|
MariaB -> RE: Are we heading towards WWIII? (2/17/2015 9:10:01 AM)
|
The crisis that has erupted in Ukraine is an occasion for just the kind of analysis that was so missing in the Cold War period. Russian behaviour over Ukraine - and Crimea in particular - may be entirely unacceptable in the west but, given the nature of the Putin regime and its recognition of deep-seated and enduring Russian sensibilities over the loss of empire twenty years ago, it is entirely understandable. In spite of the problems it causes, there is a real need for caution, not least because Putin may prefer a continuing crisis in order to bolster domestic support. If the Ukraine crisis escalates further, the impact for European security is likely to be substantial but the limiting of prospects for any kind of progress in Syria will be an even greater human disaster.
European policy-makers can help to mitigate the negative impacts of the crisis in three ways:
Urging caution on the part of NATO in response to the Ukraine crisis;
Encouraging in-depth analysis by European states of current Russian attitudes;
Endeavouring to support improvements in Iranian-Saudi relations in order to bypass the likely new deadlock in US-Russian relations over Iran and Syria.
None is easy – all are necessary.
http://www.oxfordresearchgroup.org.uk/publications/paul_rogers_monthly_global_security_briefings/ukraine_crisis_relation_syria_and_iran
|
|
|
|
