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Putin Becomes Europe's 20th Century Menace
by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700
Copyright
November 13, 2014
All Rights Reserved.
Russia’s 62-year-old Vladimir Putin has become
Europe’s new 21st Century menace, starting Aug. 8, 2008 rolling Russian tanks to
seize Georgia’s South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
While Republicans point fingers at President Barack Obama for a feckless
foreign policy, former President George W. Bush and his hawkish Vice President
Dick Cheney sat idly by while Russia seized sovereign Georgian territory. With an unfettered military buildup
over the last six years, Putin seized Crimea March 1, all but taking over
Southeastern Ukraine. Slapped by
the U.S and European Union economic and travel sanctions, Putin hasn’t stopped
his aggression, moving more Russian troops and military hardware into Luhansk
and Donetsk. U.S. and EU officials
haven’t figured out what to do to stop Putin from seizing more sovereign land,
ceding Moscow without resistance more Ukrainian territory.
Putin has 100% Kremlin backing while he morphed Russia from an
international economic partner to a pariah state, prompting at least eight
European nations to beef up their militaries to contain a growing Russian
threat. Former Soviet satellites in
Northern Europe, including Poland, Nordic and Baltic states fear that Moscow
could arbitrarily decide to reclaim Russian territory before the Soviet collapse
Dec. 25, 1991. U.S. and the EU have applied harsh economic and travel sanctions, driving the Russian
ruble and stock market to multiyear lows.
British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon found Russia “regularly flouting
the rules of international aviation,” flying Russian strategic bombers into
European airspace. Putin’s growing show of force is designed to intimidate Europe, warning former Soviet
republics that Mother Russia could once again takeover Eastern Europe.
Standing up to Russia is no easy matter for the EU, concerned more with
growing unemployment and struggling economies.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has shown some backbone, backing the U.S.
and EU economic sanctions that has Putin scrambling to put energy deals together
in China. At an Asian-Pacific
economic summit in Beijing Nov. 8, Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping inked
a $70 billion natural gas pipeline designed to supply China enough natural gas
for decades. Looking to compensate
for unfavorable economic conditions in Europe, Putin showed his savvy business
side, looking to replace lost European revenue. “NATO has recorded over 100 intercepts so far this year, three times as many as in 2013
and the years is not yet finished,” said Fallon, proving that Putin continues to
intimidate Europe, especially former Soviet republics, with military maneuvers.
Europe ignored Putin’s Trojan Horse becoming too dependent on Russian
petroleum and natural gas, giving Moscow too much clout to meddle in European
politics. If China makes the same
mistake, they’ll find out the like Europe what it’s like to extricate itself
from Kremlin dependence. Northern
European countries led by Scandinavia and Baltic States recall Kremlin
intimidation during the Cold War.
When former Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev warned Nov. 11 of a new Cold War,
he took no responsibility for Putin’s aggression. He’s been quoted recently as backing
Putin’s moves in Ukraine, pointing fingers at the U.S. for meddling in Russian
affairs. Moscow blames the U.S. for
Kiev’s Feb. 22 coup that toppled the pro-Moscow government of Viktor Yanukovich. Moscow won’t concede that former
Soviet satellites want to remain independent of Moscow.
U.S. foreign policy under Obama has tilted isolationist, ending
foreign wars and avoiding playing world policeman. Obama’s strategic retreat sent the
wrong message to the Kremlin and Islamic radicals that the U.S. would no longer
confront new 21st Century threats.
Obama disagreed with 2012 GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney when he said
the Moscow was still the U.S.’s biggest threat. Putin turned back the clock on 40 years of U.S.-Russian relations, under Gorbachev and
his successor the late Russian President Boris Yeltsin, creating the most
adversarial relationship since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. With a new GOP
Senate sworn in January, confronting Moscow will become a priority on Capitol
Hill. Gone are the days when Obama
gets a free pass on U.S. foreign policy.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz) will offer a different approach when he takes
over the Armed Services Committee Jan. 1.
Putin’s seizure of Crimea threw U.S. and EU policymakers for a loop. After building up his conventional
land army, Putin has no rival on the European continent, giving former Soviet
satellites and neighboring states reason to sweat. “Military aggression against Ukraine was foreseen by very few policymakers. The warning time has been reduced to
virtually zero,” said Estonian Defense Minister Sven Mikser, exposing Europe’s
vulnerability to Putin’s superior military.
Under McCain’s leadership, he’s not going to cede Putin a free ride in
Eastern and Western Europe. “We will not allow Russia to invade our air space,” said Fallon, agreeing that something
must be done to contain Putin’s aggression.
“We are in a new stage of our relationship with Russia, that is very
clear: Russia has stepped outside
the framework of international law,” said Fallon, calling for action.
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