https://sputnikglobe.com/20230524/ray-mcgovern-putin-had-no-other-options-than-military-op-in-ukraine-1110560004.html
Ray McGovern: Putin Had 'No Other Options' Than Military Op in Ukraine
Ray McGovern: Putin Had 'No Other Options' Than Military Op in Ukraine
Sputnik International
The US and its NATO allies have rejected any ceasefire in Ukraine unless Russia surrenders Crimea, the Donbass, Zaporozhye and Kherson. Ray McGovern said Moscow's security concerns must be at at the core of any peace deal.
2023-05-24T17:01+0000
2023-05-24T17:01+0000
2023-05-24T17:01+0000
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The US and NATO left Russia with no choice but to send troops into Ukraine last year, says a former CIA intelligence analyst.Ray McGovern told Sputnik that Russian President Vladimir Putin was left "no other options" than to order the military operation to defend the Donbass republics on February 24 2022. "I look at all the evidence. Mr Putin had no other options," he said. "And so when people say: 'oh, sure, he had other options,' I just say, all right, give me one."The founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity said that Western governments will have to view the conflict from Russia's perspective if they want to end it.He said supplies of ever-more expensive weaponry to Ukraine — each hyped up as a new 'game changer' — would achieve neither peace nor a Ukrainian victory."These sophomores in the White House advising Biden, they're going to be asked to up the ante some more to send advanced fighter jets to join the fray in Ukraine to escalate, escalate, escalate," McGovern lamented. "And nothing like that is going to defeat the Russians, because you have to look at that map, for God's sake."The veteran intelligence officer said the West needed to be honest about "who's at fault here" when Putin "felt that his country was in great danger."The commentator compared the situation to the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, when US president John F. Kennedy, who he argued "loved peace," also felt "provoked" by the USSR basing ballistic missiles in the Caribbean island state.He said the US and NATO were now signalling the will to deploy "the exact same kinds of middle range nuclear tipped ballistic missiles on the periphery of the of Russia, in Romania and Poland, and the intention to force them into Ukraine as well."The shutting-down of debate in the West on Russia's legitimate security concerns was an obstacle to peace, he said.For more cutting-edge commentary of global affairs, follow our Sputnik Radio show The Critical Hour.
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former cia analyst ray mcgovern, russia's special military operation in ukraine, russian president vladimir putin, western military aid to ukraine, north atlantic treaty organisation (nato)
Ray McGovern: Putin Had 'No Other Options' Than Military Op in Ukraine
The US and its NATO allies have rejected any ceasefire in Ukraine unless Russia surrenders its newly-reincorporated territories in Crimea, the Donbass, Zaporozhye and Kherson. Former CIA analyst Ray McGovern, co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, said Moscow's security concerns must be at at the core of any peace deal.
The US and NATO left Russia with no choice but to send troops into Ukraine last year, says a former CIA intelligence analyst.
Ray McGovern told
Sputnik that Russian President Vladimir Putin was left "no other options" than to order the military operation to defend the Donbass republics on February 24 2022.
"I look at all the evidence. Mr Putin had no other options," he said. "And so when people say: 'oh, sure, he had other options,' I just say, all right, give me one."
The founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity said that Western governments will have to view the conflict from Russia's perspective if they want to end it.
"You're not going to get peace unless you understand how this thing started," McGovern said. "If you proceed from the premise that Putin got it into his head one day: 'hey let's invade Ukraine, let's see how far we can go, maybe Poland next or the Baltic states', if you're not wise enough to see through that and to question those assumptions, all is lost, because we've reached a real critical point right now."
He said supplies of ever-more expensive weaponry to Ukraine — each hyped up as a new
'game changer' — would achieve neither peace nor a Ukrainian victory.
"These sophomores in the White House advising Biden, they're going to be asked to up the ante some more to send advanced fighter jets to join the fray in Ukraine to escalate, escalate, escalate," McGovern lamented. "And nothing like that is going to
defeat the Russians, because you have to look at that map, for God's sake."
The veteran intelligence officer said the West needed to be honest about "who's at fault here" when Putin "felt that his country was in great danger."
"That was my trade, my craft. I put myself in the leader of the Soviet Union or in Russia's shoes," McGovern recalled. "Can I honestly say that that if I were in Putin's shoes, that I would have acted any differently?"
The commentator compared the situation to the 1962
Cuban Missile Crisis, when US president John F. Kennedy, who he argued "loved peace," also felt "provoked" by the USSR basing ballistic missiles in the Caribbean island state.
He said the US and
NATO were now signalling the will to deploy "the exact same kinds of middle range nuclear tipped ballistic missiles on the periphery of the of Russia, in Romania and Poland, and the intention to force them into Ukraine as well."
The shutting-down of debate in the West on Russia's legitimate security concerns was an obstacle to peace, he said.
"It needs to be discussed, because if you don't understand the beginnings of this thing, you're never going to abide by what we have to do in retrenching, stepping back and letting well, letting a cease fire and peace prevail," McGovern stressed. "You can be for peace, but you have to figure out a way to get it."
For more cutting-edge commentary of global affairs, follow our Sputnik Radio show The Critical Hour. 
