By Steve Huntley
Alot of
talk from Washington and Western European capitals about the Ukrainian
crisis complained that Russia’s Vladimir Putin is some kind of throwback
to the 20th or 19th century, as if he could be shamed into conforming
to new 21st century norms of international conduct.
The American left has been
particularly enthralled with a new age, one world mythology since the
election of President Barack Obama. Most of the globe’s problems, in
this view, stemmed from the disruptive, embarrassing cowboy antics of
George W. Bush. To the liberal mindset, Bush did make the United States
something of a great Satan.
Putin’s invasion of Crimea
and the sham vote there to be annexed to Russia constituted the nail in
the coffin in that wishful thinking. Gone is the notorious “reset” with
Moscow, back is the Cold War-like reality of East-West confrontation.
Critics of Obama charge the
weakness he projects on the world stage made possible Putin’s bad
behavior. More out-of-touch thinking: If only we had a stronger
president, all would be well in Ukraine today.
What the Ukrainian crisis
proves is that nothing has changed in human nature or the affairs of
nations in the 21st century. Evil-minded individuals ruling great
nations will still abuse neighboring states, even to the brink of war.
Strategic interests, expansionist dreams, national pride, the pull of
clan, and suspicion and fear of the other will always influence world
events. There will be a Putin in the next century, and a Crimea-like
crisis in the one after that.
Putin saw recent events in
Kiev as the Ukraine drifting into the orbit of Western democracies.
Given the historic and cultural ties between Ukraine and Russia, that
was simply unacceptable to him and his vision of reversing what he sees
as the calamity of the collapse of the Soviet Union by creating a
greater Russia.
The overthrow of the
democratically elected, and pro-Russian, president in Kiev, combined
with the 1999 precedent of America enabling Kosovo to break away from
Serbia provided Putin a fig-leaf pretext to seize Crimea, where ethnic
Russians are a majority and which was in fact a part of Russia until
1964.
While Obama’s record of
weakness didn’t lead to the Ukrainian crisis, it must be reversed to
discourage any Putin ambitions beyond Crimea. No more drawing red lines
Obama has no intention of enforcing. No more declarations like the one
two years ago that Syrian dictator Bashir al-Assad “must go.” No more
breast-beating like saying the murderers of the U.S. ambassador in Libya
will be brought to justice when the White House has no actual agenda to
do it. No more leading from behind.
Obama and German Chancellor
Angela Merkel, as de facto head of the European Union, have imposed
sanctions on members of Putin’s inner circle and have more in their
pocket if Putin carries out his threat to annex Crimea or do more in the
vein of Sunday’s seizure of a gas facility in eastern Ukraine.
The recognition of the old
realities of the world will require serious policy decisions and
reconsiderations in Washington and Europe. Obama’s choice, a sop to
Russia, to abandon a missile defense system in Poland and the Czech
Republic obviously was a bad one. So was his decision, announced only
weeks ago, to cut U.S. defense spending. So, too, is a French project,
reported by National Review, to build two helicopter-carrying ships for
Russia. Also out of date is the habit of our NATO allies to freeload on
U.S. defense spending.
The only good thing to be said for Putin is that he has shocked the West out of its new age daydream.
1 comment:
Great Read Mo...
What do you think of this?
http://actwellyourpart.blogspot.com/2014/03/ukraine-fold-prepares-for-evacuating.html
"The United States is the most dispensable country on earth.”
Post a Comment