In a hole, and still digging - US in Ukraine

In a hole, and still digging

THE HINDU EDITORIAL

United States President Barack Obama’s announcement of $1 billion in military aid to selected European NATO countries has provoked mixed reactions in Europe and Russia, and has revealed domestic pressures on Mr. Obama. Announced in Warsaw on June 3, it is known as the European Reassurance Initiative. The money will cover the dispatch of more equipment to Poland, and an increased frequency of U.S. troop-rotation there. It will also involve more air patrols over the Baltic Sea and more intensive naval operations in the northern Black Sea. It is meant particularly to allay Polish, Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian fears about what those countries perceive as Russian expansionism following Moscow’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea province in March 2014. Mr. Obama has described the security of Poland and the three Baltic states as “sacrosanct”, but has said nothing about permanent U.S. bases in the countries concerned. The plan is contemporaneous with the European Union’s intention to expedite association agreements with other former Soviet republics, such as Moldova and Georgia, for finalisation later in June rather than at the end of this year.

Inevitably, Mr. Obama’s move intensifies tensions throughout Europe. On June 2, Russia’s ambassador to NATO, Alexander Grushko, reportedly told the alliance’s foreign ministers at a meeting in Brussels that their plans could revive the Cold War and the arms race. Secondly, European NATO members are divided, with Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski complaining that Washington’s plans amount only to “virtual deployments” — but countries such as Germany, France, and the United Kingdom have strong commercial and energy-related links with Russia and may resist more confrontational measures. In addition, the EU agreements might well be no more than a way for the bloc to import cheap labour and get easy access for EU businesses. Furthermore, NATO has its own agenda; with its Afghan operations winding down, its commanders may well be desperate for a new role, as they were when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. While NATO is under little scrutiny from member-states’ elected assemblies, it has direct access to the foreign ministers concerned and can put considerable pressure on them to increase deployments on Russia’s southern and western borders. Moreover, Mr. Obama’s domestic position is fraught. The money he has announced is subject to Congressional clearance, but both Republican and Democratic members of Congress are angry about his taking major decisions without their approval; many also consider the 73 per cent U.S. share of NATO defence spending to be excessive. The west faces Cold War questions it may never have expected to return to, but its current leaders are only exacerbating the problems.

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/in-a-hole-and-still-digging/article6098280.ece?homepage=true