http://theweek.com/article/index/258840/the-tiny-estonian-town-that-could-spell-the-end-of-nato
The Russian invasion and rapid absorption of the Crimean peninsula might
seem like the spark ready to ignite a new Cold War. In fact, given the
feeble Western response so far, the more likely outcome is not the division
of Europe once more between NATO's Western alliance and a neo-Soviet
Russia, but rather the fracturing and ultimate demise of NATO and the
Western alliance itself.
Of course, no one expects the West to use military force to protect
Ukrainian territory, despite the 1994 Budapest
Memorandum<http://www.cfr.org/arms-control-disarmament-and-nonproliferation/budapest-memorandums-security-assurances-1994/p32484>in
which Russia, the U.S., and the U.K. guaranteed Ukrainian sovereignty
in
exchange for its relinquishing the nuclear weapons that remained on its
territory after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Yet even the Russians now
seem surprised, indeed somewhat amused, by how disunited and weak the
Western response has been. So what comes next?
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Tue Apr 01 2014 - 00:59:45 EST