While Nato swills champagne, it’s Putin who calls the shots

[Dems to Win]

This week’s lavish Nato summit won’t change the fact that it has been outmanoeuvred and humiliated in Ukraine by a puffed-up Putin

Simon Jenkins
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/02/nato-vladimir-putin-summit-ukraine

In the matter of detail, Putin is right. The Russian-speaking area of east Ukraine should have been granted internal autonomy after the coup that toppled the corrupt but elected Kiev regime backed by the east. The message is spreading across an ever-more integrated Europe, that dissident provinces are calmed only through greater self-government. Look at the Kosovans, the Basques, the Scots.

It is currently impossible to hear a speech or open a newspaper in which defence experts do not beat their breasts, bang their drums and demand “the west stand firm ... show resolve ... teach Russia a lesson ... show Putin who is boss.” They call for more economic sanctions – which have never seemed more counterproductive. They demand backing for Ukraine, aid for Kiev, support for other border states, more spearhead battalions and seemingly endless rapid reaction forces. But they all end up asserting “we cannot mean war” and “a diplomatic solution is inevitable”.

All intelligence out of Moscow says the same, that this bombast merely emboldens Putin. He can do what he wants in eastern Ukraine, because he has an army there and it enjoys widespread support among the Russian-speaking population. There is no question Putin has infringed the integrity of Ukrainian sovereignty. But so did America in its Latin American “sphere of influence” during the cold war. Meanwhile, Britain kowtowed to China for economic gain and Olympic glory when Beijing was treating Tibet far worse.

Foreign policy always involves double standards. The best policy is to avoid one’s own weaknesses and instead test those of one’s opponents. Peace and trade were slowly eroding the juggernaut of Russian power across eastern Europe. Now Nato’s pseudo-support for Kiev has played to Putin’s one strength: his support among Russian peoples along his borders. Kiev, the EU and Nato have played a dangerous game with Russia over Ukraine for years. Putin has laid down a marker for an armistice, talks on autonomy, one that is bound to look like a victory for him. It is for Kiev to pick it up. Nato can go on swilling champagne in Wales.

[pinto]

1. (side comment) This is obviously a personal editorial piece. The author's opinion.

Suggest it be taken in that context. Objective journalism and opinion pieces are becoming more and more blurred. Both have a place. Yet they are two distinct formats. Encourage folks to take them as such.

[Dems to Win]

3. Yes, it's from the Comment is Free section, it's an opinion piece

[Tutonic]

2. Huh? I appreciate that our President is a man with resolve.

While even a rat will venture out into the sunlight to steal bread while the revelers become distracted, eventually the rat will become emboldened and overplay his hand. The faint praise that the right and neocons express for Putin now will give way to the realization that the man does not have a defensible economic strategy or solution to maintain peaceful control over Ukraine. Putin is a fatalist with policies 20 years beyond his prime. He will be dead before Ukraine comes under total control of Russia. And why should our President succumb to the farcical cries of the right "to get a backbone", "stand up" "show leadership". He ran on a promise to secure our nation and keep us out of countless wars. I'm going to assume that the best and the brightest are consulting with our commander and this does not include some sociopath named V. Putin.

[Scootaloo]

4. "Foreign policy always involves double standards."

Boy if that ain't the truth

[BillZBubb]

5. That is a very myopic, short term viewpoint.

Of course Putin holds all the cards in the Ukraine situation. That, however, doesn't mean the Nato and the West should simply accept Putin's demands. Putin is going to get what he wants in the short term. No one can seriously doubt that.

But longer term, if the West decides it, Russia will pay such a high price that they will eventually curse Putin's name in Russia. What looks like victory now could become a dreadful, long term hangover.

The West has every reason to condemn the Putin doctrine. He calls for the amalgamation of all Russian speaking regions back into Russia by force if necessary. History has shown similar goals in the past have led to political instability, violence, and eventually all out warfare. That's not something we should take lightly.

[Vine Gatherer]

6. Another Member of the Contingent

В прошлом месяце!