Exceprt from The Voice of Russia:
54th VR Live Panel: Eastern Europe between Russia and West - bridge or wall?
Speaking at the celebration of the anniversary of the first victory of
non-communist parties at elections in Poland, Obama lashed out at Russia
for what he called provoking violence in eastern Ukraine. He threatened
imposing more sanctions on Russia and pledged to allot one billion
dollars in military aid, which would increase NATO's military presence
in Poland and other East European nations bordering Russia.
These
remarks by Obama found an enthusiastic audience on the Castle Square in
Warsaw, where he delivered his speech. He was applauded by not only the
presidents of Poland and Ukraine, but also by the presidents of the
Baltic states, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria
and Slovenia.
But does it mean that the peoples of all of these
countries actually view Russia as a threat to be countered by increased
NATO military presence and by what Mr. Obama called "isolation"?
Francis
Boyle, professor at the University of Illinois College of Law and a
graduate from Harvard University, James Thacara, a novelist and a human
rights activist, Peter Lavelle, a well known RT's television host, and
Srđa Trifković, the foreign affairs editor at Chronicles Magazine,
participated in Radio VR 54th Live Discussion Panel to share their views
on the issue.
Mr. Lavelle was puzzled by a rather belligerent
speech delivered by Obama in Warsaw. "There are plenty of people like
Victoria Nuland that continue this steamrolling of bringing military
hardware and alliance that actually does use violence (we've seen it in
Afghanistan, in Libya) and it gives NATO, in my opinion, a new breath on
life. This is what they've been looking for. They need an enemy and
Russia is the most convenient one," he said.
Francis Boyle noted
the absence of Mikhail Gorbachev at the ceremony despite the fact that
he played a much more important role in the events 1989 than some
presidents of Eastern Europe present. "Gorbachev would have been an
embarrassment, because, as you know, Jim Baker made a promise to promote
the reunification of Germany, that NATO would not advance one inch to
the east. And of course President Clinton immediately after the collapse
of the Soviet Union proceeded to violate that pledge. And now with what
is happening in Ukraine, we are seeing a reorientation of the American
foreign policy towards a direct confrontation with Russia," Mr. Boyle
said.
He also added that it is a "dual confrontation" as the US
seeks to take on both Russia and China at the same time, and that
perhaps the fact that Obama was essentially Zbigniew Brzezinski's
apprentice might be an important factor. "In the 2008 presidential
campaign, and this really explains how Obama came from nowhere on the
south side of Chicago to running for the president, Brzezinski was in
charge of managing the entire foreign affairs and defense component of
Obama's 2008 presidential campaign. And then, he stacked the Obama
administration with his protégés," he said.
francis a. boyle