Вау That doesn’t mean there is nothing the West can offer. The first and most radical option would be to dissolve NATO -- a possibility that is overdue for serious consideration -- and replace it with a new security bloc. The new group, which might be called the Global Northern Alliance, would bring together all current NATO states, Russia and the members of its Collective Security Treaty Organization, and Japan and South Korea. The bloc would be led by today’s three major military powers: the United States, Russia, and the European Union. Its main task would be to preserve and reinforce peace on the European continent and in the northern hemisphere more broadly. But its greater objective would be to interrupt Russia’s drift toward the rising powers of the developing world, a club that it increasingly aspires to join despite its historical ties to Europe. For the West to agree to such a reorganization, Russia would have to return Crimea to Ukraine, cease confrontational rhetoric, and abandon its policy of fueling and then exploiting controlled instability near its borders. This decision would be a difficult one for Putin to take, but his desire to include Russia in a group of leading world powers may be too strong to resist. Of course, some portion of Russia’s much vaunted sovereignty may be lost as a result, but the benefits -- cementing its position among the major global players -- may be worth the costs. And, of course, its oligarchs will welcome Russias membership in a club that represents the global financial elite, which has remained one of their key aspirations all along.
Posted on: Sun, 10 Aug 2014 01:33:31 +0000
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