Posted on 12/16/2004 10:33:39 PM PST by The Loan Arranger
Russian behavior throughout the Ukrainian crisis has fueled talk about Russian neoimperialism. The specter of Moscow-inspired separatism in eastern Ukraine reflects the worst fears of analysts on both sides of the Atlantic and brings back talk of a new Cold War. In short order, no matter what happens in Ukraine, we are likely to hear calls for a policy toward Russia drawn from the Cold War: neo-containment.
That's the wrong prescription. Consider the evidence of Russian neoimperialism. Heavy meddling in Ukrainian domestic politics is but the latest manifestation of a trend that began long before the crisis in Kiev. Neoimperialist rhetoric reached a high point in the Russian parliamentary campaign of 2003, during which even prominent liberals embraced the idea of imperial restoration.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
During the Cold War, we were not only worried about nation after nation falling to communism; we also cared for the millions living inside the communist world. Now many seem to have forgotten that particular aspect and assumed Russia's internal freedoms would grow and last in perpetuity. I fear the only way we will intervene is if old Soviet-style imperialism rebounds and starts making banana republics out of their neighbors like they did in the old days.
That would surely make us pay attention, though it may be too late by then. The Asian continent could then become our superior, seeded by a new-found nationalism and fueled by a simple nostalgia for greatness.
Or things could move toward civil war. Which would we prefer, honestly? Of course civil war, I dare say quite frankly.
What a great idea, we just wait and see what the Russians do and cross our fingers, `cause it's worked so far!
With an approach like that to foreign policy, I have to wonder: did this guy ever work for the Carter administration?
Keep that Bircher talk up and you'll get banned for sure. There aren't any communists anymore, just unrepentant progressives. And they can be reached.
Provided they're latin.
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