G-7 Expels Putin From A Club To Which He No Longer Wants To Belong
By David Horsey
March 28, 2014, 5:00 a.m.
Vladimir Putin has been kicked out of an exclusive club, but he may not even care.
This week, meeting in The Hague, leaders from seven of the world’s biggest economic powers agreed to blackball Putin’s Russia, reducing the G-8 to the G-7. They ratified the decision to move the group’s upcoming annual world economic summit to Brussels, taking away from Putin the chance to host the event in Sochi, site of his recent successful Winter Olympic Games.
When the Group of Seven -- the United States, Germany, France, Britain, Japan, Italy and Canada -- chose to bring Russia into their fold in 1998, it was assumed the privileges of membership would encourage the Russians to continue on their bumpy path toward democracy and a free-market economy.
In the aftermath of the Soviet Union’s collapse, politicians, diplomats and academics in Europe and the U.S. had confidence a new world order was in place. Economic rivalries might continue, but brute force and grabs for territory would be aberrations from the norm, relics of a less evolved era. Among the great powers, at least, cooperation and collaboration would guide international relations and, as the eighth of the G-8, Russia would become just like the other seven.
Apparently, few people understood that though Russia could be brought into the club, the Russians might not be willing to follow house rules. Americans and Europeans assumed it would become obvious to everyone that there is really only one way to run a modern international system. To that, the Russians have finally said, “Nyet.”
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http://www.latimes.com/opinion/topoftheticket/la-na-tt-g7-expels-putin-20140328,0,1284280.story#ixzz2xHjXeoUc
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