The Copydude left an intelligent comment on my FT-comment post and linked to a delusional piece of writing by Peter Ziehan; Russia Where Now? He asks whether may Russians have ever heard of the “Andropov Doctrine” - Google certainly has not.
I am concerned that this really is mainstream thinking in the US/UK. It is written in terms that only Cold War warriors use and sees relations between nations as being essentially competitive/zero-sum-game. I have posted many times that negotiations in Russia are frequently seen as such; I had naively thought that the West's view was more win/win. Clearly not.
Many American commentators fundamentally misunderstand the energy security dialogue. Their gas comes from friendly shores, Texas, Oklahoma or Canada (it was a joke - smile) so security of gas supply across a series of inter-connected pipelines is not an issue. Europe and Russia need to create a common security policy born of a common understanding; and ignore mindless comments from external commentators.
There is just so much wrong with this article that I just despair.
[composed and posted with ecto]
2 comments:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6wmZx42F3o
Ruminations said: I am concerned that this really is mainstream thinking in the US/UK
To a large extent. You might be interested in the comments of Stephen F. Cohen of New York University. His article America's New Cold War describes how the vocal and forceful 'Cold War Lobby' in the US is pretty much unopposed - largely because many are under the false impression that the Cold War is over. This would be true of the UK too.
Note that Stephen and 'The Nation' newspaper are liberal and anti-Bush, but even they are largely convinced that Russia is doomed and a major threat - though this time largely as a result of US foreign policy.
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