The European Tribune is a forum for thoughtful dialogue of European and international issues. You are invited to post comments and your own articles.
Please REGISTER to post.
Imperial cultures are inherently aggressive because territorial gains are needed to prop up the self image of the emperor. (Unless that emperor is George Bush, in which case nothing at all can prop up his self image.)
The Soviets were aggressive because Stalin was a paranoid drunken psychopath and there was always shreds of a nominal ideology explicitly interested in bringing the workers' paradise to the rest of the world.
Maybe I'm being staggeringly naive, but I can't see Putin in the same mould. He looks to me more like a spook-trained CEO and mafioso and a wannabe Tsar. Georgia is about making the point that Russia is back in the game again - but it's a single sentence statement, not a threat to invade Europe.
Threatening Russia with exclusion from the G8 is - of course - the worst possible course of action, because it undermines that sense of Russian participation, and will only increase Russian paranoia.
by gmoke - Jun 6
by Oui - Jun 18
by Oui - Jun 181 comment
by Oui - Jun 1710 comments
by Oui - Jun 166 comments
by Oui - Jun 16
by Oui - Jun 162 comments
by Oui - Jun 1511 comments
by Oui - Jun 141 comment
by Oui - Jun 14
by Oui - Jun 13
by Oui - Jun 12
by Oui - Jun 11
by Oui - Jun 104 comments
by Oui - Jun 101 comment
by Oui - Jun 99 comments
by Oui - Jun 93 comments