THE WESTERN VIEW
The West generally rejects Russia's perspective in Eurasia. Moscow's unilateral interventions and incursions fundamentally violate the liberalist order laid out by the United States and its allies in the postwar era. Institutions like the United Nations were created to oppose exactly the behavior Russia is undertaking in its old imperial domain.
"All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations." - Charter of the United Nations, Article II, Section IV
Europe and the U.S. also have strategic reasons to oppose Russian hegemony in the post-Soviet space. The Americans view Central Asia as a gateway to the Middle East and South Asia. Russia permitted Western governments to set up bases in some of the Central Asian states during the second Afghanistan War, owing to a common enmity towards Islamist militants and a lack of perceived threat. Times have changed, however. Under an amended CSTO charter, Russia now holds the right to veto foreign troop deployments on its defense partners' territory. Europe wishes to engage countries on the Caspian Basin as an alternative to Russian energy in order to reduce vulnerability to Kremlin political ploys.
The West has an inconsistent track record on Russian interventionism in Eurasia. France and Germany blocked Georgia's NATO membership bid in 2008, and the Russo-Georgian War faced Western condemnation but no practical punishments. The War in Donbass and seizure of Crimea prompted sanctions against Moscow, but no NATO state has intervened in Ukraine on Kiev's behalf. Russia's occupation of Transnistria is not even on the agenda.
"We don't want a war of grand proportions in Ukraine." - General Philip M. Breedlove, Supreme Allied Commander Europe
The question for the Western powers must be thus: what is the endgame with Russia? What are we trying to achieve?
"All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations." - Charter of the United Nations, Article II, Section IV
Europe and the U.S. also have strategic reasons to oppose Russian hegemony in the post-Soviet space. The Americans view Central Asia as a gateway to the Middle East and South Asia. Russia permitted Western governments to set up bases in some of the Central Asian states during the second Afghanistan War, owing to a common enmity towards Islamist militants and a lack of perceived threat. Times have changed, however. Under an amended CSTO charter, Russia now holds the right to veto foreign troop deployments on its defense partners' territory. Europe wishes to engage countries on the Caspian Basin as an alternative to Russian energy in order to reduce vulnerability to Kremlin political ploys.
The West has an inconsistent track record on Russian interventionism in Eurasia. France and Germany blocked Georgia's NATO membership bid in 2008, and the Russo-Georgian War faced Western condemnation but no practical punishments. The War in Donbass and seizure of Crimea prompted sanctions against Moscow, but no NATO state has intervened in Ukraine on Kiev's behalf. Russia's occupation of Transnistria is not even on the agenda.
"We don't want a war of grand proportions in Ukraine." - General Philip M. Breedlove, Supreme Allied Commander Europe
The question for the Western powers must be thus: what is the endgame with Russia? What are we trying to achieve?