In an article published in The American Conservative, Carpenter pointed out that mainstream media reports have created an incredibly misleading picture of Ukraine.
Proponents of this narrative ignore the fact that the ongoing war is an internal dispute between Russia and Ukraine over Kiev’s ambitions to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), he explained.
According to the expert, Washington insists the competition is part of a global struggle between democracy and authoritarianism and that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is a leader worthy of nothing less than the legacy of Winston Churcill, Britain’s first minister during World War II ( 1939-1945).
In the text, Carpenter added that US President Joe Biden recently said the European conflict is “a struggle between freedom and oppression, between an order based on rules and one ruled by brute force.”
For Carpenter, the notion that Ukraine was such an attractive model of democracy in Eastern Europe that the country’s very existence terrified Russian President Vladimir Putin may be a comforting myth to American policymakers and pundits, but it’s nothing further than a mythical invention.
“Ukraine is far from being a democratic-capitalist model and an irresistible magnet for Russia. The reality is grimmer and more worrying: this country has long been one of the most corrupt in the international system,” he warned.
Even before the war broke out, he added, there were examples of authoritarianism in Kiev’s political leadership.
“It is appropriate to sympathize with the Ukrainians who are suffering terrible suffering as a result of the war. However, this nation is not a symbol of freedom and liberal democracy. At best, Ukraine is a corrupt and quasi-democratic entity with worryingly repressive policies,” he concluded.
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