Charles Krauthammer: How To Stop Putin

[Purveyor]

The Russia-Georgia cease-fire brokered by France's president is less than meets the eye. Its terms keep moving as the Russian army keeps moving. Russia has since occupied Gori (appropriately, Stalin's birthplace), effectively cutting Georgia in two. The road to the capital, Tbilisi, is open, but apparently Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has temporarily chosen to seek his objectives through military pressure and Western acquiescence rather than by naked occupation.

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What is to be done? Let's be real. There's nothing to be done militarily. What we can do is alter Putin's cost-benefit calculations.

We are not without resources. There are a range of measures to be deployed if Russia does not live up to its cease-fire commitments:

1. Suspend the NATO-Russia Council established in 2002 to help bring Russia closer to the West. Make clear that dissolution will follow suspension. The council gives Russia a seat at the NATO table. Message: Invading neighboring democracies forfeits the seat.

2. Bar Russian entry to the World Trade Organization.

3. Dissolve the G-8. Putin's dictatorship long made Russia's presence in this group of industrial democracies a farce, but no one wanted to upset the bear by expelling it. No need to. The seven democracies simply withdraw. (And if Italy's Silvio Berlusconi, who has been sympathetic to Putin's Georgia adventure, wants to stay, he can have an annual G-2 dinner with Putin.) Then immediately announce the reconstitution of the original G-7.

4. Announce a U.S.-European boycott of the 2014 Winter Olympics at Sochi. To do otherwise would be obscene. Sochi is 15 miles from Abkhazia, the other Georgian province just invaded by Russia. The Games will become a riveting contest between the Russian, Belarusan and Jamaican bobsled teams.

All of these steps (except dissolution of the G-8, which should be irreversible) would be subject to reconsideration depending upon Russian action — most importantly and minimally, its withdrawal of troops from Georgia proper to South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

The most crucial and unconditional measure, however, is this: Reaffirm support for the Saakashvili government and declare that its removal by the Russians would lead to recognition of a government-in-exile. This would instantly be understood as providing us the legal basis for supplying and supporting a Georgian resistance to any Russian-installed regime.

MORE...

JEWISH WORLD REVIEW: http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/krauthammer081408.php3

[Bicoastal]

1. Fuck Krauthammer. Fuck Jewish World Review. Fuck anyone who got us into our current Iraq mess....

That is all.

[fascisthunter]

3. what you said

[populistdriven]

4. I knew I would find a "Fuck Krauthammer" reply, But the first post? How refreshing! K&R!!

[babylonsister]

2. Sorry, can't read it, but FYI, he's a big jerk. nt

[Dr.Phool]

5. I just walked in the door, so, I'm a little late.

Fuck Krauthammer!!!!

[Snarkoleptic]

6. Hammerkraut Fuck.

Fuck hammerkraut.
Huck Fammerkraut.
Either way, he's the most morose character since Eeyore.

Ya mean I took it up the ass from an elephant?

[seemslikeadream]

7. "The only people who think this wasn't a victory are Upper Westside

"The only people who think this wasn't a victory are Upper Westside
liberals, and a few people here in Washington." (Charles Krauthammer,
Inside Washington, WUSA-TV, 4/19/03)



SHUT THE FUCK UP KRAUTHAMMER JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP

[Octafish]

22. PNAC Forever!

Wasn't "The Forever War" to be sometime in the future, somewhere in outer space?

[pansypoo53219]

8. is this a game?

fuck cabbage mallet.

[LaStrega]

9. I cannot stand Krauthammer ... flippin' tool.

[Loudmxr]

10. You're not recognizing a change in neocon thinking here.

Every thing that CK suggests does not involve anyone dying. Except that Resistance thing which is not on the table right now. The neos need Russia for a political enemy but they also need them as an economic ally to make money.

Part of the G8 problem is that it is an organization of governments not of corporations. Neocons hate that. They want the corporations to run everything.

So instead of military to achieve their goals they are using a military situation to achieve their economic goals. :smoke:

[judasdisney]

11. sage advice from the "WMD are in Iraq/Greeted With Rosepetals" clown emeritus

[underpants]

20. Suddenly he is *all about* international organizations and their magical powers

:eyes:

[Quantess]

12. Krauthammer is a snooze who takes himself seriously.

How did he get his job?

[LynnTheDem]

13. "Putin's dictatorship"...

:wow:

[Diclotican]

14. LynnTheDem

LynnTheDem

Last I checked, mr Putin var not in the Kremlin as the President but as the Prime-minister. Maybe mr Crauthammer don't know the difference between an Prime-Minister and an President. But thankfully most of the rest of the world do...

Medejev is the President of Russia. And he is the man who should be named.. But I guess, for an neo-con it is difficult to get to grasp with who are in charge in an country.. And mr Putin have in 8 year been the president... So I guess he want to say it, that mr Putin are the boss yet..

Everyone know that mr Putin do have a word with mr Medejev, but it is still a difference in power between Putin and Medejev... The Prime Minister have no power to demand war against other country, that is the right every President want for them self..

And I would bet that mr Medejev are in shape to demand what is best for the Russian Federation on his own too.. He is a friend of mr Putin, and would possible listen to some of his advice. But Medejev is STILL the President, not Putin

If it was not so tragically, it should possible be funny, because it show that many american are not that wice about how are the leaders of other country.. Not even Russia one of the largest country in the world (larger than the US)

Diclotican

Sorry my bad english, not my native language

[Igel]

19. Absolutely.

Putin's in charge of internal things. Purely the prime minister. And knows his role, as does Medvedev.

Medvedev--army, international affairs. Putin has no role in those, and fully respects Medved. On paper.

Which bothered nobody when Putin was in Vladikavkaz, supervising and helping with planning the Russian counterattack, giving press conferences about Russia's response, on Saakashvili's stupidity, on the need to do X, Y, and Z.

Of course, when the pressure was off, Medved negotiated, eventually.

As one pundit put it: Medved is Putin's lawyer.

Similarly, when Putin was president, and had limited authority over domestic affairs ... who as the Prime Minister? Zubkov. Who got almost no attention, even over internal stuff. Everybody knew who ran things, from the campaign against the oligarchs to the intimidation of the press (internal stuff--things Zubkov had, in theory, final say over). The Nashi folk weren't confused.

Note the direction of the asymmetry: Putin, with limited power over internal affairs, is top dog as president. Putin, with limited power over external affairs, functions as top dog as prime minister.

Like it or not, Medved is Putin's zam, whatever is on paper. At least for now.

[Diclotican]

15. Purveyor

Purveyor

1. Suspend the NATO-Russia Council established in 2002 to help bring Russia closer to the West. Make clear that dissolution will follow suspension. The council gives Russia a seat at the NATO table. Message: Invading neighboring democracies forfeits the seat.

To suspend the NATO-Russia Concil is hardly the smartest thing to do... It would posible just start a new conventional arms race in Europe. Most becouse of the POLAND-USA rocket shield that are going the russians nuts.. They fear that this missle shield are something that can be used against them. And if mr Bush and his administration had known their history they would have understand that Poland and Russia have an less than kind history when it come to war and peace.. An rocket sheld in Poland would posible provoke Russia to sending more armored forces to the border with Poland, who is an Nato member.. And wel, it can excelate to something non of us want.. We don't need another cold war, with an militaristic Russia in the one corner, and and miliristic USA on the other corner.. What we need are peace, stability and trade, mutch trade between old enemeies.. Folk who trade with eatchother have other thing to do, than to go to war...

2. Bar Russian entry to the World Trade Organization.

Russia Would come into the WTO anyway.. Becouse the WTO need something that Russia have a lot of.. GOLD, DIAMONDS, GASS and Petrol/oil. That alone are giving Russia mutch leverage when it come to a membership in WTO. And if China could manage to get their heads into WTO, then Russia should be given acsess to..

3. Dissolve the G-8. Putin's dictatorship long made Russia's presence in this group of industrial democracies a farce, but no one wanted to upset the bear by expelling it. No need to. The seven democracies simply withdraw. (And if Italy's Silvio Berlusconi, who has been sympathetic to Putin's Georgia adventure, wants to stay, he can have an annual G-2 dinner with Putin.) Then immediately announce the reconstitution of the original G-7.

Mr Putin are not the President of the Russian Fedration, he is just the Prime Minister.And as sutch can be fired from his posistion by the current President And if I recall it right, mr Putin was steping down after 8 year, becouse the CONSTITUION IN THE RUSSIAN FEDRATION is telling him so. And this was a man with a 70% record when his was leaving. If he was that Dictator mr Crauthammer says, then he should have keep his power, as "president for life" or something like that.. Or just take the power he wanted, the army would be verry pleased if he ordered them to do it... But he have not... He maybe not been a great "democratic leader" by far mr Putin. But at least he accepted what was right...

IF US want to disolve the G8 be my guest.. Then the Russian Federation have all right to fight back with economical power they do have, against every one of rest of the G8 members... And I would like to se when the US populance is freesing becouse they have not the oil and gass they are needing go keep their home warm.. Yes many, many millions of tonns of that stuff is coming from the Russian oil and gass fields.. Not as mutch as from the Saudi-Arabian fields, but it is coming up for the Russian side of things too...

4. Announce a U.S.-European boycott of the 2014 Winter Olympics at Sochi. To do otherwise would be obscene. Sochi is 15 miles from Abkhazia, the other Georgian province just invaded by Russia. The Games will become a riveting contest between the Russian, Belarusan and Jamaican bobsled teams

If the US want to boycot the 2014 Winter Olympic games, go ahead.. But not belive for a moment that the European country would follow suit just becouse the US says so.. IN the 1980 games, where many european country do say no to go to Moskhow it was becouse USSR was in war with Afghanistan, who they attack in 1979. This time around the fact is so mutch more muddy, and I have the feeling that the US have been overstepning their bounderies this time around... When it came to Georgia it is...
In 1980 US had the moral ground. Today US have no moral high ground to even ASK thir fellow "friends and allied" in Europe to boycot the Olympic in Russia... No right what so ever.

The US have many times worked hard to get "regime shange" in places.. And this talk about an Georgian resistance is just silly, but nor suprising either.. And we know how clever it worked last time US was backing a "national residance against russia"? The result was the Taliban and the AL-Qauda.. And the horrible thing that happend 9/11 2001... It all started when US medled into something they had no clue what so ever about.. And they really messed it up..
And now they want to do the same in Georgia, if Russia are installing a more "russian friendly" regime into Tiblisi..

Diclotican

Sorry my bad english, not my native language

[sourmilk]

16. Understood, and for the most part, agreed with.

I share a dislike of FartHammer with many here, but he makes some valid points which can be summed up as follows:

What can the USA/NATO do about Russian geopolitical dominance in the Caucasus so that they do not look like weak-kneed, ass-kissing pansies in the eyes of the international media?

1. They will not suspend the NATO-Russia Council for a few reasons, those being that the Czech Republic, Latvia, Estonia. Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Turkey ALL have substantial economic and military ties with Russia - and so do nearly ALL the Western European member nations. Most of these ties have to do with ENERGY and to a lesser extent, arms. Without Gazprom, however, they would ALL be TOAST.

2. I can see barring Russia from the WTO, but it is a toothless measure, since Russia has no need of the WTO at all. Looks good for the whores of the international press, though.

3. Russia will coninue to be a member of the G8. See 1.

4. There may be a US boycott of the 2014 Olympics in Sochi. Whether or not there will be a European Boycott, I have no idea. I can see Eastern European NATO member nations boycotting it, and perhaps some other close neighbours, like Ukraine, Belarus, Romania, Hungary, etc., but it will be far from total. Again, this is pretty toothless, but the relentless prosititution of the international media will try to make us all believe that this is an extremely stern measure executed to 'teach Russia a lesson.'

I think that the USA made a big mistake encouraging and perhaps even precipitating this military adventure. They did not anticipate the Russian's immediate response. They have lost control of the media cycle and Saakashvili no longer gets a lot of sympathy (except from Glenn Beck) because it is now a well known FACT that it was the Georgians who attacked South Ossetia first. All Condi can say is that the Russian response was "disproportionate." What a JOKE. The USA is pretty much hamstrung by the efficient Russian response and their absolute success in moving further into Georgia proper, completely routing the USA backed and advised Georgian military. It's pretty obvious that they could have ALL of Georgia if they had designs...and what is the REAL MESSAGE to splinter-states like Armenia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaizhan?

The USA FAILS to protect its economic partners. Russia DOES NOT. I see a greater shake up in the Caucasus and Caspian occuring in the fallout from this absurd situation than most people realise...

[Diclotican]

21. sourmilk

sourmilk

Well, If NATO would work WITH Russia and tell them some valid point why on earth NATO would go into the Caucasus to have member states there, then Russia "maybe" get along, and don't push for dominate the area themself... Russia sees NATO as their biggest challenge to day. Even an energy starving China are not that dangerous as an NATO alliance who are coming to get into their own back jard.. I would guess USA would be little cranky to, if Russia had made a military pact with many of the states in South America, and reamered them with the latest weapon. And supported like, se an rather nationalistic President in Mexico, who want the area who USA stole in the 1890s by war... That is most of New Mexico plus spaces in Texas and California.. I would guess that the US would be more than just crancy then.... Now back to Georgia who have had problems with outbroke republics for a long time now. In fact from the beginning.. This areas are georgian on paper, but in fact are supported by the Russian army, because of the majority that are russian there.. Now after this war, it sees that it can end in the end of Georgian control over this two areas all toghter...

Many country, as you pointed out, have links to Russia, and it would be hard to cut this links to get "solo" and hurt Russia.. The country's know it. And more to the point Russia know it...

2 If US are banning Russia from the WTO, then the Russian federation could just stop do business with the rest of the world. It would hurt Russia, but it would hurt the rest of the world more... And an rather paranoid Russia, who are on their one, is something I would prefer to be a part of the past, than of the future... Russia have energy, and everything else they need. That is not the case of the rest of the world. Is Crauthammer sure about how BIG Russia in fact are?. Or are he in the belief that Russia ar just the european part of the Russian Federation?...

If US want to boycott the Olympic in 2014 then go ahead.. Then maybe, just maybe we can get cleaner OL athletes too.. But I would not believe that the rest of the European continent want to do it for some reason.. If some of the eastern european country want to follow suit to get some favor from USA in return, then it is bribe, and nothing else.. But some of the international Media, specially in the US would see it as an "victory for the human value of the US". Who after 8 year with mr Bush have been a hollow word.. A very hollow word.. It would at least take a generation to believe in the myth again that US are in some way "special" when it come to respect humanity and human valour..

United States was not keeping tab of the russian army, that is the fact.. After 17 year with an "breakdown" of the Russian war machine, many in the current administration seen to believe that they can provoke Russia, and nothing are coming out of it. They was somehow surprised by the fact that the Russian army, with all their fault could been sending all this troops, and armored convoys to Georgia as fast as they possible could do it. They believed in fact, that Russia was not to do nothing, if they wanted to push Georgia to take control over two areas who have been outside their control for so long now.

Condi Rice is a bitch, plain and simple. And she maybe be a good teacher, but not a good foreign minister. And she claim to be an expert on Russian affair, but fail to se the dots in this little adventure? And all this complain about how "disproportionate" the Russian army was hitting georgian army. This is the way the Russian army have been hitting enemies since time immortal.. Hitting them hard, at least so hard that they can't stop them, and then when it is over, police the area, to be sure that the peace are there for a while. Before been sending them home again. She must be stupid if she don't believed Russia to answer in kind when Georgia was attacking russian villages inside South Ossetia.. Not after 8 year with an sober President who have spending a lot of his time, and lot of the Treasury to building up the Russian army again...
I believe that the Georgian intrusion into South Ossetia in some way was encouraged by the US. They want to be sure of Russia was there to watch, but they failed to understand that it would be a forcefully response. Georgia are not just a nabour of Russia, it was once a PART of Russia. And therefore inside THEIR line of influence not US.. And as you pointed out, the Georgian army are backed by the US, something that REALLY pissed the russian leadership off big time.

On the doorstep of Georgi Russia have one of their biggest army bases, who have been there for more than 40 year now. It was made in the old war, and was planing to be the base for an attack for Turkey, and for the rest of the eara if war ever was to broke loose. Thankfully the war never came, but the base was there.. When you have a lot of weapon on an doorstep of an other country,and the country is attacking their "brother en in need" then the answer should have been clear, even for a neo-con.. And it was clear that the Russian army was there to protect them. If it was real or not is not the case here I guess. THe most important is that it happened and that russia var telling both Georgia and US to back off.

Russia have told many former soviet union members now to don't go out of line. It is ok for you to be in depended and to do what you want to do to get a better life for yourself. But NOT get out of line anymore. Russia is back, and would if necessary treat one by one of you as they please.. If you respect us, we would respect you in return. If not, look at Georgia and se what we can do.. Be warned!! US can not and will not defend you against us if we was to go to war with you... And all this talk for NATO membership should close now!.

It could fail, and encourage many of the former Soviet members to BE member of NATO, to protect them self against Russia. But I guess that the message get out somehow..

The Caucasus and the Caspian area would getting a real shake up in the year to follow. It would not be that easy anymore to insult Russia in any way, and to play a double game anymore. It was more easy to play both sides when Yeltsin was in power. But after Putin, and now Medejev it would be far more difficult to play them both for favor. And the moral standing of USA have absolutely declined after 8 year with Bush on the top.. Russia is back in this area, and I would not be surprised that if Russia want to get a firmer control over the overall area..

For the moment US have NOT the means to protect their economic partners.. The whole adwenture in Iraq have drained US for both money and man power, to really do something about unrully Russia for the moment.. And Russia know it. US can bomb Russia, and others but have no boot on the ground. And everyone with half a brain understand that if you don't have boot of the ground, then you can just give it up in the first time..IF US was to conscript again, then maybe they god the army to play balls with Russia again, but just the word conscript, or an draft is to kill an political life in the US.. But if US was to protect all their "friends" in the Caucasus and in the Caspian area, and other places, it is maybe just as good to have an conscript army becouse then you DO have some forces on the ground...

Diclotican

Sorry my bad english, not my native language

[Demeter]

17. I Rather Know How To Stop Krauthammer

[SteveM]

18. "ultimately, a civilized society must disarm its citizenry...

The assault weapon ban is a purely symbolic move whose real justification is not to reduce crime but to desensitize the public to the regulation of weapons in preparation for their ultimate confiscation." -- Krauthammer

Does he mean Georgia? Russia? U.S.? You know that answer since he works for the WaPo.