Lilia Shevtsova At The American Interest ‘Putin Ends The Interregnum:’
‘What a mess Putin has gotten us all into! But let’s also give him his due: He has paved the way for the emergence of new trends—or at least he’s called the existing ones into serious question. He has also facilitated the formation of Ukrainian national identity, ensuring that the country will never again become a mere extension of Russia. He has thus undermined his own dream—that of creating the Eurasian Union. He has precipitated a crisis in his own country, making its future path completely unpredictable. And finally, he has reminded NATO of its mission and prompted the liberal democracies to reflect on their own principles.’
It seems there’s a Russian ethno-nationalist core Putin’s playing to aside from the clear interest in Crimea and a corridor that means splitting Ukraine in two. Just how Putin defines that core in order to play-up to Russian pride, nostalgia and national security via his own power via a cagey ex-KGB, authoritarian, petro-Czar ruling-style is up for debate.
Over at the New Republic, they’re going to have to work harder to figure out how to maintain humanist, Left-liberal ideals in the face of such meddling and aggression (they might have to think about rebuilding the Peretz wall separating a kind of liberalism from full-on Lefty activism that new ownership has since removed):
‘Putin Will Never, Ever Admit That Russia Has Invaded Ukraine‘
‘The Kremlin will continue to deny its involvement in Ukraine, and the U.S. and E.U. will take their time calling this an outright invasion. Russia has made its objectives in Ukraine clear, and has signalled its resolute unwillingness to participate in military negotiations while its political concerns go unresolved.’
It’s pretty clear the Georgia model is in play, to some extent. Ukraine’s economy is weak, and its civil institutions very corrupt, but Putin’s aims are pretty clear.
An interesting interview with an American volunteer with Army experience and Ukrainian roots who’s joined the fight. A surprisingly reasonable-sounding guy via VICE:
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Via a reader: George Kennan’s ‘Long Telegram’ back to Washington in 1946.
From Vlad’s pen to NY Times readers’ eyes.
Also On This Site: Obama’s Decision On Missile Defense And A Quote From Robert Kagan’s: ‘The Return Of History And The End Of Dreams’…From The National Interest: ‘Inside The Mind Of George F. Kennan’
Some Links On Foreign Policy & Ukraine…Kasparov, Kerry, Putin & Obama?-Some Links On Ukraine
James Baker At The NY Times: ‘3 Presidents and a Riddle Named Putin’
Nearly three years ago now: Eric Posner At The Volokh Conspiracy: The Bear Is Back!
That gives a very different insight to the ones coming on the evening news here in England. The soldier is eloquent and adds a perspective I hadn’t heard before.
Simon,
Hope all is well.
I thought so too. VICE tends to have counter-culture tendencies and a certain kind of audience and assumptions (semi-nihilist, hip, ‘edgy’), but they’re putting people on the ground in dicey situations.
For major outlets, reporters from the countries in question often file and then there’s what they know and have experienced and what they can’t say say for various reasons. There’s also what’s going on for the people involved and their experiences and knowledge, and in war and wartime situations there’s some of the best and a lot of the worst in humanity expressing itself.
It’s an inevitability, but the news and your and my governments do a tremendous amount of filtering, interpreting and deciding.
It seems like a good idea to get different viewpoints when possible.