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Why Crimea Is Resetting The Cold War
We have heard it before but it still bears repeating, those who forget the mistakes of history are doomed to repeat them. The problem with Crimea is that it has been the focus of drama and conflict time and again over the centuries.
In an article published in the April 2011 edition of National Geographic the writer noted, “Crimea has passed from hand to hand, from Sythians to Greeks to Romans, Goths, Huns, Mongols and Tartars…” then to Russia and the Soviet Union.
During WWII Sevastapol was the site of siege, the city held off the Nazi invaders for 247 days. A century earlier it suffered through a 349-day siege launched by French, British and Turkish troops during the Crimean War.
Crimea is where empire’s come to grief, a fact that America’s wannabe Caesars should note. Putin has wisely drawn the line. In the recent era, this small area which borders southwestern Russia, was turned over to the Ukraine by Kruschev in 1957. But now history has come full cycle and Crimea is again under Russia’s wing.
The problems the Russians (and Soviets) had with the region is the fiercely tribal Tartar population, they will be a thorn in Putin’s side once again to be sure. In fact, the Russian leader had little choice but to act aggressively when Kiev fell to the pro-western opposition.
The Crimea has a large Russian population that identifies more with Russia than with the people of the western Ukraine who backed Hitler.
To have stood by and watched the situation deteriorate in Crimea simply was not an option. Certainly Putin’s advisers were voicing their concerns that the next NATO move would be to install a missile base in the western Ukraine, which is tantamount to the Soviet Union installing one in Cuba back in 1962.
Effectively the West put Putin in check, and the chess game has been on ever since.
The events in Kiev had at least one unintended side effect that the western strategist’s that funded it did not foresee. It stirred Russian nationalism in Crimea and the Motherland, actually giving Putin more room to respond aggressively.
In fact, Putin is not interested in rebuilding the Soviet Empire. Why would he want to do that just 25 years into the reinstatement of autonomous Russia as a capitalist democracy? The very idea is western propaganda intended to invoke the rhetoric and the mind-set of the Cold War/ Evil Empire days.
However, though Kerry likes to talk tough, the US is simply bluffing with its threat to impose economic sanctions on Russia. According to Business Insider, “Russian trade is spread across multiple jurisdictions, which points to a lack of dependence on any one country...” This means that the US, which does not have much trade with Russia, cannot even lean on any country to restrict its trade with Russia with any effectiveness.
However, there is a fly-in-the-ointment. After this past weekend’ referendum, leading German media outlets have intensified their warmongering and began calling for tough sanctions against Russia.
“A string of editorials have been driven by two main objectives. First, they are directed at undermining popular anti-war sentiment. An overwhelming majority oppose economic sanctions, while an even greater percentage are opposed to war against Russia. Second, they are aimed at bolstering the government, which is aggressively changing foreign policy and reviving German militarism.” (World Socialist Website)
Remember that, as far as Putin, and the Russians in the Crimea are concerned, the Kiev revolt was inspired and financed by pro-western fascists. If the revived German right manages to shift the tide toward a revival of the Cold War (and simultaneous demonization of Putin) then the chess match is going to get very nasty.
Great wars are usually started by small, trigger events. They follow a predictable pattern — from economic sanctions to trade restrictions and then the freezing of bank accounts and assets — before the first shots are fired.
On Tuesday, Spiegel Online David Bocking wrote, “The government should impose tough sanctions against Russia—even if it harms the domestic economy.” In the final analysis, he argued, “you don’t get freedom for nothing.”
If Germany follows through, the current war of words could actually escalate into an economic and trade war in 6 months, and that into a real shooting match within a year. Russia simply will not tolerate the German’s rebuilding their military strength and rattling their sabers.
Putin has the old scars and fears of the Nazi invasion of WWII that are still tender in his nation’s psyche to contend with. Russia lost 20 million people in that war. If the German’s want to test Russia on the trade sanctions issue, Putin will oblige by turning off the oil spigot; then watch energy prices rise in western Europe.
While America can do little to punish Russia on its own, if Germany picks up the gauntlet, US policymakers will join in. At this point, there is no love lost between Putin and Obama, and it is still easy for US propagandists to stir up Cold War sentiments. G7 leaders are already pulled the plug on the G8 Russian summit that was scheduled for June.
History is waiting to bite on us the butt and pull us under. It is not like Syria has been resolved and, in fact, American policymakers are trying to back Assad and Putin into a corner in that arena as well. Right now, the prospects for a peaceful future are looking grim….
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By Will Hart
His latest book “The Late Great United States” will be available in April.
The article Why Crimea Is Resetting The Cold War published by TheSleuthJournal – Real News Without Synthetics
Source: http://www.thesleuthjournal.com/crimea-resetting-cold-war/
