Posted on 05/03/2014 9:51:18 PM PDT by Mount Athos
Russian President Vladimir Putin charges that Western support for the newly declared state, torn from Serbia this week, is "immoral and illegal" behavior that will provoke a global storm of separatism and explode the international order.
Jubilant Russian nationalists claim that "Western betrayal" has freed the Kremlin from any obligation to follow international laws in its own neighborhood.
Kosovo was seized by NATO in a 1999 war after Serbia was accused of the ethnic cleansing of the tiny territory's mainly Albanian population. Russia opposed the war, but was persuaded to help negotiate a truce following 78 days of NATO air bombardment of Serbia. Russian experts claim that Moscow's envoy, Viktor Chernomyrdin, convinced Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic to surrender by conveying Western pledges that a NATO occupation of Kosovo would never lead to its separation from Serbia. Now, many Russians feel that Moscow's influence was abused.
[Yevgeny Bazhanov] "That's why there is a real feeling of frustration in Moscow, the sense that agreements [with the West] don't mean anything. They go ahead and change the terms however they wish."
[Alexander Dugin] "this will be a signal for Russian minorities in eastern Ukraine and other places to organize for their own separation.... [Western behavior has shown us] that geopolitical interests now prevail. Any talk of morality is just a disguise."
Russian experts say that the involuntary dismemberment of Serbia has shifted the balance of international practice in favor of self-determination.
[Mr. Dugin] "We should embrace the same double standards that the West practices," he says. "Russia will crush separatism on its own territory even more drastically than before, while supporting pro-Russian separatists elsewhere. It will be easy to explain this to the Russian people. It's the end of so-called morality-based foreign policy; now only power decides."
(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...
Russian neocons are no better than the American ones but jumping on them is a kind of hypocrisy isn’t it?
Both are evil but Russian ones may legitimately claim they are on defence and their actions are counter-reaction.
A broken windows theory and it is not Russia who broken a first window.
Kosovo was indeed a legitimate part of Serbia but the Albanians and other Mohammedans played the West like a Fiddle. But nothing stops Putin from being friendly with powerful Muzzie countries when his short-term financial interests are at stake.
Nothing has stopped us from doing the same thing. We, however, are doing more to spread Islam than Putin.
ethnic cleansing - Seems like that’s what going on here.
Bears are grumpy creatures at the best of times but continually poking them with a stick will illicit a negative reaction. What is it with all this poking? Have our masters decided the only bear they like is a dancing one on a chain and that this one must be brought to heal? Good luck with that!
Bears that can’t control themselves get shot and killed.
You are right to some degree. Russia was at it from 1930 to 1980 which is not excusable, but then took a long pause.
It seems like some US and European politicians highjacked their vehicle, renamed ‘comintern’ to ‘nation-bulding’ and on the same path, spreading chaos, ever since.
The Western world is run by bankers and they are facing a mathematical catastrophe in the near term. The dimmest possible view is that they want to start a major war in hopes of averting or controlling that catastrophe.
Yep.
“Bears that cant control themselves get shot and killed.” Yep - sometimes after they have mauled a few people.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.