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American senators: ''Now is time for more decisive actions against Russia''
4/27/2014 1:31:09 AM
Senator John McCain, along with three other American senators - John Barrasso, John Hoeven and Ron Johnson – published in The Washington Post a statement entitled "It is time for the West to move ahead without Russia". The statement says, in particular:
"We recently visited Norway, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Moldova. In each country, our allies want a stronger immediate response to Russia's annexation of Crimea and its ongoing subversion of Ukraine.
We provided billions of dollars to help Russia's transition from communism. We created new mechanisms for consultation. We expanded trade. NATO committed not to deploy significant military capabilities onto the territory of new alliance allies, even as it expanded. In short, the West sought to include Russia in the promise of a Europe whole, free and at peace — a vision we still believe would benefit all participants.
Another fact repeatedly highlighted during our trip is that Putin is winning the war of ideas among Russian-speaking peoples in the former Soviet Union.
Putin's propaganda rests on lies, but it is effective and hardly refuted. We have all but given up on communicating the truth, in Russian, to Europe's Russian-speaking populations (instead, it is done by the Kavkaz Center, but for truth we were blocked by the American companies of Facebook, Twitter, Google and Staminus, so the senators should first better understand what is going on in their own country - KC).
This needs to change, and the old state-run public diplomacy is not necessarily the answer. The private sector can play an important role.
The situation in eastern Ukraine is now closer than ever to the possibility of open conflict. Hollow threats are worse than silence.
Unfortunately, hope of a constructive relationship with Russia under Putin has vanished. A friendly rival has become, at best, an unfriendly adversary.
Putin will not compromise his quest to dominate Russia's sovereign neighbors (not least as a cynical way to build support at home for his corrupt and autocratic rule). He may play along with Western diplomats eager to avoid conflict, as happened recently in Geneva, but only as a way to consolidate his gains, divide the United States and Europe, play for time and prepare to push further.
Western weakness emboldens Putin. The only thing he respects, and that can change his calculus, is greater strength. We must make policy on this basis.
Now is the time for more decisive actions. The United States needs to expand sanctions to major Russian banks, energy companies, and sectors of its economy, such as the arms industry, which serve as instruments of Putin's foreign policy.
NATO needs to move toward a robust and persistent military presence in central Europe and the Baltic countries, including increased missile defense capabilities.
We need a transatlantic energy strategy to break Europe's dependence on Russian oil and gas. And we need to respond to the Ukrainian government requests for meaningful military assistance as part of a long-term effort to reform and rebuild its armed forces.
These, and other actions, are urgently needed to impose real costs on Russia for its aggression and military intervention in Ukraine, which is ongoing and escalating.
Absent steps such as these, president Putin's ambitions will only grow and the crisis in Ukraine will likely worsen and could potentially spread to other countries in the region.
America must lead this effort to deter President Putin, and we must urge our European allies to join us. But if our allies are unwilling or unable to do so, America should act on its own.
The situation is to dire to continue a policy of tough talk followed by minimal action", summed up the American senators.
Department of Monitoring
Kavkaz Center
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