President Barack Obama meets with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin at his dacha outside Moscow, Russia, July 7, 2009. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
Leslie Gelb, Daily Beast: America’s Losing Russia Strategy
Confronting Putin isn’t enough to restore peace on Russia’s borders. What’s needed is Détente Plus.
American hawks flapped their wings with joy when Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced recently that more military muscle would be deployed to the Baltics and Eastern Europe, and as word seeped out of significant covert U.S. military aid to Ukraine. And the hawks glowed when President Vladimir Putin telephoned President Barack Obama to discuss common problems in the Mideast. You see, they crowed, Putin is blinking first when faced with U.S. toughness. Get even tougher, do more, they urged in White House meetings and the press. They never addressed what they would do if more and more failed—as it almost certainly would.
Yes, Washington should show more resolve and enhance NATO’s military punch. But neither that nor increasing economic sanctions will stop Putin. By themselves, upping military and economic pressure is both a dangerous and losing strategy.
WNU Editor: A "second detente" is not going to ratchet down tensions. Solve the political crisis in Ukraine .... you will then deflate east - west tensions appreciably. And what needs to be done in Ukraine is simple .... implement Minsk 2. Unfortunately .... the idea of a federated Ukraine where the eastern part of the country has jurisdiction over key policies and departments (language, revenues, etc.) is not acceptable to Kiev .... Russia Expresses 'Deep Concern' Over Ukraine's Decentralization Plan (Moscow Times) .... hence the continued fighting, and Russian tensions with the West.
Absolutely love that photo up top.
ReplyDeleteYes James .... that photo is priceless .... and Putin's way of saying that this is MY doghouse. :)
ReplyDeleteJust in case anyone is interested .... the Russian President's home/residence outside of Moscow is not a dacha .... it is a VERY BIG house/compound. My parents home is about two kilometers away .... the only thing that I can say is that the security around Putin's place is unbelievable .... and if you want to try and take a picture of it .... forget it .... it is not going to happen.
I believe the best place to start with a strategy towards dealing with Russia and Vladimir Putin is going to be to recognize Russia's military and political superiority over America. From this realization one can begin to move forward with realistic policies that might ensure good outcomes for America.
ReplyDeleteEven if my analysis is not entirely correct regarding the military and political situation with regards to the US and Russia, it still remains a good place to start would be to withdraw all support from the Ukrainian government. While I DO NOT believe these are Nazis as the Russian propaganda machine would have us believe, there are significant doubts as to who we are supporting here. I do not believe the US fully understood what it was getting into here. As such, withdrawing all support from this entity would seem prudent. Doing so has no downside and has huge upside potential. As such, it not only seems a good place to start but a no brainer as well.