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Posts Tagged ‘Ukrainian crisis’

Could Ukraine Spark a World War?

April 22, 2014 Leave a comment

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Secret mobilizations. Attacks with plausible deniability. Unclear alliance commitments. Vague statements of resolve. A battle for neutral parties. Highly provocative military movements. We have seen these events take place in the last few weeks in the crisis in Ukraine. We also saw these same dynamics at play almost exactly one hundred years ago on the eve of World War I [3].
The major powers of Continental Europe were maneuvering, and the wheels of war creaked into motion. In the coming battle, swift mobilization would be key, but even more important was the commitment of a powerful third party. Read more…

U.S. Influence Hits New Lows

April 13, 2014 Leave a comment

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Obama’s trips to Europe and Saudi Arabia reveal the limits of American power.

President Barack Obama spoke with condescension last week at The Hague when he identified the Russian Federation as a “regional power that’s threatening some of its immediate neighbors not out of strength but out of weakness.”

From Moscow’s point of view, Obama’s embassy to world capitals at the end of March demonstrated that the United States has also become a regional power, one that can no longer get its way in Europe and the Middle East.

In The Hague and in Brussels, Obama spoke of economic sanctions against Russia while definitely ruling out military force to resolve the Ukraine crisis. No European leader disagreed. It’s not just that severe sanctions would damage the fragile recovery underway in the EU. The Europeans have long since accepted that the U.S. cannot do more than talk of an Atlantic-based alliance. Read more…