Invite Them In
How bloody tedious, all this clanging of shields and spears. How utterly antediluvian. Isn't it past time we moved beyond all of this damned uncivil idiocy? How like combative schoolboys nations can be. Gregarious by nature, pugnacious by juvenile expectations; given to the rhetoric of "my big brother" they're forever rattling their armour and claiming superiority one over the other.Give us a bloody break.
Make friends. Be nice to one another. Utter encouraging little homilies, but mean it. Just as the European Union formed itself to forestall the potential of future hostilities between competing countries' politics and economies, then reached out gradually to involve ever greater co-operation and inviting more nations to join their union of brotherly nations, so should they reach also to Russia.
Rather than treat it as a suspicious bully - which, truth to tell, it represents a reasonable facsimile thereof - forever and a day. A situation certain to ensure ongoing, and increasing waves of socially-insecure resentment. All the more so when the EU embraces its former satellites when it was in its ascendancy, and continues to snub Russia.
Like an old warrior relishing memory of his younger days when he was feared and respected as one of the world's two fearsomely capable champions in world-class one-upsmanship in offering threats of nuclear annihilation, now aged and insecure, yet clamouring for that same respect now dissipated just as the old warrior's musculature has melted and his physique sagged into old age, Russia rages in fury at her universal neglect.
There's the still-muscular, still young and powerful America, swaggering as usual, bringing her mighty arsenals into too-close range for Russia's comfort and sense of dignity impaired. And where else, but on her borders with her former dependents. It's just too much to bear, the undeserved humiliation, the obloqoy. The Americans were always too brash, obnoxious, never could quite understand the underlying temerity of Russians, wanting to be liked.
Yes, Vladimir Putin is promising nasty "retaliatory actions" should Ukraine continue on its path toward the Western alliance, and yes, "It's frightening not just to talk about this, but even to think about, that in response to such deployment, the possibility of such deployments - and one can't theoretically exclude these deployments - that Russia will have to point its warheads at Ukrainian territory". So he's ranting, unsettled, slightly unhinged by his anger.
On the other hand, listen further: Russia and China demanding a ban on the use of weapons in space. While the U.S., complacent in her technical superiority - though the others are in the process of catching up - is adamant that it has no intention of surrendering its current advantage in space technology to satisfy the demands of anyone. They're set on their missile defence shield; "star wars" by any other nomenclature.
"Weapons deployment in space by one state will inevitably result in a chain reaction" claims Sergei Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister. And he's right, isn't he? We certainly are slow learners; we've been down that street before, remember? The world is tipsy with its burden of atomic weaponry. Who needs it? Does that arsenal help us sleep soundly at night?
"This, in turn, is fraught with a new spiral in the arms race both in space and on earth." Anyone prepared to quibble with that observation?
Why not allay Russia's fears - well placed, given the ongoing trajectory of alliances and planned missile placements - the shield may threaten its national security, tipping Europe's strategic military balance.
Balance? What balance?
Pre-empt all this unnecessary destabilization and fear, and fear-mongering. Invite Russia - politely and sincerely - to join NATO and the European Union. Listen to Russia and to China. Bargain with them to support the West's concerns vis-a-vis Iran and North Korea.
Embrace an irenic strategy.
Labels: Conflict, World Crises, World News
posted by Pieface @ Wednesday, February 13, 2008
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