It’s Time To Back Away From The Russian Wolf -- Tony Brenton, The Telegraph
Russia's President Vladimir Putin won’t be thwarted by Nato or economic sanctions and his aim of a neutral Ukraine is acceptable.
There is a Russian proverb: “If you can’t face the wolf, don’t go into the forest.” The West has blundered into the Ukrainian forest and enraged the Russian wolf, only to discover that we cannot face him. We should now be looking for the path out.
Western policy has been built on two false premises. The first is that we must stop a revanchist Russia. As this narrative runs: yesterday Russia took Crimea; today Eastern Ukraine; tomorrow – who knows – Estonia, Poland? This precisely mirrors the Russian nightmare of predatory Nato expansion; yesterday Poland and Estonia, today Georgia, tomorrow – who knows – parts of Russia itself? The mutual suspicions of 1914 spring worryingly to mind.
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My Comment: I have a contrary point of view. For any political settlement to take hold in Ukraine .... it has to be supported by the majority of the people. They must have a say in their future .... and they must participate in the political process. For eastern Ukraine .... the people in the region must be given the right to choose what they want .... to stay in Ukraine, to vote for independence, or to be a part of Russia .... it is up to them to decide on what they want .... not Putin, not Poroshenko, and definitely not from the EU or the U.S..
Unfortunately .... I predict that much of this will not happen. Moscow, Kiev, Berlin, Washington .... this is where the future of eastern Ukraine is now being decided upon .... and not in the villages, towns, and cities of eastern Ukraine.
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