Posted on 10/25/2006 2:44:39 PM PDT by sergey1973
BRUSSELS, October 25, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- At a European Parliament debate on South Ossetia and Transdniester today, EU officials had two distinct messages. First, that the bloc’s involvement in Moldova will remain strong. Second, that Georgia's requests for greater EU involvement are "unrealistic."
From the EU’s point of view, not all frozen conflicts are alike.
It continues to acknowledge Russia’s key role in attempts at resolution. But when it comes to its own involvement, Brussels is clearly more enthusiastic about Moldova than it is about Georgia.
Moldova will share a border with the EU as of January 1, 2006, when Romania will join the bloc. As a result, Russia’s involvement in Transdniester is keenly felt in Brussels.
(Excerpt) Read more at rferl.org ...
For my part, I admire Putin's leadership style.
I don't approve of all of his decisions, obviously, but he has a very clear agenda, a very clear set of opinions and priorities, he calculates the power involved and required, and he executes his ideas to the best of his ability.
He usually wins.
It is said he is authoritarian, which is true.
But the Russian Constitution has created an authoritarian presidency. He uses the authority granted to him by his office, and he uses it to the hilt.
I should be pleased to see milquetoast American or French politicians show the backbone of Putin. HE does not back down. Our politicians do, all the time, consistently.
When his term is up, Putin will leave office. He will continue to wield immense influence - that's what effective leaders who have built a loyal apparatus do.
I think he is most resented by the West because he has been terribly effective.
His positions certainly have not been perfect, but his very strong, uncompromising leadership style is not just the way Russia needs to be governed (milquetoast Western politicians would be eaten alive by the Russians), but shows the sort of strength Americans and French wish their leaders would show.
There are many good points you made. I have no sympathy toward Putin authocratic, corrupt and brutal regime, but the fact is that being firm on points that matter most is the quality a respectable leader needs.
The Western World needs its own Winston Churchill to deal with first and foremost with oil possessing Muslim rulers (from wacko Ahmadinejad to terror sponsoring but outwardly Washington friendly Saudi princes). Putin would be less adventuristic in his foreign policy postures if he had to confront leaders like Winston Churchill, but he knows perfectly well that European leaders with a few exceptions are spineless and ready to backdown when meet with real force.
Yes, Putin does indeed know that, and he is right.
Russia, of course, is the European country with the size and power of the United States, so it is never a meeting of equals between Russia and any individual European country.
That said, the days of a massive Soviet Army poised to strike into Europe and conquer it are gone. Russia cannot govern itself effectively, currently, let alone dream of overmastering the West, or even Poland.
What Russians want is peace, stability and prosperity.
They will certainly have peace with the West. Who is going to start anything serious with Russia? Not Europe. Not the USA. So the fundamental issue of national security against the developed powers is not at issue anymore. And everyone knows this. Now, this is a good thing, really, because it returns Russia to being part of the great power game in Europe, as always the greatest power, but remote and distant.
Russia lives in a terrible neighborhood. Perhaps the MOST civilized country bordering Russia outside of Europe is China, and China is no prize. Everywhere else, the neighbords are nightmarish, and their ethnicities straddle borders.
And they're almost all Muslims.
Which makes the Russian security system just hellish.
How can one deal with the Chechens, short of wiping them out?
Putin is not quite prepared to do that, and short of that there IS NO SOLUTION. Just another ugly low grade war that goes on forever, like a chronic infection. This is potentially multiplied whereever there is Islam.
Russia's birth rate is catastrophic, which means that the population balance with Islam...and China...can only shift for the worse. What possibility is there of changing any of that? Little to none. Russians are not going to go back to large families. The land is not going to reconvert to old Orthodox morality and standards.
Putin faces a mess. Whoever rules Russia has always faced a mess. He has been, in my opinion, the most effective leader Russia has had in CENTURIES, maybe ever, because he has actually overseen real economic development, of a permanent variety. Western style liberal politics?
Well...no.
But an increasing grip of a rule of law?
In business anyway, yes.
And that is more than any leader has ever been able to manage to get into Russia.
Russia is a hard place, full of hard people. It has always been that way. But in truth, today the Russians have greater economic prospects, and a brighter future than at any time in their entire preceding history. Putin has a good share of that responsibility, because he is young and fit and very hard. His predecessor, Yeltsin, was a true hero, but he had none of the hard-edged gifts of management and vision that Putin does.
So I do admire him.
He has accomplished more for the benefit of the Russian people's future in his two terms in office than any Russian leader, tsar or commissar, ever has. And, lest one hail back to a legendary figure like Peter the Great, I will point out that Putin has managed this without mass murder. No "great" leader of Russia's past ever had the economic order of the current Russia; and none of them ever managed to make Russia stronger or more organized without mass murder.
Putin is Russian. And hard as Russians are. KGB. Not a joke. Not to be trifled with. But he has been very good for Russia. And I think will continue to be.
When Romania accedes to the European Union, Moldova will find itself no longer such a backwater, they will find themselves bordering the EU. This may change the political dynamic there, they will seek their own membership and since that is not immediately likely, union with Romania may suddenly become attractive.
Transneister will feel some of the same pressures, but the Russians there evidently have no interest in being a minority island floating in a Romanian sea, even if it gets them an EU passport. But its one thing for Transneister to assert its independence when the alternative is Moldovan citizenship. Its another thing to cling to it when the alternative is an EU passport.
Romanian membership in EU changes the game.
Well, EU passport looks a bit more attractive then Russian or Moldovan one, but it won't do much good. The "Old Europe" is not too eager to receive millions of new compatriots in their home countries. "New Europe" like Poland, Czech republic or Baltic States are more hospitable, but I doubt it will be for much longer. When hundreds of thousands are actually coming to these countries in search for work competing with natives, the picture starts immediately to change.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6084370.stm
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