Posted on 11/26/2004 12:30:00 PM PST by Ginifer
LONDON -- The Ukrainian election impasse has brought new attention to one of the world's worst-kept political secrets: The leaders of Russia and Europe, beneath their friendly façades, see each other more and more as gigantic whirlpools trying to suck away one another's financial and strategic resources.
That was immediately apparent yesterday when Russian President Vladimir Putin made a fog-enshrouded flight to The Hague to meet with leaders of the European Union. It was meant to be a summit to discuss sharing influence in the countries that sit between the two powers, but the Ukrainian situation destroyed any illusion of friendly co-operation and revealed deep and possibly permanent disagreements.
Mr. Putin began yesterday morning by sending a telegram to Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich, whom the Kremlin had backed. It declared him the winner and boasted that he would "bring the Russian-Ukrainian strategic partnership to a new level."
Soon afterward, he stood on a podium with European leaders who said that the election was fraudulent and implied that Russia should stay away. Mr. Putin then openly denounced European efforts to negotiate a fair election result and said that the situation in Ukraine was not a European problem. By last night, EU foreign-policy minister Javier Solana had announced that he would travel to Ukraine today to try to reach "a negotiated diplomatic settlement" to the impasse.
As the meeting's original agenda disappeared into the gloom, the leaders sounded increasingly like large fish circling around a small and wounded minnow.
"I am deeply convinced that [the EU] has absolutely no moral right to push this large European country into mass-scale unrest of any sort," Mr. Putin said of European efforts to scrutinize the vote. "I do not think other countries can recognize or refuse to recognize the elections in Ukraine. This is the Ukrainian people's business."
Those words reflected a growing fear of EU dominance felt by Mr. Putin and his colleagues.
That fear was spelled out in explicit detail last week by Konstantin Kosachev, a close ally of Mr. Putin and chairman of the Duma committee on foreign affairs. In a speech to the Russian legislature, he expressed what are said to be Mr. Putin's deep fears of an expanding EU driving America and the rest of the world away from an increasingly feeble Russia.
Mr. Kosachev warned that Europe "before our eyes, is slowly but surely drawing in, like a giant whirlpool, our neighbours. Russia, obviously, feels this strong gravitational pull."
He warned of "a growing confrontation in post-Soviet territory" in which "Western critics are increasingly frequently accusing Russia of pursuing imperialistic goals," while "these countries [such as Ukraine and its neighbours] are forced to accept an anti-Russian orientation."
The EU's financial assistance, in the view of Mr. Kosachev and many other Russian officials, is a form of bribery to draw countries such as Ukraine out of the Russian economic and political sphere and into Europe, in effect turning Russia into an isolated, economically feeble power.
"Eastern European countries are constantly offered participation in Western European structures as a sort of 'refuge' from Russia in order to neutralize its influence," he said.
As the summit collapsed into mutual accusations, the Russian and European leaders were able to find official agreement on only one major point: Neither power wants to see the Ukraine crisis resolved in a violent fashion.
A definition of Russia's politics could be : the exact opposite of EU's politics.
Good.
The Russians at least we can bargain with.
You could almost pull this headline from an 18th or 19th or 20th century paper. Some things never change and the competition between Russia and Europe is one of those things.
Wonder how fast France and Germany will scurry back into our arms now and remind us of our NATO commitment?
We should do all we can to encourage the power of these new Europeans, all of whom are deeply skeptical of Putin's Russia.
Seems to me the press
is getting carried away.
Kiev is less than
500 miles from
Moscow. This isn't about
Russia and Europe.
It's about Russia
simply wanting buffer states
around its borders.
Unfortunately, you are correct. I just hope Putin realizes this.
Russia sided with France against us.
Both the Europeans and the Russians want a peaceful resolution to this. Neither party wants an all-out civil war in Ukraine.
The solution? Partition. The east of Ukraine will be reabsorbed into Mother Russia, the west wil go freely into Europe.
Of course, there is still a little bit of time left for the Ukrainian people to weigh in on this...but not much.
"The Russians at least we can bargain with."
LOL
Have you noticed that Russia is the main reason why Iran will have nuclear weapons very soon, and that they also blocked our U.N. resolutions because they were involved in the Oil for Food scandal? They also supplied Hussein with more weapons than all of the EU countries combined. We have real allies in the EU, but we have no ally in Russia.
"The east of Ukraine will be reabsorbed into Mother Russia, the west wil go freely into Europe."
What kind of solution is that? Ukraine is not part of Russia.
“Wonder how fast France and Germany will scurry back into our arms now and remind us of our NATO commitment?”
France and Germany have done all they can to dismantle NATO, now they will have to live with the consequences. France has openly admitted that they are going to lead the world in stopping US influence, so I see NO point in supporting them over Russia.
"I am deeply convinced that [the EU] has absolutely no moral right to push this large European country into mass-scale unrest of any sort," Mr. Putin said. I’m with you Putin tell these Euro-weenies to get lost.
But this is superpower geopolitics we're talking about, and the will of the people is of scant importance.
Ukraine's only hope for remaning intact and free is for the opposition movement to take the reigns of the government by popular acclamation. A "negotiated settlement" with Kuchma/Putin will almost certainly lead to the partition of the Ukraine into a Russian east and a free European west.
In the sense that International Politics is more like a 3D chess game, this is good for the US for several reasons.
1) we have to opportunity to assist the Pro-Democracy movement in Ukraine.
2) We can use this as a marvelous pressure tactic against Russia in forcing them to assist us in Iran (the IAEA will be able to do little or nothing with out some pretty heavy backing from Russia and China both of whom are supporting Iran) and so far Putin has not really stepped up to the table to help us with that, Iraq and Terrorisism. It is a good stratgic barganing issue.
3) it keeps Russia REAL busy withinn it's own sphere of influence.
4) Pitting the EU and Russia against each other is a good thing. The Enemy of my enemy is my friend, and really both Russia AND the EU are not on our side, even if neither is totally against us. Better to have them ripping each other's throats out than messing with us.
As sad as it is, the Ukranian people are going to suffer the most. International Politics rarely benifits the people directly. Lots are going to get hurt, make no mistake. However, on the whole, it is better to have Russia and the EU at odds, it keeps them BOTH off our backs, AND gives us some much needed barganing capital.
Let's hope that the will of the people wins the day though. The Ukranian people deserve to have THEIR votes counted just as much as we here do. It is pretty clear that Russia's hand is very dirty in what is obviously a fradulent Election. I hope that justice wins the day for Ukraine's people!
"Have you noticed that Russia is the main reason why Iran will have nuclear weapons.."
You need to open your eyes. Germany, France and the U.K. just signed off on Irans nuclear energy program just last week. Hello! does anyone read the news.
Our interest is cearly served by a free, independent, and European Ukraine. Such a state will further shift the balance of power in the EU eastward (i.e., away from France), and will--at least temporarily--halt Putin's ambitions to rebuild the Soviet empire.
Excellent points.
Yes. It is always the same terrible story.
A new Russia empire? Sounds like a stretch.
I think that Russia is threatened by the EU, and so is the US. Just look how the EU is treating the US. Bush can’t go there without facing government sponsored mass protest, but he is welcome in Russia. The Russia people were poll before the US election and they backed Bush. The opposite is true in Europe. Europeans HATE us! Allies change, and this is one of those times.
Holtz
JeffersonRepublic.com
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