Not just a great piece...an important one. This is truly shocking. Presidents from Eisenhower through to Reagan, possibly Bush 1, would have hit the roof over anything like this. Deliberate provocations against a nuclear armed power, during a war in which the US is a de facto co-belligerent should be inconceivable to any sane person. …
Not just a great piece...an important one. This is truly shocking. Presidents from Eisenhower through to Reagan, possibly Bush 1, would have hit the roof over anything like this. Deliberate provocations against a nuclear armed power, during a war in which the US is a de facto co-belligerent should be inconceivable to any sane person. And make no mistake, China would be taking very careful note at any sign of official or semi-official US enthusiasm for separatism anywhere in the world. The same would be true for any number of countries, including allies, some of whom are super-sensitive about separatism (India, Indonesia, Turkey).
The Beltway has clearly learned nothing from the tragedy of Clinton era policy in Yugoslavia. Whatever one thinks of present-day Croatia or Serbia, the role of Washington (and London, Berlin etc) or the war there, the policies of the West at that time were ugly, unedifying and reckless. It seems particularly insane, given the increasing frequency and urgency with which people now talk of separatism within the USA itself.
Still, if there is a dollar in it, the think-tank, NGO and Beltway crowds will make themselves available. for anything.
Baker was also conspicuous in his insistence on extending personal courtesy to foreign diplomats. He understood that respect was essential. Whatever his faults, Baker was one of the last true foreign policy professionals.
Agree w/comments re Baker. It's especially interesting to see how of all the diplomats involved in this crisis, only Lavrov and the Russian Foreign Ministry act with reserve and the legal formalities of inter-state foreign policy. I give the Russians much credit for following the rules when no one else does so. It's embarrassing for the West to be so emotional in these diplomatic discussions.
McFaul, albeit now a former diplomat, is the most egregious case. Everything he says is couched in moralism, totally divorced from the realist aspects of international relations.
McFaul is a perfect example of a man without insight at any level: confusing Foggy Bottom PR for ethics is bad enough, but he also confuses these ethics with power politics. Basically, he is a disgrace. His PhD was on KGB penetration in Central America of all things. His Russian language skills are reputed to be limited. He recently admitted at a conference (I think it was at Harvard) that the US lied to the Ukraine about the possibility of joining NATO and then literally laughed this off. Earlier this year he attracted a lot of flack on twitter after he made a statement about how successful he was, how expensive his home and how important his job. Smugness is to be expected amongst midwits at the top, but McFaul is in a class of his own. It is demoralising that a man as inadequate as that was ever ambassador to Moscow.
It also says something about the contrasting conditions of the West vs Russia. Lavrov, personally formed by the drab and self-consciously proletarian Soviet culture, values good manners and appears courtly and old world, while the Westerners, who glory in the class culture of a credentialled elite that is enamoured of consumerism, come across as coarse and plebeian.
Not just a great piece...an important one. This is truly shocking. Presidents from Eisenhower through to Reagan, possibly Bush 1, would have hit the roof over anything like this. Deliberate provocations against a nuclear armed power, during a war in which the US is a de facto co-belligerent should be inconceivable to any sane person. And make no mistake, China would be taking very careful note at any sign of official or semi-official US enthusiasm for separatism anywhere in the world. The same would be true for any number of countries, including allies, some of whom are super-sensitive about separatism (India, Indonesia, Turkey).
The Beltway has clearly learned nothing from the tragedy of Clinton era policy in Yugoslavia. Whatever one thinks of present-day Croatia or Serbia, the role of Washington (and London, Berlin etc) or the war there, the policies of the West at that time were ugly, unedifying and reckless. It seems particularly insane, given the increasing frequency and urgency with which people now talk of separatism within the USA itself.
Still, if there is a dollar in it, the think-tank, NGO and Beltway crowds will make themselves available. for anything.
Bush I and the team around Scowcroft and Baker feared two things the most with respect to the breakup of the USSR:
1. nuclear weapons landing on the black market
2. global instability due to ethnic conflict among former USSR republics/regions within Russian Federation
They would not have tolerated this panel today.
Baker was also conspicuous in his insistence on extending personal courtesy to foreign diplomats. He understood that respect was essential. Whatever his faults, Baker was one of the last true foreign policy professionals.
Agree w/comments re Baker. It's especially interesting to see how of all the diplomats involved in this crisis, only Lavrov and the Russian Foreign Ministry act with reserve and the legal formalities of inter-state foreign policy. I give the Russians much credit for following the rules when no one else does so. It's embarrassing for the West to be so emotional in these diplomatic discussions.
McFaul, albeit now a former diplomat, is the most egregious case. Everything he says is couched in moralism, totally divorced from the realist aspects of international relations.
McFaul is a perfect example of a man without insight at any level: confusing Foggy Bottom PR for ethics is bad enough, but he also confuses these ethics with power politics. Basically, he is a disgrace. His PhD was on KGB penetration in Central America of all things. His Russian language skills are reputed to be limited. He recently admitted at a conference (I think it was at Harvard) that the US lied to the Ukraine about the possibility of joining NATO and then literally laughed this off. Earlier this year he attracted a lot of flack on twitter after he made a statement about how successful he was, how expensive his home and how important his job. Smugness is to be expected amongst midwits at the top, but McFaul is in a class of his own. It is demoralising that a man as inadequate as that was ever ambassador to Moscow.
McFaul's arrogance and stupidity are enough to make you go off television!
It also says something about the contrasting conditions of the West vs Russia. Lavrov, personally formed by the drab and self-consciously proletarian Soviet culture, values good manners and appears courtly and old world, while the Westerners, who glory in the class culture of a credentialled elite that is enamoured of consumerism, come across as coarse and plebeian.
Got to respect a man who said why he avoided involvement in Bosnia, in broad Texan, we have no dawg in that fight.
Karadzic and Mladic will now specifically start pleading "decolonization" as their motivation in their appeals.
https://mobile.twitter.com/markoah/status/1270307590061395968