China Confidential
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Common Sense on Russia
1. US policy toward Russia has been a disaster. NATO, a Cold War relic, should have been disbanded or phased out after the collapse of Communism. NATO has been a force for destabilization instead of peace preservation. The current crisis is the culmination of tensions created by the US-NATO dismemberment and bombing of Yugoslavia, the recent recognition of Kosovan independence, and the expansion of the US-led military alliance that was founded "to keep the Russians out" in the words of its first secretary general.
2. In its pursuit of Central Asian energy resources and Caucasus transit routes, the United States should never have provoked, pushed, antagonized, and attempted to weaken and isolate Russia. The US had no business egging on Georgia--a former Soviet republic--against Russia. The US-Georgian Security Cooperation Agreement threatened the status quo.
3. The US can't possibly afford a new Cold War. The idea is irrational. Having failed to defeat radical Islam, seven years after 9/11, the US, on the verge of becoming a permanent debtor nation, is in no position to plunge into a prolonged confrontation with a nuclear superpower. Besides, there is no ideological struggle between post-Communist Russia and the US; and Moscow, unlike Tehran (or Beijing, for that matter) does not aim for global dominance. Instead, it seeks to restore hegemony over a region that it ruled for over two centuries before the breakup of the Soviet Union.
Tuesday, 12 August 2008
Russia's ugly, nationalistic side is clearly on display in Georgia. The fighting there should stop immediately. That said, the following points need to be made:
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