Quote:
Originally Posted by nikimcbee
The next time the bamster threatens Putin/Russia with [insert threat here], if I were a Russian politician  , I'd say something along the lines; "We were ready to negotiate, but your president was busy at the time."
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1...caa-tournament
meh,
Enjoy the Crimea, please stop there. |
If the current helplessness and cluelessness of the West shows one thing, then it is that the West has lost its ability to think in terms of "Realpolitik". Dealing with states and anticipating their actions on the basis of their real interests, their real spheres of influence, their real vital and non-negotiable red lines. The term "Realpolitik" has become a foul word, it is used in talkshows to defame unwanted opinions and reminders of critics about unwelcomed facts and realities, instead one wallows in sentimental sweet-talking about how nice it is to reasonably talk as if no collision of interest were there and all states were just one happy family with same interests. All conflicts and all dissenting views that violate the collectively demanded "majority consensus" get ignored and either defined as being symptoms of mental illness or social irresponsibility, or as simply being non-existent. Over the years, also in this forum, when I mentioned the need for more Realpolitik, the term was returned sometimes as an offence, a derogatory defamation, a way of ridiculing an opinion or assessment the other happened to disagree with. And this happens all the time in the media as well, especially when calling back to mind some facts that question the canon of ordered views and opinions as demanded by the EU, or when questioning the socialist dogma and calculating that economically it cannot be maintained much longer. Realpolitik, we hear, is a term that guys like Bismarck Hitler or Stalin thought in, and it is a thing of the past, of the 19th and 20th century, it is so much out of date and not en vogue, hell, how could one dare to think in terms of Realpolitik?
Well, Putin send us the bill for our stupidity. Now we turn stubborn even more, and refuse to accept the lesson. Instead, we should be thankful in the meaning of that he shows us where we have gone fundamentally wrong, so that we would have the opportunity to correct our course. But no, that would mean to admit that we have gone wrong indeed, and so it is better to carry on with the self-deception.
Two lessons are to be learned. First, our militaries need to be brought back into better shape, especially in Europe. Second, we need to re-learn to think in terms of Realpolitik, and to see Russian vital interests from the Russians' point of view, not ours. Demonising Putin and thinking it all would be better with Russia if Putin would not be in command, leads us nowhere. We also have to see that the Russian hefty reaction to the events in the Ukraine, although a reaction that has been prepared, is due to the many bad experiences Russia has had with the West since 1989. The russians were promised by the Germans that Eastgermany would stay demilitarised. The Russians were promised by the Americans that NATO would not move into Poland and the Baltic states and would not crawl upon Russia national borders. The Russians were told the EU would not try to creep into the Balkans and the territories of now Ukraine, Belarus.
We betrayed them every time. And now we wonder that they have learned their lessons and play tough over Georgia, Iran, Syria, Crimea, Moldavia? What did we expect, having cheated them that often and at their massive strategic cost?
All that is not about sympathy for the Russians, or Putin. It's about Realpolitik.
I doubt they are too impressed with their growing isolation, instead I assume they feel quite comfortable in that role, for Russia since centuries thinks of itself as a power that can stay autark and alone all with itself, indicating the world that it is strong enough that it does not need them. This view has always been present in Russia's self-definition, but has found an additional reviving boost when Putin took over from - extremely weak - Yeltzin.
We are lucky that we only deal with Putin, not with a guy like Stalin, Krushchev (whom we have to thank for today's Crimea crisis, btw), or some of the ancient Tsars. The demonisation we conduct regarding Putin, borders hilariousness. Russia and the world could have had it worse. Much worse. On the determination that Putin shows, I recommend this: a strong dose of "Realpolitik" - in how we deal with him, and how we interpret his determination and anticipate to Russia's next actions. It'S either that - or continuing with follies and illusions that all will just boomerang against us.