38 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY OCTOBER 5-11, 2023 www.montereycountyweekly.com FACE TO FACE Ever since he graduated from West Point in 1969 in the top 1 percent of his class, Bill Taylor has spent his life serving his country, mostly in government, though sometimes out of it. In more normal times, a man like Taylor would be unknown to those outside of the Washington, D.C. milieu, but Taylor was the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine from 2006 to 2009, and acting Ambassador to Ukraine from the spring of 2019 until he stepped down from his post on Jan. 2, 2020. It was due to the latter posting that Taylor was thrust into the national spotlight. He testified in November 2019 during the first House impeachment inquiry regarding former president Donald Trump, and Trump’s role in holding up routine military aid to Ukraine unless President Volodymyr Zelensky made a public announcement that Ukraine was opening a corruption investigation into Joe Biden. Since stepping down as acting ambassador, Taylor rejoined the U.S. Institute of Peace—a nonprofit that seeks to resolve conflicts throughout the world. Taylor swept through Monterey County on Tuesday, Sept. 26, first with a stop at the Naval Postgraduate School, then a luncheon with the World Affairs Council of the Monterey Bay, and in the afternoon, a discussion with local high school students at the Monterey County Office of Education. Weekly: So what are you focused on these days? Taylor: My main issue is the Russian war in Ukraine. I’ve been to Ukraine now four times since the war started, and I’m about to go back next week. We do some work at the Institute of Peace to help Ukrainians and to look for options on how Ukrainians can win. What’s the vibe like in Kyiv? I would characterize it as grim determination. They’ve been fighting for 19 months—and not just the military. It’s the whole society that is mobilized, and it’s the whole society that’s been fighting, and it’s the whole society that’s tired, but they’re determined to win. How does the city look right now? Does it look bombed out, or is it sort of like normal life but every now and then there’s a bomb raid? It’s more the latter. Most of the city is fine. Most of Ukraine operates—the Russians occupy about 18 percent of Ukraine, including Crimea, Donbas and some of the areas they’ve taken since 2014 and 2022, but most of that 80 percent or so—including most of Kyiv—is operating. But it’s operating damaged. The Russians have damaged the electricity system in particular so that the economy is down about 30 percent. So even though about 80 percent of the country is not occupied, the economy in that 80 percent is damaged. The people are still working, the government is still operating…to a large degree because Americans and Europeans are helping them keep the government going. What do you think would surprise Americans that they may not know about the facts on the ground? One is the Ukrainians are convinced they will win. I think they can win if we continue to provide the support we’ve done thus far and a little more. The second thing is, the level of support we are providing Ukraine on the military side is only 5 percent of the Defense Department’s budget. So for 5 percent of the [DOD’s] budget, the Ukrainians are hammering one of our two major adversaries. And I would argue the more dangerous of the two adversaries—the more immediate threat is clearly from Russia rather than China. You mentioned in your impeachment testimony that serving in Ukraine was the highlight of your career. Why is that? The Ukrainians are an inspiring people. We know that even more now than when I was there both in 2006 to 2009, and again in 2019. They have a history, and a spirit, that we didn’t really understand or appreciate fully until they were attacked and showed what that spirit was capable of. But even when I was there, it was clear this was an extraordinary country, an extraordinary people, an extraordinary society with extraordinary individuals that I was inspired by. During your testimony, did you watch any of the late night comedy shows? Stephen Colbert said about you as a lead-in to his monologue, “Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine and man whose eyebrows are testifying separately, Bill Taylor…” (Laughs.) I didn’t see that. But the Saturday Night Live skit, they had Jon Hamm play me. That was the pinnacle of my career. The Diplomat Bill Taylor, twice the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, is now focused on making sure it wins its war. By David Schmalz Former ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor met with local groups recently to discuss the situation in that country. “The society is working, but the society is focused on war,” he says of Ukraine as it continues to battle Russian forces. DANIEL DREIFUSS Breakthrough Men’s Community is a non-profitorganizationfoundedin1987 to teach men skills to free themselves from non-productive, painful, or unworkable patterns in their lives. Donate at: www.breakthroughformen.org LIFE TOOLS FOR MEN to Live FULLY ALIVE Transforming lives and communities better dads, better partners, better friends Now registering in person workshops for the fall and spring! For dates and more information, email enrollment@breakthroughformen.org Or visit www.breakthroughformen,org
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