Russia’s Actions in Ukraine Are Crossing the Line

[bemildred]

BY Noam Chomsky

The current Ukraine crisis is serious and threatening, so much so that some commentators even compare it to the Cuban missile crisis of 1962.

Columnist Thanassis Cambanis summarizes the core issue succinctly in The Boston Globe: “[President Vladimir V.] Putin's annexation of the Crimea is a break in the order that America and its allies have come to rely on since the end of the Cold War—namely, one in which major powers only intervene militarily when they have an international consensus on their side, or failing that, when they're not crossing a rival power's red lines.”

This era's most extreme international crime, the United States-United Kingdom invasion of Iraq, was therefore not a break in world order—because, after failing to gain international support, the aggressors didn't cross Russian or Chinese red lines.

In contrast, Putin's takeover of the Crimea and his ambitions in Ukraine cross American red lines.

http://inthesetimes.com/article/16631/russia_ukraine_noam_chomsky

[dipsydoodle]

1. Yes

Its a matter of whose got the red crayon.

[bemildred]

2. I thought Chomsky sounded more annoyed than usual. nt

[KoKo]

7. Indeed. n/t

[Jefferson23]

3. I have such very deep respect for this man. Here we are, looking at oursleves and as he points

out, the total hypocrisy of US interventions...no surprise there, right? Yet,the US still needs
to deal with Putin, the prick. No easy answers, but I was surprised by our lack of movement
in the beginning...why the timidity to throw him out of the G8 right away, and sanctions?
I understand how the oligarchs can help sustain Putin, but we do have trade agreements
we can push back with against, no?

I am not suggesting Putin's endeavors would be an easy fix, just puzzled by some of
our early decisions.

[Igel]

4. They would have had an easier fix.

The thing about bullies is that the first few times they might push but they're not going to try to beat you to death.

Once emboldened, once their self-image and their popular image depends on not being stood up to it's much more dangerous to do so.

It may not be a moral statement to say that weakness brings on bullying behavior, but it's certainly a human propensity.

[Jefferson23]

5. I'm afraid so, yes. I'm not sure what their hesitation was all about, initially. n/t

[geek tragedy]

6. Chomsky's discussion of red lines has a gaping lacuna.

The reason that the red lines exist around Russia is that it has a long and continuing practice of trying to extend its borders at the expense of its neighbors by engaging in wars of conquest and annexation, ethnic cleansing, etc. While that certainly was the standard practice back when the US was sowing its oats, the entire international system of treaties and human rights is dependent on that model being dumped, per Nuremberg.

It's not accurate to compare the red lines around a power that seeks territorial expansion vs one without territorial disputes (Canada and Mexico are not worried about the US invading).

Also, rather odd for Chomsky to count ending an abhorrent and illegal mass violation of human rights like the occupation of East Germany as an "astonishing concession."