Security

Debate: Should the West Stand Up to Russia? (Updated and Bumped)

Should the West be bolder in response to a newly assertive Russia? That’s the question posed to a number of experts and not-so-experts in the latest online debate sponsored by The Economist. Opening the discussion on the "pro" side is Anne-Marie Slaughter, Dean of Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School. For the "con," Dmitri Trenin from the […]

Img9659oo7Should the West be bolder in response to a newly assertive Russia? That's the question posed to a number of experts and not-so-experts in the latest online debate sponsored by The Economist.

Opening the discussion on the "pro" side is Anne-Marie Slaughter, Dean of Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School. For the "con," Dmitri Trenin from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. And joining in on Thursday, yours truly.

"The most important aspect of the West’s response is to avoid pushing Russia closer to China and to other emerging powers," Slaughter contends. But how?

We should compile a list of 100-500 individuals who have the ability to influence Russian policy, either through direct communication with Mr Putin and Dmitry Medvedev or through direct appeals to the Russian people, and figure out precisely how to pressure or persuade each one to see the costs of using force in Russia’s near abroad.

Actually, that sounds fairly reasonable compared to former USAF officials who advocated full-fledged war with Russia. Still, Trenin proposes an even more subtle approach:
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> Rather than thinking about bold steps which would fuel nascent confrontation it makes more sense to subject old stereotypes to a reality check, and figure out whither Russia is heading, and what it actually wants. And then perhaps use the present crisis to structure a security relationship in Europe which would include Russia and reassure its wary neighbors.

I tend to agree with Trenin. Chime in with your own comments by registering at Economist.com.

Update, 9/11/08: My contribution is live!

It is wrong to read the South Ossetia conflict as Russian aggression, and it is equally wrong to conceive of the West’s reactions — and planned reactions — as containment. We have been reading South Ossetia all wrong since the beginning, and the consequences are enormous and potentially tragic.

(Photo: via Navoine.ru)

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