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‘A Way Out of the Georgia Crisis for Russia and the West’: Le Figaro

September 4th, 2008
By WILLIAM KERN

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As we Americans obsess about the presidential campaign, the Georgia crisis goes on -and is getting worse ‘hour by hour,’ according to French historian Alexandre Adler, aka/France’s foremost neo-con and fan of President George W. Bush.

But according to Adler there is a way out. He writes in part:

“The general state of relations between Russia and the West is deteriorating by the hour. While, contrary to the agreement signed by Nicolas Sarkozy and Dmitri Medvedev, Russian troops continue to occupy portions of Georgian territory - outside of Abkhazia and Ossetia, rumors of a possible confrontation between Russia and Ukraine are gathering apace. … Yet it’s in the nature of extreme situations to produce effects that are excessively negative or excessively positive, according to the artfulness and ability that politicians bring to them.

“Here begins the careful surgery: the French and the other Europeans in their train must indicate clearly to the Russians that they will not alter their opposition on the presence of Ukraine and Georgia in NATO … at least in its current state. They must also make it known to Moscow that they will not pass a sanctions regime except as a last resort. But at the same time they must make clear to the Kremlin that the E.U. could quickly accept the candidacy of Ukraine or Georgia to the European Union. For reasons that are principled and not tactical, the enlargement of Europe can be carried out only with the consent of Russia; and only if Russia advances along a path as a partner with special status within the European Union, which would be at least on par with that of Ukraine. If Russia agrees to enter into such a mechanism of negotiations, Russians and Western Europeans could then build a continent-wide dialogue that would change the face of the world.”

By Alexandre Adler

Translated By Kate Davis

August 30, 2008

France - Le Figaro - Original Article (French)

The general state of relations between Russia and the West is deteriorating by the hour. While, contrary to the agreement signed by Nicolas Sarkozy and Dmitri Medvedev, Russian troops continue to occupy portions of Georgian territory - outside of Abkhazia and Ossetia, rumors of a possible confrontation between Russia and Ukraine are gathering apace.

Everyone is talking about “Cold War,” but rather, it brings to mind a sort of war of secession that will end up being played out nearly 20 years after the implosion of the Soviet Empire. When the presidents of three Baltic States (Poland, Ukraine and Georgia) express their solidarity in confronting Moscow, the fear arises of triggering a fatal conflict between two relatively equal parts of the former Soviet Empire, rather than a deliberate attempt to cause harm on either side.

Yet it’s in the nature of extreme situations to produce effects that are excessively negative or excessively positive, according to the artfulness and ability that politicians bring to them. In 1914, but in reality as early as 1912, the explosion of the Balkans and the Ottoman Empire led to global war [WWI], but 36 years earlier, the crisis of 1878 between Russia and Turkey which was no less serious, led to the Congress of Berlin and the triumph of the moderate ideas of Bismarck , the assurance of a continental peace that extended over several decades, the “Beautiful Era [Belle Epoque ].

READ ON AT WORLDMEETS.US, along with continuing translated and English-language foreign press coverage of the unfolding crisis between Russian and the West.



This entry was posted on Thursday, September 4th, 2008 at 9:28 pm and is filed under Nicolas Sarkozy, Oil, Cartoons, World War I, Columnists, EU, Military Affairs, Newspapers, European Union, Foreign Policy, Bush Administration, Eastern Europe, Foreign Politics, Germany, Political Cartoons, Energy, Military, Foreign Affairs, Europe, War, Iraq, Vladimir Putin, France, Russia, Cartoon Commentary, George W. Bush, History. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Viewing 4 Comments

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    The situation in Georgia is a direct result of our being in Iraq. Period.

    The Russians are pissed off that BigOil quite blatantly siezed one of the largest remaining petrolium reserves in the world for our puppets to control. So they did the next most logical thing: cut off the outlets from that supply. Iran will follow on the seaway outlets.

    What did we expect? A warm appaluse and a pat on the back? We're in RUSSIA'S former territory installing puppets and acting like nothing's up. Russia folks....not Iraq or Mexico or Panama...friggin' Russia!
    Some Americans I swear to God are like arrogent men walking around in a mine field with blindfolds on. Each time there's an explosion they cry foul as if it was the most unexpected and worst thing in the world.

    WTF?

    I think it's about time to withdraw our troops and big plans for oil monopolies in the Middle East and tiptoe backwards back home quietly to implement alternatives to this situation. Otherwise this story will not have a happy ending. Russia may just decide to btich-slap us back to the Western Hemisphere...the only place we belong....if we're lucky..

    You might have noticed...the Russians don't fiddle around..
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    http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1374/is_...

    If you want to get to the source of the woes in Georgia and how it happened in the first place.

    ********
    By the late 1970s, oil companies had bought out many of the patents for photovoltaic cells, and corporate giants like Atlantic Richfield, Amoco, Exxon, and Mobil took control of solar power companies. This trend would lead Alfred Dougherty, former director of the Federal Trade Commission's bureau of competition to warn, "If the oil companies control substantial amounts of substitute fuels ... they may slow the pace of production of alternative fuels in order to protect the value of their oil and gas reserves." Edwin Rothschild, a spokesperson for the Citizen Energy Labor Coalition, was concerned that the big oil companies "see solar power as a competing source of energy, and they want to control it and slow it down." However, ownership of solar technology by big oil was only the first step in the methodical dismantling of the alternative energy renaissance.
    *********

    Yeah, that "slow it down" part. Remember that when you're watching all these commericals about how "sure, alternatives are where we're going...but we just don't have the technology right now for widescale implementation, so we need a bridge over with oil..."

    Correct, we don't have the technology right now. We had it thirty-five years ago...

    They know this isn't the seventies anymore and they cannot buy out the competition...the world has had these technologies hugely supplimenting their countries for too long...and this damned internet makes smokescreening impossible...so they admit we "need to bridge" but still continue to make putting a pipe in the ground for steam, or setting up solar panels seem like some way far-out sci-fi fantasy.

    But costly complex oil platforms in rough and unpredictable seas? Risky superstructured nuclear plants? Sure, we can have those in next week..
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    Agree, Silhouette. Russia controls a big part of supplying oil to Europe. The pipeline through Georgia was built specifically to undermine that. After grabbing the Iraqi oil, which Russia, China and France were negotiating for, now the US, er... Georgia tries a sneaky non-Russian route to cut into their European oil business. Oh yeah, I seem to recall Russia's interest in Afghanistan had something to do with a pipeline too.

    I agree on the alternative energy part too. Though some "energy companies" are doing some good things, there's a world of difference between their new sunny, windy TV ads and their financial maneuvering to buy political power, steer government handouts their way and short circuit regulation of any kind.
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    The last thing that Russia, or any of the nation-state oil producers want is for the West to really start looking at alternative energy as a national security issue. That's why I think Russia's recent aggressiveness amounts to daring the West to do this; another kind of "cold war", as if they hadn't been beaten, pretty easily, though it took a while, in the last one. The bet seems to be that Western politicians won't dare inflict any discomfort on their masses, but that will only be true as long as Russia doesn't appear frightening. I can see that this could be a good thing for us, in the West. I think this showdown between fossils and renewables is inevitable; so the sooner we get on with it, the better.
 
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