putin policy, his cheering for the break-up of the European Union, his cheering for Brexit, his questioning our joint commitments to our NATO partners, these policies are more in line with Russia’s interest than America’s.” Mr. Clinton stressed, “Hillary is very strong in foreign policy and as you know Melanne Verveer, a Ukrainian American, is one of her closest friends, and has been one of her most important aides. We cannot afford to put Ukraine in a risky situation.”
He warned: ”Ukrainian Americans need to think hard about rolling the dice. I know a lot of Ukrainians have traditionally voted Republican, but tell them that we are outperforming every other big economy on earth today and this, plus the national security concerns over Ukraine, the whole future of European unity and security is a big argument in support of Hillary and a huge risk to vote for Trump.”
Philadelphia
The letter writer is co-chair ethnic liaison with the Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and a member of Ukrainian Americans for Clinton.