Before Georgia, It is Europe that Needs Mediation

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[The Telegraph, U.K.]

Financial Times Deutschland, Germany

Before Georgia - It is Europe that Needs Mediation

"There is more going on here than just differing interpretations of history. Europe wants to mediate, but it's so divided itself, that it too, requires mediation. … This war sends a very clear signal that together with the United States, it's high time to restrict Russia's sphere of influence. However, not all want to hear that signal."

EDITORIAL

Translated By Julian Jacob

August 14, 2008

Germany - Financial Times Deutschland - Original Article (German)

Of all the images from the Georgia conflict zone, there is one that speaks particularly clearly. One of the demonstrators in Tbilisi is holding a poster showing Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, with a threatening extended index finger. And there are dates: Hungary 1956, Czechoslovakia 1968, Afghanistan 1979 - and Georgia 2008 [see below].

Historical analogies such as these of course serve to propagate the Georgian side of things. But what is critical is that here at least, those dates are understood by everyone and concern most people in East and Central Europe. Over there [in East Europe] at least since Putin, Russia is seen as a potential aggressor, and the Soviet tradition continues almost unabated. The Presidents of Poland, Ukraine and the three Baltic states, which on Wednesday met in Tbilisi, would have little to quibble with about that poster

A Poster depicts Vladimir Putin as a Red Army soldier during a

rally in Tbilisi, Aug. 15. Europeans all agree with the meaning of

the poster, but not on what to do about it.

Politicians in France, Italy and Germany, however, have little sympathy for this view, which they usually associate with historical oversensitivity. In Central Europe, the fact that under Putin, a newly aggressive Russia which lusts for its former status as a great power, is gladly ignored .

EUROPE ITSELF IS IN NEED OF MEDIATION.

Already, at the beginning of negotiations to find a solution to the Georgia conflict, it's obvious that there is more going on here than just differing interpretations of history. Europe wants to mediate, but it's so divided itself, that it too, requires mediation. The controversy directly influences the proposals for a solution to the conflict. The views of Poland and the Baltic states are backed up by Britain and Russia-skeptic Sweden - in their view that Moscow is the aggressor.

According to the declarations of this group, international peacekeepers should be stationed in the breakaway regions of Georgia. In Paris and Berlin, however, one prefers to speak of “observers.”

Posted by WORLDMEETS.US

The debate within NATO is even sharper. The Eastern Europeans are using this latest war as an argument that Georgia should be admitted to the alliance as quickly as possible. In the West, one reaches the opposite conclusion.

[The Economist, U.K.]

For Moscow, which is acting from a position of strength since its campaign, it will be easy to use this division for its own purposes. The Kremlin wants to expand its influence and to keep neighboring countries which that aspire to the West in a state of permanent instability. The E.U. has no interest in allowing this - but given their disharmony, they have little to oppose the Russians with.

This war sends a very clear signal that together with the united States, it's high time to restrict Russia's sphere of influence. However, not all want to hear that signal.

CLICK HERE FOR GERMAN VERSION

FROM AROUND EUROPE ON THE GEORGIA CRISIS:

Rceczpospolita, Poland

Banish All 'Magical Thinking' Regarding the Russian Bear

http://worldmeets.us/rzeczpospolita000005.shtml

Gazeta Wyborcza, Poland

'Enormous Error' of President Bush's 'Georgian Protege'

http://worldmeets.us/gazetawyborcza000018.shtml

Cotidianul, Romania

Georgia Can 'Kiss NATO Goodbye'

http://worldmeets.us/cotidianul000002.shtml

Frankfurter Rundschau, Germany