German President Joachim Gauck claims Russia ’s recent international policies have been
inimical to healthy relations with Europe .
That’s refreshing. I was beginning to think I was the lone person thinking
this.
Partnerships are valuable to understanding people, cultures
and complex socio-economic issues between different nations. It is the root of
good diplomacy: find what we can work together on, then pursue it diligently
and sensitively so all parties feel like a winner.
This evidently is not how Russia ’s Putin views matters
presently. He talked a good game for several years, then took some time off
constitutionally in Russia
and put in his mentee Medvedev for a term. Then he returned with his fresh agenda.
First, however, he built friendly relations everywhere he could. Mr. Friendly
he was until he was ready to strike. So the Winter Olympics placed Russia ’s face in a good light and immediately
afterwards he took over Crimea .
Within a whisker’s breath he engineered civil war in Ukraine and manipulated it daring the rest of
the world to deny him his plum: Eastern Ukraine . With that he could bully the rest of Ukraine and establish another arguable and hot
border with Europe .
Putin played the game expertly. The world did nothing but
complain about his Crimean plans. The world still complains about the invasion
of Ukraine .
Make no mistake, Putin is attempting a re-Sovietization for Russia to rule. This time his
threat is violence and energy supplies.
NATO, United Nations and all peace loving nations must
understand exactly what Putin is all about. And they must resist. First,
economic sanctions; second, human aid supplies; third, isolation from
collaborative relations unless he brings clear peace offerings to the table.
Like Netanyahu of Israel, Putin is a bully. He feels somehow
inferior to the rest of the world, broadcasts that to his fellow Russians, and
claims he will turn this around! He is
making an issue that does not exist. The world admires Russia in many,
many ways. It does not need to be a warrior or bully to feel good. Rather the
opposite!
It is time for all nations to understand that power and
influence does not require bullets, rifles, cannon or bombs. Power and
influence are earned by building peaceful societies that respect life, liberty
and pursuit of happiness. Those are conditions of all peoples everywhere. No
country has sole control over them. Each nation can and should pursue those
conditions for their people. Cooperating and collaborating with other nations
will speed the process along.
What a concept! These
are not American ideals alone. Or France ’s,
Germany ’s,
or any other nation. We all want this for our own lands and for our neighbors
and even for those considered as enemies.
We all have worked long and hard to redefine others as our
friends and not our enemies. It is not a difficult concept to understand. Why
then are so many leaders seemingly intent to frame themselves as enemies of
other people?
The world is an old place. We have endured many wars,
violence and death. It is time to truly make peace a reality and long lived.
Mr. Putin, understand the needs of your people in the
context of the globe. Mr. Netanyahu, do the same!
Maybe then we can expect different and better results?
One can hope for this. But we all must work for it too!
September 5, 2014
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