NATO Will Take on Russia: Rice
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said, while visiting Europe, that NATO will not allow Russia to succeed in Georgia.
The reaction of the United States was lukewarm at first, but has heated up ever since. Two days after the Russian invasion of Georgia began the U.S. upped the ante by threatening with sanctions and other, unspecified, punishments. Rice’s visit to Europe is part of the American attempt to isolate Russia and to form an international coalition against Russian imperialism.
The main question is, of course, what it is NATO can do. If it truly wanted to protect Georgia it should have threatened to send forces to the region. What it can now do, it seems, is the following (better late than never should be the approach): NATO should take the offers presented by former Soviet Republics such as the Ukraine and Poland. The missile defense system should be put in every single country willing to host it. Furthermore, NATO should start a big program to help former Soviet Republics to the south of Russia, such as Azerbaijan and Georgia, in every possible way.
Helping them militarily and economically. Helping them develop their own resources should be a major part of NATO’s policy. NATO should once again realize that it was created to tame the Russian bear, not for any other purpose.
Encouraging other former Soviet Republics to join NATO should also be part of the attempt to isolate and contain Russia. European NATO countries opposed a possible Georgian membership. They will now have to reconsider. Georgia and other countries that want to become members should be allowed, nay encouraged, to do so. This will undoubtedly anger the Russians, but that should be of no concern right now. Russia was angered during the Cold War, but the containment and rollback strategy worked.
What is most fascinating and hopegiving is that Europe and the U.S. appear, for once, to be reasonably united. The EU’s leaders responded coldly at first, but they too seem to realize now that Russia poses a threat to former Soviet Republics trying to democratize and to themselves and their own interests. U.S. diplomatic leadership is, in this regard, paying off.
At the moment an emerging issue in Georgia is the fact that the Russians are not sticking to the EU brokered “peace deal”. This was a deal largely dictated by Russia in any event.
Under the deal Russian troops were meant to withdraw to positions held before the conflict. They are not doing this, claiming to be entitled to stay in a 14 km “buffer zone” inside Georgia.