Russia dearly wants good relations with Europe and does not want the EU to collapse. Some members of the European Union regard Russia as an enemy, most notably, Poland the the Baltic states. Others don’t regard Russia as an enemy. Attitudes towards Russia amongst other EU members span a broad spectrum, some are more positively inclined towards Russia,...
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Friedman and Chausovsky, along with many others, force the Ukrainian crisis excessively into a geopolitical framework. To be sure, the crisis has a tangible geopolitical aspect--mostly for Russia. It is easy to imagine how the U.S. would react if, for example, an anti-American regime came to power in Canada through a violent coup d'etat. However, the West (EU and US) does not need Ukraine inside its lager, and Russia does not need ...
... “A common European house” was how President Mikhail Gorbachev pictured the continent’s future; “a Europe whole and free”, in the words of George HW Bush, his American counterpart. But, as the tussle over Ukraine has shown, Russia and the west are rivals once again. The ceasefire signed on September 5 gives both sides a chance to overcome their own illusions. They should take it, lest the conflict become a direct military confrontation.
Western leaders seem to believe their ...