Ukraine torments Russia by courting the West!
Ukraine yesterday offered to create a joint missile defence network with the West amid fears that its port city of Sebastopol, home of the Russian Black Sea fleet, could become the next flashpoint between Russia and its former satellites.
The Ukrainian offer, which means its early warning radar stations could become part of the West’s civil defence system, will further damage poor relations between Kiev and Moscow.
Ukraine, which to the fury of Russia is looking towards Europe and membership of Nato, announced last week that it would require the Russian fleet to seek permission whenever ships entered its territorial waters.
Viktor Yushchenko, Ukraine’s reformist president who visited the Georgian capital Tbilisi last week to support President Mikhail Saakashvili, said the use of Russian ships for a war violated Ukraine’s neutrality and risked drawing it into conflict.
This weekend Yushchenko said a threat to Georgia’s territorial integrity should be viewed as a potential threat to Ukraine’s: “We have lived through the most terrible 10 days of our recent history.”
The Russian response was immediate. Colonel-General Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy chief of the Russian general staff, who last week warned Poland that it could face a nuclear strike after signing a deal with the United States to place a missile shield on its soil, made a belligerent statement to Ukraine.
He said Russian ships would ignore the order to seek permission, which he claimed was “illegitimate”.
Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister, warned Yushchenko last February that Russia could point nuclear missiles at Ukraine if it cooperated with US missile defence plans.
Ukraine is insisting the Russian military must leave Sebastopol when the lease on the base expires in 2017. The Russian navy has made it clear it may refuse to do so.
The Europeans need to tread very carefully.. AT present the Russians hold the cards, but in this world, there is a lot of inter dependency..
The Americans may try using the G8 or WTO to curb Russia, but its going to be long game. Russia cannot afford to piss off too many people..
"The bear is back
By Richard M Bennett
Despite being rather moth-eaten and while still missing a claw or two, the Russian bear is definitely back in business.
The conflict with Georgia over its troublesome breakaway provinces has as much to do with nationalistic pride and the Kremlin's wish to reassert itself on the international scene as a determination to protect the predominately Russian citizens of South Ossetia or the determinedly independent-minded Abkhazians.
Despite constant assertions by Washington that Russia risks isolation for its military actions of the past week, it is arguable
that it is United States itself that faces the greatest dilemma.
To enforce any form of diplomatic or economic "punishment" on the Russians, Washington desperately needs the wholehearted support of the international community and its closest allies in particular...."
Read the rest here:http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/JH16Ag01.html
Both sides use "proxies" to further their agendas.. It should be interesting how Ukraine proceeds. At the moment, there is a lot of posturing going on.
Remember Ukraine is at least 50% pro Russian.Might not be so easy for the america ally yushenko to manouvre as easily...
Also note:
US/Nato agreed not to expand eastward after the breakup of the Soviet Empire but broke the promise when the baltic states became members of Nato.
America has also been busy supporting the pro-western revolutions within the Russian lebansraum (vital space) and this had bought humiliation upon the Russians.
So called Missle Defence is blantantly geared towards containing the Russians militarily. Not sure why the US had tried to sell it off as anti-Iran.
America might use its old tactics: namely ask its 'ally'Saudi to start pumping money and arms into the Chechen cause so disrupt Russian plans and keep Russia bogged down in such internal strife...
Russia can counter by supporting the Taliban and Iraqi resistance groups through military aid. (This would be a turn of events because it was the americans through Suadia and pakistan which financed and armed the so called mujahideen when the Russians invaded Afghanistan in 1979)
..........
Ukraine is a funny mix, because they not only have strategic misiles from the old Soviet days, builds the T-80 Tanks but also lease a port to the Russian fleet (as part of the agreement)..
It will be intesting to see how this plays out because Ukraine is much tougher than Georgia..
New found weight??? I think they've found the cash to throw all their old weight around and that's pretty scary.
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As I said on another thread yesterday, beware of Russia. They now have the cash to throw their new found weight around.
just eat another pie
You know...the more we hear from Russia, the more I'm not surprised these countries are courting the West.
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