Igor Stravinsky the Russian composer said of Poland perilously positioned between Russia and Germany: If you pitch your tent in the middle of Fifth Avenue it is quite likely you will be run over by a bus." Poland has been run over hard and often; indeed between 1795 and 1918 it disappeared from the map of Europe.
Geography need not be destiny but it matters as Ukraine is being reminded. During its hazardous path to the present all or bits of it have been parts of Poland the Austro- Hungarian empire the Ottoman Empire the Russian empire the Soviet Union and now another Russian empire. Czarist Russia which Lenin called the prison of the peoples" is reemerging and has in Vladimir Putin an ambitious warden.
In last weeks Kremlin address he said Do not believe those who want you to fear Russia shouting that other regions will follow Crimea. We do not want to divide Ukraine; we do not need that." The word need" is not reassuring. It suggests that Russias needs are self-legitimizing and recalls the definition of a barbarian as someone who thinks his appetites are their own justification.
Speaking of which: Six months after Germanys absorption of Austria which was quickly ratified by a plebiscite Adolf Hitler on Sept. 26 1938 discussed the Sudeten region of Czechoslovakia home of many ethnic and linguistic Germans. Three days before the Munich Conference began he said: This is the last territorial demand I have to make in Europe." On March 15 1939 six months after Germanys annexation of the Sudetenland agreed to at Munich Hitler swallowed the rest of Czechoslovakia.
Then his attention turned to protecting" the German-speaking population in Poland. On Sept. 1 1939 Germany invaded Poland on the pretext of responding to a Polish provocation. Ten days before he had told senior military officers I shall give a propagandistic cause for starting the war whether it be plausible or not. The victor shall not be asked later on never mind whether we told the truth or not." On the night of Aug. 31 a German prisoner was dressed in a Polish uniform killed and displayed as a casualty of a Polish attack on a German radio station.
Putin whose lamented Soviet Union was then Hitlers ally knows Hitlers tactics. If Putin had a sense of humor he would justify as R2P" his policy of bringing home to the safety of mother Russia many of the Russians residing in contiguous countries. R2P responsibility to protect" was the moral principle the Obama administration invoked to justify involvement in the seven-month assault on Moammar Gaddafi who posed no threat to us but supposedly did to Libyans.
On Sept. 26 1938 Hitler said 10 million Germans" lived in two large contiguous regions" outside the Reich and that if I were simply to renounce 10 million . . . I would then have no moral right to be fuehrer of the German people." Putin whose Russia had about 142 million people before he added the 2 million in Crimea must envelop many more if he is to match the 200 million the last czar Nicholas II ruled 100 years ago.
Can NATO help restrain Putin? After NATO was created in 1949 its first secretary general Lord Ismay said its purpose was to protect Europe by keeping the Russians out the Americans in and the Germans down." The task of keeping Russia out of its neighbors is being complicated by something that would have improved the last century German passivity. Angela Merkel may think that bringing Barack Obama to a confrontation with Putin is like bringing a knife a butter knife to a gun fight.
In a recent New Yorker interview Obama praised himself for being comfortable with complexity" and unraveled the Middle Easts complications: It would be profoundly in the interest of citizens throughout the region if Sunnis and Shias werent intent on killing each other." This is the president as poseur detached laconic arch almost droll: If only apologies to Kipling the lesser breeds without the law would behave.
Obama evidently harbors the surreal hope that Putin will continue to help regarding Syria and Iran. Continue? Putins client in Damascus Bashar al-Assad is winning his civil war. And regarding attempts to halt Irans nuclear weapons program Putins helpfulness if not fictitious has been ineffective.
Obama always a slayer of straw men has eschewed something no one has contemplated a military excursion in Ukraine." The American Heritage Dictionary defines excursion" as a usually short journey made for pleasure."
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Igor Stravinsky the Russian composer said of Poland perilously positioned between Russia and Germany: If you pitch your tent in the middle of Fifth Avenue it is quite likely you will be run over by a bus." Poland has been run over hard and often; indeed between 1795 and 1918 it disappeared from the map of Europe.
Geography need not be destiny but it matters as Ukraine is being reminded. During its hazardous path to the present all or bits of it have been parts of Poland the Austro- Hungarian empire the Ottoman Empire the Russian empire the Soviet Union and now another Russian empire. Czarist Russia which Lenin called the prison of the peoples" is reemerging and has in Vladimir Putin an ambitious warden.
In last weeks Kremlin address he said Do not believe those who want you to fear Russia shouting that other regions will follow Crimea. We do not want to divide Ukraine; we do not need that." The word need" is not reassuring. It suggests that Russias needs are self-legitimizing and recalls the definition of a barbarian as someone who thinks his appetites are their own justification.
Speaking of which: Six months after Germanys absorption of Austria which was quickly ratified by a plebiscite Adolf Hitler on Sept. 26 1938 discussed the Sudeten region of Czechoslovakia home of many ethnic and linguistic Germans. Three days before the Munich Conference began he said: This is the last territorial demand I have to make in Europe." On March 15 1939 six months after Germanys annexation of the Sudetenland agreed to at Munich Hitler swallowed the rest of Czechoslovakia.
Then his attention turned to protecting" the German-speaking population in Poland. On Sept. 1 1939 Germany invaded Poland on the pretext of responding to a Polish provocation. Ten days before he had told senior military officers I shall give a propagandistic cause for starting the war whether it be plausible or not. The victor shall not be asked later on never mind whether we told the truth or not." On the night of Aug. 31 a German prisoner was dressed in a Polish uniform killed and displayed as a casualty of a Polish attack on a German radio station.
Putin whose lamented Soviet Union was then Hitlers ally knows Hitlers tactics. If Putin had a sense of humor he would justify as R2P" his policy of bringing home to the safety of mother Russia many of the Russians residing in contiguous countries. R2P responsibility to protect" was the moral principle the Obama administration invoked to justify involvement in the seven-month assault on Moammar Gaddafi who posed no threat to us but supposedly did to Libyans.
On Sept. 26 1938 Hitler said 10 million Germans" lived in two large contiguous regions" outside the Reich and that if I were simply to renounce 10 million . . . I would then have no moral right to be fuehrer of the German people." Putin whose Russia had about 142 million people before he added the 2 million in Crimea must envelop many more if he is to match the 200 million the last czar Nicholas II ruled 100 years ago.
Can NATO help restrain Putin? After NATO was created in 1949 its first secretary general Lord Ismay said its purpose was to protect Europe by keeping the Russians out the Americans in and the Germans down." The task of keeping Russia out of its neighbors is being complicated by something that would have improved the last century German passivity. Angela Merkel may think that bringing Barack Obama to a confrontation with Putin is like bringing a knife a butter knife to a gun fight.
In a recent New Yorker interview Obama praised himself for being comfortable with complexity" and unraveled the Middle Easts complications: It would be profoundly in the interest of citizens throughout the region if Sunnis and Shias werent intent on killing each other." This is the president as poseur detached laconic arch almost droll: If only apologies to Kipling the lesser breeds without the law would behave.
Obama evidently harbors the surreal hope that Putin will continue to help regarding Syria and Iran. Continue? Putins client in Damascus Bashar al-Assad is winning his civil war. And regarding attempts to halt Irans nuclear weapons program Putins helpfulness if not fictitious has been ineffective.
Obama always a slayer of straw men has eschewed something no one has contemplated a military excursion in Ukraine." The American Heritage Dictionary defines excursion" as a usually short journey made for pleasure."
E-mail the writer
