Stupid west! They really thought Putin would play by the rules, did they.
Why did the west get so tangled up with Russia for gas. Naive, naive, as
my long gone professor from Ukraine used to say.
On Monday, 3 March 2014, Stefan Lemieszewski <[email protected]> wrote:
> Editorial is preparing readers that Britain will not do anything. It
> says: "It is generally accepted that there is little that we or our allies
> can do on the ground in Ukraine, beyond supporting the new government as
> best we can." But doesn't mention the legal obligation it and others have
> to protect Ukraine's borders. Ukraine was poorly defended because it was
> relying on Western security guarantees. And what about air support? Or
> naval support? Will Turkey, a NATO member, block Russian naval and trade
> traffic through the Turkish Straits (the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles)?
> Will Russian companies be delisted on stock exchanges? Will Russian
> deposits in offshore locations be frozen?
>
>
> Stefan Lemieszewski
>
>
> ===================================
>
>
> http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/telegraph-view/10671709/It-is-time-for-the-West-tostand-up-to-Putin.html
> Telegraph
> 3Mar2014
> *It is time for the West to stand up to Putin*
> By Telegraph View <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/telegraph-view/>
>
> EDITORIAL
>
>
> International diplomacy is, by and large, a game of manners and etiquette.
> Over the centuries, a host of rules have built up about how nations should
> relate to one another. These may be points of protocol - for example, that
> a president, as head of state, outranks a mere prime minister. Or they may
> be fundamental points of law - for example, that the use of force to take
> away another's territory is the ultimate taboo, and must be punished by
> ostracism.
>
> Diplomacy is also, however, a game of power. And as we are seeing with
> Russia and Ukraine, when a nation with power confronts one without it,
> there is not much the weaker party can do. Vladimir Putin may claim, as he
> did with his invasion of Georgia in 2008, that the occupation of the Crimea
> is about protecting ethnic Russians and his country's strategic interests.
> But this was, as the US Secretary of State John Kerry said yesterday, a
> "completely trumped-up pretext". What we are seeing is, at root, the policy
> of the playground bully, laying claim to other people's property because he
> calculates - perhaps accurately - that there is no one with the strength to
> defy him.
>
> This, then, is the question for the West. Russia refuses to be constrained
> by international niceties. That applies to relations not only with its
> neighbours, but with our own country, too: even if the Kremlin did not
> sanction the murder of a British citizen, Alexander Litvinenko, on British
> soil, it certainly did its level best to obstruct the investigation. So
> why, if Mr Putin is willing to break the rules of the club of nations,
> should he be allowed to profit from membership?
>
> This is not to argue that relations should be thrown back into the Cold
> War freezer. But it is hard to see why the West should still be sending its
> Paralympic athletes to Sochi to put on a show of harmony - nor, as Mr Kerry
> said yesterday, why Russia on present form is worthy of G8 membership, let
> alone of playing host to the organisation in June.
>
> It is generally accepted that there is little that we or our allies can do
> on the ground in Ukraine, beyond supporting the new government as best we
> can. While Mr Putin may not be willing to gamble on a wider seizure of
> territory, there is little doubt - as David Blair writes<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ukraine/10671809/Ukraine-From-triumph-to-torment.html>- that Crimea is now de facto Russian territory. And in any confrontation,
> Russia can hurt Europe more (in the short term) than Europe can hurt Russia
> - not least by cutting off gas supplies. But Mr Putin's regime and its
> increasingly stagnant economy rely on access to our markets, and on the
> services of our accountants, lawyers and bankers. He is free to ignore the
> rules, and to make his way in the world via threats, bribes and naked
> force. But we do not have to make it quite so easy.
>
> ====================
>
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