Date: 2024-12-21 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00021702
GEOPOLITICS
RUSSIA -V- UKRAINE
This is not a round table ... but a table for two!!!!!!
RUSSIA -V- UKRAINE
This is not a round table ... but a table for two!!!!!!
Burgess COMMENTARY
This is an impressive table ... a table for two!
The Russia - Ukraine spat would be funny if it was not so serious. Vladimir Putin has got himself onto center stage of geopolitics in a way that is quite spectacular. It has something of the same Trump methodology that did so much damage to the USA and the West generally, and it is quite possible that this Putin grandstanding could have the same result ... or not.
It is frequently remarked that the Russian Federation has a very weak hand, and that Putin is playing it very well. I am not sure that this is the case ... and I hope not.
I worry that Putin is betting that a military win in a hot war between Russia and Ukraine will deliver socio-enviro-economic benefit to the people of Russia and Ukraine. I don't think that is the case
I doubt that there will be the same acquiescence this time round as there was when Russia annexed Crimea with almost zero resistance in 2014 after the Sochi Winter Olympics. This time the countries in the West have come together in a way that is quite encouraging, even though the many countries of Europe and the many countries in NATO have very different essential agendas. The one thing they all have, is a desire for what freedom and democracy are all about.
NATO is being strengthened significantly in response to the Russian military movements, and I give Jens Stoltenberg a lot of credit for his calmness and his clarity as the Secretary General of NATO.
This is not a comfortable time ... the stakes are huge!!!!!!!
Peter Burgess