(I do mean it - she is a brilliant writer and thinker. I do not agree with her on everything she writes or argues, but it does not change the fact she is brilliant.)
Samantha Power has determined that one factor, often undervalued or ignored, is honor, or perceived slights to honor, plays and has played a role in the Russian invasion of Georgia.
That Putin invaded Georgia out of perceived (real or not) slights to Russia's honor.
And guess who is also at fault - the US.
We should have been more sensitive to Russia's needs. Considered how they felt about the US/NATO gobbling up their former satellite puppet states.
"Diplomats and intelligence professionals must acknowledge that honor and humiliation often weigh as heavily in the minds of statesmen and citizens as do economic and security interests. "
True. I believe that leaders often act on the same emotion that drives the average citizen - anger, happiness, jealousy, honor, love, passion, envy ... whatever name and by whatever degree, it plays a role.
And it was a slap at Russia: the wall fell and the West championed the fall, rubbed their noses in the collapse, and at every opportunity spoke of how the West won the Cold War ...
But Ms. Power, aren't we missing something.
It is all good and noble that we should consider the feelings of others, but this is not just a former empire like Britain, this is and was THE evil empire.
On June 18, 1992, Boris Yeltsin spoke before the Congress and told the world that "there can be no co-existence between democracy and the totalitarian state system. Freedom and communism are incompatible." That the Soviet state desired to end our existence, and we could do nothing, but defeat them or be defeated by them. We defeated them and we worked very hard for several years to ensure they would never again be a threat to the United States - for a brief moment in time, the Russians spoke of asking for admission in to NATO.
NATO gobbling up the satellite states was dishonoring Russia. Ms Power, Russia devastated its former puppet states. It raped the people and the land. It destroyed hope, and for 40 years posed the greatest threat to mankind. Now we are supposed to have considered what would happen if we cozied up to the former satellite states? You seem to think we should have. And what options Ms. Power? Ask Russia if we could speak to the Ukraine? Ask Russia permission before we absorb Latvia into NATO? And if Russia said no, then what?
Are not these free and independent people able to make decisions for themselves? And they did decide - they begged to be added to NATO. They never again wanted to endure what Yeltsin said were incompatible systems - one they had endured for over forty years.
You stated that Bush was "unconcerned about Russia's simmering fury when he lobbied for Georgian and Ukrainian entry into NATO" and that the Euros, always in tune with what is best and right, always thinking about the global picture, and never about their interests - "rejected the proposal, showing that they — perhaps because of their own history — were more attuned to the risks of compounding Russia's growing and alarming sense of victimhood." Please. Ms. Power, the Euros rejected the Ukraine's requests not because they were in tune with Russian honor or victimhood, but because it placed the Ukraine on equal footing with France or Germany. No longer the power brokers, now Ukraine would places its military at the disposal of the West and play a role equal to the West. This was more a slap to France and Germany, and Britain, than to Russia.
Your anti-Bush sentiment shows through, much too clearly. The Euros are driven not by what is best in the world, nor by what is right - but by what makes them money, and the Ukraine would draw away US dollars toward a military far too inferior, by French standards, to serve any purpose against the Russians. It was after all the Euros who were so quick to let Stalin create his empire and iron curtain. they were willing to sell out the Eastern countries faster than you can say 'Rwandan independence', because they were not regarded as worth fighting over.
Ms. Power, it is your very argument - to be more sensitive to the honor issue that led to Western Europe conceding Eastern Europe to the Soviets in the first place.
You do however have a point -
This is not to suggest that the West do for Russia what the U.S. did for Germany — integrate an aggressor. Invading a country out of humiliation is as deplorable as doing so for territory or riches. Indeed, the West must be prepared to sanction Putin for the invasion of Georgia. The U.S. and its allies can avoid humiliating Russia by acknowledging that Georgia is not blameless and that the rights of Russian minorities must be protected. But Western countries must refuse to accept Russia's cease-fire assurances without independent monitoring, and they must state that Russia's continued membership in the G-8 and future entry into the WTO will turn on its peaceful resolution of regional disputes. The upside of Russia's preoccupation with lost status is that its exclusion from such élite organizations would sting. Russia has flexed its resurgent muscles at great human cost. Now it must be convinced that aggression does not restore honor; it soils it. (Time, Thur, Aug 14, 2008)
Russia does need to be punished.
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