At a recent conference on education policy I attended, a discussion ensued regarding the differences between countries where education and curriculum styles were concerned. Someone asked what were the differences, if any, between the way British and Europeans schools teach geography as opposed to the way Russian Federation schools teach it. Simply put, Russian Federation schools teach geography from the standpoint that Russia is the center of the world. On the other hand, the Brits and Euros teach their kids that Russia should be told they are the center of the world as long as Russia continues to supply them with much needed oil and natural gas. Does this viewpoint also apply to recent events in Georgia? Unquestionably.
It seems British and European leaders are wary about scolding Russia too harshly for their recent forays into Georgia for fear that Russia may decrease energy supplies, raise prices, or disrupt service provision. Both Gordon Brown and the British Foreign Minister have been, until just lately, notably silent on the Georgian problem. It wasn’t until August 12, four days after the initial attack, that Downing Street deemed it necessary to issue a message condemning Russia’s attack. And when Downing Street finally spoke out, they really didn’t say much.
Britain and most of Europe seem to be content with letting French President Sarkozy do the delicate political dirty work for them. To Sarkozy’s credit, he did negotiate an initial cease-fire, but even he had no illusions about the difficult road ahead. And a difficult road it has been. Just hours after the cease-fire had been announced, reports began to trickle in claiming Russian peacekeepers had broken the cease-fire and were marauding and ransacking local towns and villages. According to the BBC World Service (8/13), Russian peacekeepers had been allegedly spotting kidnapping Georgian women. I’m sure they weren’t absconding them to clean armored personnel carriers.
After a brief post-Cold War hibernation, the Ivan the Bear seems to be back. Clearly, Russia seems bent on reasserting itself on the world stage. So what can be done about it? As US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pointed out, isolating Russia might be an answer. Isolation is certainly one strategy. However, isolating Russia is really only feasible as a short-term public policy solution. The world needs Russia as much as Russia needs the world. Taking a long view, Great Britain and the European Union need to put a higher policy priority on the development of long-term sustainable energy solutions. The Brits and the European Union need to let the bear know that bully politics have clear, long-term consequences.
2 comments:
Can Russia change?
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PM: We should always fight for the weak against the strong.
Sir Humphrey: Well then why don't we send troops Afghanistan to fight the Russians.
PM: The Russians are too strong.
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Sir Richard: Standard Foreign Office response in a time of crisis. In Stage One we say that nothing is going to happen.
Sir Humphrey: Stage Two, we say something may be going to happen but we should do nothing about it.
Sir Richard: Stage Three, we say that maybe we should do something about it, but there's nothing we can do.
Sir Humphrey: Stage Four, we say maybe there is something we could have done, but it's too late now.
Gerogia's case proves how weak and inefficient European Union is when it comes to international affairs. Russia has much more to lose in trade if EU puts sanctions against it, than EU itself. Now the most important it is for NATO to take Ukraine as a member and to exclude Russia from G8 to start with.
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