Posted on 08/27/2008 12:50:30 PM PDT by lizol
Poland's Sikorski: Russia would lose confrontation with West (Roundup)
Europe News
Aug 27, 2008, 13:03 GMT
Warsaw - Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski said in an interview Wednesday he would prefer Russia to work with the West and that Moscow would lose again if it came to confrontation.
'As Europe, we're 10 times richer than Russia and along with the United States 20 times,' Sikorski told the daily Dziennik. 'I'd prefer if Russia worked together and integrated itself with the wider-known West, but if it comes to confrontation, then it will lose again.'
Sikorski's comments came a day after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev formally recognized Georgia's breakaway regions as independent, defying Western criticism. Earlier this month Abkhazia and South Ossetia fuelled a brief but bloody Russia-Georgia conflict.
Sikorski also reaffirmed Poland's support for Georgia's territorial integrity, saying an upcoming meeting of European Union leaders on the topic will be an 'important test' in its ability to conduct external politics.
Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk is slated to attend the September 1 EU summit on Georgia and will meet with Polish President Lech Kaczynski before the gathering. A top aide to the prime minister said 'it would be good' to unify their different viewpoints, reported the Polish Press Agency (PAP).
Kaczynski also plans to attend Monday's summit, the president's office told PAP, saying Kaczynski's presence there was 'essential' because of his involvement with the Georgia issue.
Kaczynski has come out strongly in support of Georgia and harshly condemned Russia for 'imperialism,' while Tusk has been more diplomatic, supporting a French-Russian plan to resolve the conflict.
The United States slammed Medvedev's recognition of the breakaway territories, while the European Union reaffirmed support for Georgia's territorial integrity.
Medvedev stressed that Russia has long held back from recognizing the regions' pleas for independence, but Georgia's attack on South Ossetia had forced its hand.
The EU and the entire West will find ways to work with Russia, Sikorski said, and Polish-Russian diplomacy is still possible.
'Heads of France, Germany, the US, Turkey and Ukraine have been in Russia,' Sikorski told Dziennik. 'Poland shouldn't be the only nation that doesn't speak with its neighbour. I think that Russia should also care for dialogue with a nation that's now listened to on Eastern matters more carefully than ever before.'
Didn’t he get Obammy’s memo?
It depends. In a conventional war we’d win. Nuclear, nobody wins. Just who lives longest to die last.
Sikorski is an astute man.
However Russia might try the piece meal route like we saw in Georgia rather than confrontation on all fronts.
It’s not the West’s ability that is in doubt. It is the West’s will that is in doubt, and that Russia is challenging.
‘I’d prefer if Russia worked together and integrated itself with the wider-known West, but if it comes to confrontation, then it will lose again.’
I’d prefer if we had more politicians in this country who would step away from the PC pulpit and tell the new USSR how it is, the way Sikorski does here.
I’m not so sure there is any such thing as a European force. They’d simply let us die for them and then call us murderers. They have no real will to survive.
It’s all about will. And old Europe has none. It is moribund.
I am sure the French and Germans are right now saying
“WHAT’S THIS ‘WE’ STUFF, SIKORSKI?”
I don’t know what the President of Poland knows, but I still wouldn’t count on the Western Europeans standing together with Poland on anything.
Russian troops were greatly overrated during the Cold War.
It was mainly the fear of Russian nukes and the congenital lack of courage of the western Left and the Democrats in the U.S. that stopped us from taking a stronger hand with them until Reagan took over.
Hopefully you are correct.
But if you found yourself in an untenable position where your choices are:
1- You lose big and you opponent wins big.
or
2- You both loose big.
I am inclined to think the Russian mindset trends to option 2.
Yes, we know this. However, politics dictates we play nice before blowing up the bombs already planted throughout the USSR. No missiles required. BRING IT.
All the war drum talk on FR is depressing. Where have all the smart people gone? This place is almost 90% kooks on knowing what's best for America.
You do realize Poland is a NATO ally and we would have an obligation to come to their defense if Russia attacked?
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