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Putin's long game has been revealed, and the omens are bad for Europe
[The Guardian] While European leaders believe they are edging towards a solution to the refugee crisis after securing a deal with Turkey, another power watches closely from afar: Russia.A tweet from its foreign ministry spokeswoman said much this week. "The migration crisis has been caused by irresponsible attempts to spread western-type democracy to the Middle East," was the message from Maria Zakharova, hours before EU leaders were set to convene in Brussels. It didn’t just reflect Moscow’s well-known resistance to anything that smacks of western-driven regime change -- it was also meant as a rebuke. Russia has been accused of "weaponising" the refugee crisis as a way of destabilising Europe -- a claim recently reinforced by Nato’s top commander in Europe. That assertion may well be disputed. What is beyond doubt is the continuing need to know what Russia is thinking, and what goals it might pursue as it watches the EU confront multiple crises. To get a glimpse into Vladimir Putin’s mind, it's worth reading the recent writings of his foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov. In a long article published this month by the Moscow-based magazine Russia in Global Affairs-- translated here into English -- Lavrov spells it out with clarity. What Russia wants is nothing short of fundamental change: a formal, treaty-based say on Europe's political and security architecture. Until Russia gets that, goes the message, there will be no stability on the continent. The key sentence in the article is this: "During the last two centuries, any attempt to unite Europe without Russia and against it has inevitably led to grim tragedies." Posted by: Besoeker 2016-03-20 |
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