The crisis in South Ossetia and Georgia remains small compared to those of the Cold War, but is real none the less, said Max Hastings in The Guardian. By sending thousands of troops to defend the Ossetians, whom it regards as its own citizens, Moscow has “shown its readiness to use force in its proclaimed sphere of influence”. Putin is using military action to make a political point, agreed Sir Mike Jackson in The Sunday Telegraph. The West’s triumphalism at the end of the Cold War can only have caused resentment – Putin is “determined to rebuild Russia’s stature, and he is being much helped in this by the surge in energy prices”.
More could have been done in the past to reassure Russia of its international standing, but it is not too late. “Without compromising our own position”, the West must show greater understanding for why Russia behaves as it does. Quite, said Hastings. Putin conducts an “ugly polity”, but the West will find it easier to co-exist with this “tormented, intransigent, melancholy, oil-rich neighbour” when Russia feels at ease with itself. Since the Soviet Union’s collapse, the US has sought to exploit Russian weakness and install pro-Western regimes “wherever fertile soil could be found”. Washington may see its objective to replace tyranny with democracy as honourable, but “the Russians do not care sixpence about these fine things”.
They perceive only that US missiles are on their way into Poland and the Czech Republic while Georgia, which aspires to Nato and EU membership, becomes a US puppet. Moscow isn’t interested in our sympathy, said William Rees-Mogg in The Times. Putin’s hawkishness chimes with Russian public opinion. Following South Ossetia, “no one now will lightly challenge Russian power” and the Russian people like that. But it will come to rue its actions without our help. The price Russia will pay is increased isolation, and in a world of global trade it cannot afford to be friendless.