Take John McCain’s Russia Advice and You Might Get Another Cold War

[DonViejo]

Michael Tomasky

Two out of John McCain’s three suggestions for how to aid the conflict in Ukraine and Russia are bad—and the US isn’t careful, we may end up more involved than it can afford to be.

I’m not sure what we should do about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. I am, however, dead sure about what we shouldn’t do. Please, Washington—don’t listen to John McCain!

The leader of the capital’s bombs-away caucus spoke exclusively over the weekend to the Beast’s Josh Rogin, who nailed the scoop. It was a relief to see McCain acknowledging that there is no plausible military option. So that’s progress. But the steps McCain advises are certain to heighten tensions and probably start a new Cold War, which is surely what the thuggish Putin wants. It’s most definitely not what the United States should want, at exactly the time when, as Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has proposed, we should be reducing the size of our military and the reach of our global commitments.

McCain floated three notions: tougher sanctions against Russia and its higher-ranking officials; NATO membership for Georgia; expanded and sped-up missile defense systems in Europe. The first is unobjectionable. The world has to do something here, and sanctions are that something. If we can’t prevent Putin from engaging in this kind of aggression—and face it, we can’t—we can at least do what we can to harm his economy and limit the foreign travel of his high government officials.

But Georgia in NATO and missile defense? McCain and other hawkish types (including, very distressingly, Joe Biden back in 2008) have been banging that gong for years now. Calls for Georgian entry into NATO go back to the mid-2000s, when “Rose Revolution” president Mikheil Saakashvili made it a top priority. It was a horrible idea then—expanding a military alliance right up to the doorstep of a certain country, all but surrounding it, is bound to be seen in that country, and not unreasonably, as a provocative act. It’s even worse when that country happens to have 8,500 nuclear weapons.

more
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/03/03/take-john-mccain-s-russia-advice-and-you-might-get-another-cold-war.html

[bigdarryl]

1. Or you might get World War 3

[Lurks Often]

2. We may end up with another Cold War no matter what we do

Putin seems serious about regaining the power and influence Russia had back when it was the Soviet Union. Combine that with China's increasingly expansionist policies in the Far East and it seems to be a replay of the 1950's and 1960's. Different details maybe, but the same overall tone.

[Adrahil]

3. Ya know, if Ukraine survives this, Putin pretty much guaranteed that they will become

a member of NATO. And if I were Georgia, I certainly would be pressing hard too.

Putin has demonstrated a willingness to invade neighbors, after all.

[jakeXT]

4. First strike capabilty with missile shields is cool, but breaking Russia up a la Brzezinski's method

is probably less dangerous.

In an article in Foreign Affairs Brzezinski laid out his ideas about neutralizing Russia by splitting the country into smaller parts, thus, allowing the US to maintain its dominant role in the region without threat of challenge or interference. Here’s an excerpt from the article:

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/02/28/obamas-dumbest-plan-yet/