 |
|
|
The new Russia and the West's Power Deficit By Rizzuto Fri Aug 15, 2008 - Negotiations with Putin and his puppet Dmitry Medvedev have proven to be nothing more than a farce, with ceasefires ignored, and promises broken. Russians continue to pillage Goergia like barbarians and will most likely annex at least two Georgian provinces, with little fear of intervention or consequence on the part of the west. If Russian Prime Minister Putin is attempting to reconstitute a Soviet-style state, we are going to have to confront the west's power deficit. The west has been lulled into a post-soviet mindset, which rejects the value of hard power, and even meaningful soft power. So scared to rock the boat are we, that we've forgotten what to do if it capsizes. With this conflict raging in the EU's backyard, the best they could do was dispatch an utterly ineffective French President Nicholas Sarkozy. Not that his ineffectiveness is entirely due to a lack of leadership, but it has as much to do with his lack of the tools necessary to confront the resurgent Russian bear. If this conflict has taught us anything so far, it has been that the EU, despite it’s chest thumping on it's newly found economic prowess, will still be dependent upon American power to stand up to aggression in it's neighborhood. This reinforces what we'd already learned when America was forced to take the reigns in Bosnia. If we are truly facing a resurgence of aggressive Soviet-style Russia, it's going to take America, once again, to stand as the barricade of freedom. But just as Europe lacks a Thatcher, on the home front I don't see a Reagan running for president. So who is going to have the fortitude to confront and stare down a dynamic autocrat like Putin, who is unafraid to use hard power?
Comments : 0 Comments |
|
|
   |
del.icio.us
