Norberg on the Russia – Georgia War
Written by Johan on August 11, 2008 – 10:33 pmHere are two posts by Johan Norberg on the war in the Caucasus.
So what can the EU do? First of all: Show the Russians that we don´t just look the other way. Germany´s chancellor Angela Merkel meets president Dmitry Medvedev on Friday. She and other European leaders should make clear that they refuse to discuss anything else with the Russian leaders than the war as long as bombs are raining down. If that doesn´t help, the EU should look at possibilities of freezing Russian assets abroad that might help them to wage war.
Would Putin and Medvedev respond by using the gas weapon? Let them. It´s the kind of weapon that can only be used once by turning it off. Now they use it all the time, as a threat that keeps the whole of EU in a state of fear and cowardice. Let´s call their bluff.
Norberg may very well be correct, although I think this is a difficult issue. A no-reaction policy from the West would boost the confidence of the Russian leaders that they can do as they please and expand their sphere of interest. An overly strong reaction might weaken the good forces in Russia and push us closer toward a Cold War-like condition. I’m not sure what the correct course of action is.
Strategically Europe should move away from Russian gas. Getting it turned off now would be costly for some countries (including Germany, I believe), and I doubt that they are willing to risk it, but either way continued dependence is likely to be a heavy burden to bear. It is true that turning the gas off means losing substantial revenue for Russia as well, but I don’t know if the amount is big enough to make the threat empty.
As I said earlier, this is a worrying situation.
—-
Andra intressanta bloggar om: politik, ryssland, georgien
Technorati Tags: politics, russia, georgia
Posted in International | 4 Comments »
August 12th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
Förlorade sitt imperium och vill återstäla. Realpolitik tex oljeledning och strategiskt intresse. USA och Kina gör ju samma sak.
Märkligt om man mäter proportioner (jämför i körkorsteori = proportion som del av det hela). Men sämre körkortsbok skriver ju luddigt och då i kvadrat (4-tal som är geometrisk likhet med atomer och även vattenmolekylen mm).
Och även en psykofysiologisk förklaring= georgierna är ju rätt aggressiva i sin kultur med drickande och hyllning av satan med drickhorn utmed vägarna – och torn för släktskapsfejder som hållt på i århundraden.
August 12th, 2008 at 7:18 pm
Ang Rys-Georgien = det händer inget i världen, vänster sida allting. Strategiska intressen som oljeledning och position mm (realpolitik). Och fysio-psykologisk förklaringsmodell (aggression som Putin sa och då hyllar satan med dryckeshorn och torn med flerhundraåriga familjekonflikter).
Jag anser att Ryssland gott kunde vara herre i eget hus. Dvs ta över “skitlandet”.
Sverige
1. laserkanon som kan skjuta ner månen och röja omvärlden (i krigs- och extrem konfliktsituation tex om annat land försöker ta över landet)
2. rymdprogram som försöker lämna planeten (i fall – eller när- vi inte längre klarar de globala miljö- och interregionala konflikterna mm)
August 12th, 2008 at 10:20 pm
To this day we know Russia is the stronger country military wise, they have put their fear into Georgia by showing just that (entering the country with with an unnecessary abundant force, killing a vast amount civilians and then leaving again like nothing had happened)… hoping this fear will generate respect and future obedience to the Mother country. However and I quote… no, not from the Bible but from a known green midget source saying “Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering” I pray the latter will not come to be, for the the day will surely come when Russia has burned its own bridges across the world and when allies are running short.
As it is today what has happened will be forgotten in the stream of news from the Olympic Games, another thousand or so people have lost their lives due to Russians atempt to set the status que in balance. but in the end of the day we now that ” Fear is the path to the dark side”!
August 13th, 2008 at 5:04 pm
Bob: Star Wars nostalgia aside, you need get your chronolgy straight. The Georgians attacked South Ossetia with artillery and tanks, killing up to 2000 people many of whom where civilians and some Russian citizens. The russians responded, attacked and routed the Georgian army. Don’t take my word for it:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7551576.stm
A war does not start with the other side shooting back, it starts when fired upon.
Last but not leat, apart from reasserting its great power status and getting even for Kosovo -99 Russia has now with all certaintly foiled Georgias aspirations to join NATO for a long time ahead. The Russian army is probably milling about a little longer than necessary in Georgia to make sure that the message gets home in Washington and Brussels.