Ukraine should become bridge between West and East to find way out of crisis - Henry Kissinger
9 March 2014, 12:11 -- Henry Kissinger, the Nobel Prize winner, the former US secretary of state and the former national security adviser to the US President (1969-1975), believes that Ukraine should stop making choices between the West and the East and turn into a 'bridge' between them. 'Internationally, they should pursue a posture comparable to that of Finland,' Kissinger stressed in an article published by 'The Washington Post'.
The main problem for Ukraine's determination today, continues Kissinger, is that the public discussion for this issue is that the public discussion of this issue results in confrontation. The choice is limited by two options - joining the West or the East? But if the question is formulated this way, this will make it impossible for Ukraine to find a way out of the current crisis and will surely make it vulnerable in the future, Kissinger said.
According to the US politician, Russia must realize that all its attempts to turn Ukraine into its satellite will only cause tensions in its relations with Europe and the US, as was many times before.
For its part, 'the West must understand that to Russia, Ukraine can never be just a foreign country. Russian history began in what was called Kievan Rus, The Russian religion spread from there. Even such famed dissidents as Alexandr Solzhenitsyn and Joseph Brodsky insisted that Ukraine is an integral part of Russian history and, indeed, of Russia,' Kissinger said. The European Union should recognize that its bureaucratic clumsiness as well as the lack of strategic thinking in building relations with Ukraine have played its role, and as a result, the talks have led to a geopolitical crisis.
If the West, Russia and today's political forces in Ukraine continue to impose their will on the countries in the geographical and cultural space currently in existence, this will lead to a civil war or will trigger splits in Ukraine, Kissinger warned.
For America, a wise policy towards Ukraine would be the following: it must its utmost to reconcile the conflicting sides and help them develop cooperation. Besides, 'the United States needs to avoid treating Russia as an aberrant to be patiently taught rules of conduct established by Washington.'
And as regards Russia, it should not believe that it will be able to settle the Ukrainian Ukrainian problem by means of military force and that it will able to avoid international isolation. 'Putin should come to realize that, whatever his grievances, a policy of military impositions would produce another Cold War,' Kissinger said.
In his article Kissinger enumerated 4 principles the solution to Ukrainian problem should be based on. These principles are compatible with the values and interests of the parties concerned, the US politician said. And this is what he said:
'1. Ukraine should have the right to choose freely its economic and political associations, including with Europe.
2. Ukraine should not join NATO, a position I took seven years ago, when it last came up.
3. Ukraine should be free to create any government compatible with the expressed will of its people. Wise Ukrainian leaders would then opt for a policy of reconciliation between the various parts of their country. Internationally, they should pursue a posture comparable to that of Finland. The nation leaves no doubt about its fierce independence and cooperates with the West in most fields but carefully avoids institutional hostility toward Russia.
4. It is incompatible with the rules of the existing world order for Russia to annex Crimea. But it should be possible to put Crimea's relationship to Ukraine on a less fraught basis. To that end, Russia would recognize Ukraine's sovereignty over Crimea. Ukraine should reinforce Crimea's autonomy in elections held in the presence of international observers. The process would include removing any ambiguities about the status of the Black Sea Fleet at Sevastopol.'
Kissinger's idea to model Ukraine on Finland is not new . Earlier the well-known political analyst Zbigniew Brzezinski mentioned the same thing. Clifford Gaddy, an expert on Russia from the Brookings Institution agrees that the Finland model would be ideal for Russia, adding with regret though that it is rather doubtful that it will be realized someday.
Finland is a member country of the European Union but not a NATO member state. And it is proud of its independence, Gaddy said in the blog of the Brookings Institution.
Ukraine is weaker, poorer, more unstable and more corrupt than Finland, Gaddy said. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Finland amounts to 47,000 dollars, while that of Ukraine is less than 4,000 dollars. Finland is one of the three least corrupt countries of the world, while Ukraine ranks 144th in the world in terms of corruption, according to Transparency International. Thus, an idea to build Ukraine's future, modeling it on Finland is good but utopian, the economist said in conclusion.
Voice of Russia, RBC
Source: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_03_09/ Kissinger-gives-some-advice-to-Ukraine-7674/
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