Rethinking Russia

Russia's attack on Georgia, ostensibly in defense of breakaway South Ossetia and Abkhazia, is being labeled a historic event on the order of Nazi Germany's invasions or, at the very least, the Soviet Union's 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia.

But the problem with such analogies is that they can preclude current-world analysis and include calls ill fitted to current realities. Russia's newly emboldened militarism must not be allowed to precipitate either World War III or a return to Cold War stalemate.

However, the invasion does indeed lay bare Vladimir Putin's plans to dissuade, with force of arms if necessary, the NATOization of one-time satellite nations. He would prefer they still be in orbits befitting vassal states, with course changes occurring only according to Russian diktat.

The West must now rethink how it deals with Russia, bold enough and awash in enough petro-fueled riches and influence to project itself more forcefully in furtherance of interests both near and far. Weaning the West from oil might be one sensible reaction.

The Russian invasion occurred after Georgia tried to reassert its authority in South Ossetia, saying it was in turn provoked by the actions of violent separatists.

For now, the war's beginnings should matter less than how and when the war ends.

Puppet Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday said Russian military operations in Georgia are complete. Better that they not have started at all, but this is at least one silver lining, if true.

"Completion" should return Russian and Georgian forces to pre-invasion positions. The enhanced Russian military presence in South Ossetia and Abkhazia must not stand in perpetuity.

In fact, Russian "peacekeeping" forces in place pre-invasion must be replaced with more neutral international peacekeeping forces.

There are suspicions that Russia's ultimate goal is territorial and to oust the pro-West government of Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili.

Russia can best allay these fears by withdrawing. And the West should embark on a strategy that ensures once-Soviet states remain independent enough to decide for themselves their political systems and whom they can call friend.

REPRINTED FROM THE MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL.

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