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The Globe and Mail (Canada)
December 11, 2002
Russia may have to choose between Europe and America
By ANDREI PIONTKOVSKY
Andrei Piontkovsky is director of the Centre of Strategic Research in Moscow.
Anti-Americanism in Europe has reached unprecedented levels lately. The first outburst in autumn and winter last year was more emotional than anything else. The real shock for the European elite was not Sept. 11, but the demonstration of U.S. military might in Afghanistan, where the forces of its allies, except for Britain, were simply not needed.
This raised a serious problem: What is the sense of the European Union's defence policy, and what kind of wars should its army be preparing for? There is no threat to the EU from anyone on the European continent, and the United States has no plans to involve its allies in other regions, working if necessary with local ad hoc coalitions instead. So what, then, is the role and raison d'être of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization?
These are not easy questions, and European politicians' initial reaction was irritation, an anti-American mood and a rise in their complexes regarding the United States.
Having proclaimed a global war on terrorism as its main aim, the United States has now reserved itself the right to not only decide who is a terrorist and which states are supporting terrorists, but also to launch unilateral preventive strikes without waiting for the go-ahead from the United Nations Security Council. This policy goes a long way beyond the traditional interpretation of a nation's right to self-defence as set out in the UN Charter, and it has met emotional and intellectual opposition from a large section of public opinion in Western Europe.
What was the reaction of Russia's political class to these developments within the Atlantic alliance, of which Russia was almost ready to call itself a part?
For a start, some in Russia noted with deep satisfaction that the sharp criticism of the Bush administration in Europe is something that Russian diplomacy can use to its benefit. This is an accurate observation if the nature of this criticism and the benefits that Russia could stand to gain are correctly understood. Soviet and Russian diplomacy has already seen so many illusions dashed over the years in attempts to play on "transatlantic contradictions between the imperialists."
Europe opposes not the United States, but the philosophy of unilateral decisions, including those on military matters. This philosophy worries Europe, for reasons of prestige and substance. No serious European politician doubts for a minute that the EU and the United States are natural geopolitical allies. It is as allies that they are worried by America's cowboy behaviour, because they fear that U.S. tactics and strategies could damage their alliance and the long-term interests of the United States itself.
Though their debates can seem fierce at times, they are quarrels between geopolitical allies that share the values of the same civilization. Historically, Russia belongs to this civilization, and it could play a positive role in these discussions by joining the Europeans in their attempts to have a moderating influence on Washington.
But Russia's strong state proponents are always looking for their own road, one only they seem able to see. Their reaction to the U.S. declaration on the possibility of launching unilateral preventive strikes was unanimous: "We want to do it, too." They called for Russia to launch immediate strikes against Chechen rebels hiding out in Georgia's Pankisi Gorge and hammer home to the world its own right do the same as the Americans, at least within the range marked out by where its planes can fly.
It's all very well that such patriotic ideas swell the fantasies of these impetuous swashbucklers. But when there are two of these ideas, they don't sit comfortably in the one head. If Moscow opts for a poor parody of U.S. unilateral measures, it can forget about diplomatic benefits on the European scene. Europe is desperately trying to teach the rough and ready American cowboy some manners, but it would never forgive the decrepit Russian bear this bizarre attempt to legitimize the U.S. imperial approach.
This is all the more so as Russia's foreign policy has taken on a schizophrenic note of late. One day, Russia joins Europe in criticizing the unilateralism and arrogance of U.S. foreign policy; the next, it accuses a decadent Europe of hypocrisy and a failure to understand the significance of the fight against international terrorism that President Vladimir Putin is heroically waging alongside his big brother, George.
Such diplomacy could see Russia lose everything it's gained in the past two years, both on the European front and in its relations with the United States.
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