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Putin's Plan for Overturning the European Order
Real Clear Wordl ^ | April 16, 2014 | Ivan Krastev

Posted on 04/17/2014 5:32:29 PM PDT by neverdem

Russia's willingness to violate Ukraine's territorial sovereignty is the gravest challenge to the European order in over half a century. The conflict pits a vast nuclear power against a state equal in size to France, an autocratic regime against a revolutionary government. The Russian intervention in Ukraine raises questions about the security guarantees that the West made to Ukraine after the country gave up its nuclear weapons in 1994, and it flies in the face of many Europeans' belief that, in recent years, a continental war has become all but impossible. The end result may be the emergence of a third Russian empire or a failed Ukrainian state at the center of Europe.

Russia's aggression in Ukraine should not be understood as an opportunistic power grab. Rather, it is an attempt to politically, culturally, and militarily resist the West. Russia resorted to military force because it wanted to signal a game change, not because it had no other options. Indeed, it had plenty of other ways to put pressure on Kiev, including through the Russian Black Sea fleet in Sevastopol, the Ukrainian city in which the force is based; playing with gas prices; demanding that Ukraine start paying off its government debt to Russia; and drumming up anti-Ukrainian sentiment among Ukraine's sizeable Russian population. Further, senior American figures had already noted that the Ukrainian crisis could not be solved without Russia, and European leaders had expressed their unhappiness about a new (and unfortunate) law that Ukraine's transitional government passed soon after it was formed, which degraded the status of the Russian language. In other words, resorting to force was unnecessary.

It was also dangerous: Ukraine is a big country, and its public, still in a revolutionary mood, is primed to fight for a patriotic cause...

(Excerpt) Read more at realclearworld.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs; Politics/Elections; Russia
KEYWORDS: bupadestmemorandum; putin; ukraine
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1 posted on 04/17/2014 5:32:29 PM PDT by neverdem
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To: neverdem

This would be entertaining if we weren’t bound to Europe by NATO...


2 posted on 04/17/2014 5:36:13 PM PDT by Little Ray (How did I end up in this hand-basket, and why is it getting so hot?)
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To: neverdem

What he really means is that Putin is a threat to decadent Western liberalism...

There, fixed it.


3 posted on 04/17/2014 5:39:16 PM PDT by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: goldstategop

I’d like to see you explain how the counter to “decadent Western liberalism” is the embrace of a strongman. Unless he can make the trains run on time, of course.


4 posted on 04/17/2014 5:43:23 PM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: 1rudeboy

You know the usual EU trifecta: gay marriage, abortion and high taxes that choke off investment and growth.

That decadent Western liberalism. And of multiculturalism that is allowing Islam to slowly subvert Europe from within.


5 posted on 04/17/2014 5:47:01 PM PDT by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: goldstategop

I’ll just wait for another time for your explanation, then.


6 posted on 04/17/2014 5:48:22 PM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: 1rudeboy; goldstategop

7 posted on 04/17/2014 6:09:27 PM PDT by bigheadfred
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To: bigheadfred

I asked a regular question. No need for homoeroticism.


8 posted on 04/17/2014 6:12:12 PM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: Little Ray
Ukraine isn't a meember of NATO, but it's worse than that. The bent one, John Major and Boris Yeltsin swore to protect Ukraine's sovereignty when they surrendered their nukes in 1994 in the Bupadest memorandum.
9 posted on 04/17/2014 6:14:11 PM PDT by neverdem (Register pressure cookers! /s)
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To: 1rudeboy

Why don’t you go ahead and explain it to all of us. You have a specific point in mind. Enlighten us.


10 posted on 04/17/2014 6:14:30 PM PDT by bigheadfred
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To: bigheadfred

That’s unique. Who knew, but you, that I have the answer to my own question:


11 posted on 04/17/2014 6:15:38 PM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: 1rudeboy; goldstategop

Its a false premise, it doesn’t require an explanation.


12 posted on 04/17/2014 6:20:22 PM PDT by mac_truck ( Aide toi et dieu t aidera)
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To: mac_truck

Well, then . . . perhaps you could explain why it is a “false premise?”


13 posted on 04/17/2014 6:21:07 PM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: Little Ray

I’m reminded of another security guarrantee made to
Belgium by France and England. At least the Brits
had the honor to stand behind it.

Now the word of the President is worthless and that
means freedom suffers in one way or another.


14 posted on 04/17/2014 6:23:12 PM PDT by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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To: 1rudeboy

No you figure it out...or ask the State Dept. for help


15 posted on 04/17/2014 6:25:14 PM PDT by mac_truck ( Aide toi et dieu t aidera)
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To: neverdem

Which is the biggest threat to Europe and the USA?

Putin?

Islam?


16 posted on 04/17/2014 6:27:29 PM PDT by Iron Munro (NSA reports Malaysia Flight 370 black box signals detected in Bermuda Triangle)
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To: mac_truck

I guess it must be a Russian thing, then.


17 posted on 04/17/2014 6:27:56 PM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: 1rudeboy

No you’re still clueless.


18 posted on 04/17/2014 6:29:34 PM PDT by mac_truck ( Aide toi et dieu t aidera)
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To: mac_truck

Yup, certainly a Russian thing.


19 posted on 04/17/2014 6:32:09 PM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: goldstategop
the usual EU trifecta: gay marriage, abortion and high taxes

Putin panders to the female vote with state contraception services. Putin is not remotely pro-life.

20 posted on 04/17/2014 6:37:56 PM PDT by Praxeologue
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