It's time to put an end to the subterfuge and insanity. It is time for a judicious political process and for cooperation in the Ukraine crisis. The scenes of the past week couldn't have been more contradictory. A civil war is raging in eastern Ukraine, yet Gerhard Schröder met with Vladimir Putin for a night out to celebrate the former German chancellor's 70th birthday. At the same time, German soldiers, part of the OSCE monitoring mission in Ukraine, were being held hostage by a self-appointed "people's governor." Schröder's gesture struck many as obscene and it is certainly not the correct way to deal with a man who is threatening peace in Europe. Dialogue, yes. But that kind of open embrace is unacceptable. But what should such a dialogue focus on? And which steps would be the most reasonable to take? To embark on such a path, Germany and the West must adopt a unified posture, a common goal and a roadmap for achieving it.
There are two fundamental aspects that must define Germany's position in the Ukraine crisis: There should be no war and no equidistance, but rather a clear affiliation with the Western alliance. On the issue of Ukraine, an asymmetrical resolve is currently prevailing. Vladimir Putin is prepared to deploy his military, but the West, correctly, is not. German and other NATO soldiers shouldn't be asked to die for Ukraine. That is an advantage for Putin; he knows that no one will try to stop him militarily. The West must accept this, for it also has other options at its disposal.
Many Germans have indulged Russia thus far. It seemed as though a Cold War desire for equidistance had returned in recent weeks, the yearning for a neutral position between the West and the East. With all due respect for Russia and its interests, however, Germany belongs to the West, to the other democracies -- even if the positions of the United States are sometimes difficult for Germans to swallow. Our security and sense of political and cultural belonging comes exclusively through our ties with our partners in NATO and the European Union. A German Sonderweg, or special path, would be tantamount to surrendering to Russia, just as Schröder surrendered himself and now appears to be Putin's puppet.
In terms of the goal in Ukraine: Peace must trump unity and unity must be decided by the majority in each region. It would be good if the Ukrainians remained one cohesive country because that would offer them the best prospects for prosperity. But if the people in the eastern part of the country determine they absolutely want to declare their independence or become part of Russia, they should also be given the possibility to do so. If a majority determines it wants to remain part of Ukraine, then everything possible must be done to ensure that the country remains intact. The people shouldn't be forced into a hurried vote under pressure as happened in Crimea. It should be done in an orderly manner.
The path to that end begins with trust. The West loses nothing by making it clear that Ukraine will not become a member of NATO or the EU in the foreseeable future. Such a pledge would assuage Russian fears of the two alliances moving even closer to Russian territory and would stabilize their sense of security.
1 comment:
If only the West had honored the opportunity he presented us in the 1980s, the world would be so different now. Sadly, the US turned its back on his offers of peace. And instead of demilitarizing the world beginning with Western Europe, Bush made the tragic choice to expand our footprint first in the Panama Invasion, and then most crucially, sent 500,000 American troops to the Middle East for the Kuwaiti War. From that fateful decision grew a trap we never extricated ourselves from.
Bush certainly could’ve propped up Gorby with financial aid, but instead pushed for Boris Yeltsin’s fateful breakup of the USSR into the Russian Federation. And the US-inspired financial disaster that followed. Under Clinton, Bush II, and Obama, the West continued to expand NATO to the borders of Russia. And played a significant role in the recent coup in Ukraine. Russia clearly has reason to fear US intentions in Ukraine and elsewhere.
The West forgets too easily that it was Putin, for better or for worse, who stepped in and helped save Russia at the turn of the century. This dangerous situation in the Ukraine today is a direct outgrowth of the US neocon desire to wholly dismantle Russia as a rival to the United States. This fact appears in a Defense planning memorandum written in 1992 right after the fall of Gorbachev. In other words, the US—and not the Soviet Union-- never stopped seeking the ‘world domination’ it attributed to Communism after WWII.
Frankly this policy is insane and, judging from my trips to Russia since the early 1980s, would result only in a strong, unified Russian peoples’ resistance. Unlike most US population, they too vividly remember the Fascist invasion of WWII and will fight it to the death. May 9 will be their emotional Victory Day parade in Red Square.
100 years after WWI, I fear like many others that the situation will get out of hand now if the Neocons, joined by liberal cold warriors in our Government, have their way. Obama has made his point but now is the time, as Gorbachev said, for DIPLOMACY. It is up to Putin and Obama to pull these combatants in Ukraine apart. Because in the words of Gorby, “they will not be able to do it themselves.”
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