U.S. Should Treat Russia As A Superpower
In this New York Times op-ed, Prof. Ronald Steel, University of Southern California, argues that the U.S. needs to return to treating Russia as a superpower (A Superpower Is Reborn):
The limits of Russia’s post-cold-war retreat have apparently been reached, and the reversal of the power equation has gone too far to be sustained. Today’s leaders in Moscow are determined to protect what they perceive as their vital interests. The task for American leaders is not to pretend that these interests do not exist or can be safely ignored. Rather, it is to work out a modus vivendi based not on wishful thinking or dreams of even greater glory, but on the sober facts of power realities.
Prof. Steel offers specific steps on how to deal with Russia as we move past this Georgian crisis. I was struck by his comparison of Russia’s actions to how the U.S. has treated Latin American countries and our other neighbors in this hemisphere. That’s not to excuse any abuses, but it’s an important comparison and deserves consideration.
August 28th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
As THE ECONOMIST recently corrected noted, Russia remains surprisingly sensitive to its international image despite its show of militarism and renewed isolationism. Given this, it’s hard to take seriously the claim that Moscow is indifferent to the prospect of a new Cold War. It’s necessary now to lead a global effort to curtail Moscow’s access to international organizations that are desirable to it, at the same time making it clear that it is both the West’s sincere desire, and in Russia’s practical interest, for a new Cold War to be averted. - Nicholas J. Slabbert
September 2nd, 2008 at 5:29 pm
Russia is a Superpower again as the United States, CNN (as stated here on CNN August 1, 20
and other news media’s have admitted http://www.kommersant.com/page.asp?id=768929 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8dNr2GH08I, this is an NATO expansion war. US former president Ronald Reagan promise Russia there would be no NATO expansion into post Soviet Union countries back 1989 which has clearly been violated. NATO is the new cold war, they are expanding and we cannot trust NATO. NATO is evil and Russia is the ally here. People need to Google the truth about what NATO means and what relation is NATO, EU & Bilderberg together. I support Russia and I am against NATO, NATO is the enemy here. NATO wants to expand membership and spread every they can into more countries. NATO is about building a military block and when countries apply for NATO membership, they wave their rights to protect themselves or governored themselves but are under the rules of NATO. It is a communist movement on a private sector by NATO and this is wrong. Russia & China has been dead set against NATO and this is why. I want Russia to make its stance and stand against NATO, this evil lying agency that has no business taking countries rights away.
Who start this conflick? Georgia, NATO & the US, read link by Pat Buchanan : http://www.lewrockwell.com/buchanan/buchanan94.html and this video link here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBRl-BvKJII
And read what Ron Paul has said about NATO pushing into Russia: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyJiWYmXGLY
Here is a couple of Americans living in Georgia admitting Georgia & the US started the conflicts with Russia and that Georgia was indeed killing Russian people inside of Georgia. Something the US bilderberg media is not going to air on US television news channels.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4DdRmALFYg
We have to understand that Russia is protecting itself from NATO.
NATO is an organization whose purpose ended with the end of its Warsaw Pact adversary. When NATO struggled to define its future after the Cold War, it settled on attacking a sovereign state, Yugoslavia, which had neither invaded nor threatened any NATO member state.
This current round of NATO expansion is a political reward to governments in Georgia and Ukraine that came to power as a result of US-supported revolutions, the so-called Orange Revolution and Rose Revolution. The governments that arose from these street protests were eager to please their US sponsor and the US, in turn, turned a blind eye to the numerous political and human rights abuses that took place under the new regimes. Thus the US policy of “exporting democracy” has only succeeding in exporting more misery to the countries it has targeted.
NATO expansion only benefits the US military industrial complex, which stands to profit from expanded arms sales to new NATO members. The “modernization” of former Soviet militaries in Ukraine and Georgia will mean tens of millions in sales to US and European military contractors. The US taxpayer will be left holding the bill, as the US government will subsidize most of the transactions. Providing US military guarantees to Ukraine and Georgia can only further strain our military. This NATO expansion may well involve the US military in conflicts as unrelated to our national interest as the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia in Georgia. The idea that American troops might be forced to fight and die to prevent a small section of Georgia from seceding is absurd and disturbing.
By Congressman Ron Paul: http://www.antiwar.com/blog/2008/04/01/ron-paul-disband-nato/
So I have provided these facts below to state Russia is indeed a Superpower.
The Russian empire strikes back 16/08/2008
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1011861.html
Russia confident they are a Superpower again
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/15/world/europe/15russia.html?scp=1&sq=russia%20superpower%20anne%20barnard&st=cse
September 3rd, 2008 at 5:31 pm
Nicholas, thank you for your comment. In light of your comments, were you disappointed that the recent EU summit failed to produce a consensus on suspending Russia from the G8?
September 3rd, 2008 at 5:41 pm
Scott, thank you for your comment. So, you think the solution is to disband NATO? I can see the point that it would have been appropriate to disband NATO when the Warsaw Pact ended, perhaps that would have give the EU’s perpetual quest for a common foreign and security policy the impetus it needed, but I fear that the historial moment for disbanding NATO has passed.