Some claim that each country has the right to choose its own military alliance: that this is simply Ukraines choice to make. Yet the U.S. has never allowed its own neighbors like Cuba (or Nicaragua, Granada, and several others) to choose their own alliances. To claim to Russia that Ukraines membership in NATO is Ukraines decision alone is the beam in the eye of the West. NATOs recent behavior beyond Europe gives Russia little confidence. NATO toppled the Qaddafi regime almost on a whim (going beyond the clear purpose of the UN Security Council mandate in Libya), and then left Libya as a failed state. The U.S. has repeatedly and recently claimed its right to overthrow governments it doesnt like, whether in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, or Syria. For Russia, NATO on the doorstep is a self-evident security threat. Russian President Vladimir Putins actions in Ukraine are violent, brutal, cynical, and against international law. There is no justification for Russias war on Ukraine. Yet there is an explanation: both the U.S. and Russia continue to play very dangerous great-power games. The biggest losers, of course, are not the U.S. and Russia, but the Ukrainians, Libyans, Iraqis, Syrians, Afghanis, and others who are caught in between. Let us listen to the wise words of Gorbachev, to whom we all owe our safe deliverance from the Cold War era: Attempts to solve the problem of security in Europe by enlarging NATO or through an EU defense policy cannot bring positive results… We need institutions and mechanisms that would function in the interests of all. Let us, in short, search for a new European peace, built not on NATO reaching the Russian borders through Ukraine, but on a shared vision of pan-European economic, military, energy, and environmental security. That shared vision was within reach in 1989, but was squandered; a quarter century later, it can be within reach again. Commentary by Jeffrey Sachs, director of The Earth Institute, Quetelet professor of sustainable development, and professor of health policy and management at Columbia University. cnbc/id/102289227
Posted on: Tue, 23 Dec 2014 12:42:09 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015