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Bluff and bluster will leave Russians unimpressed



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Published Date: 30 August 2008
As a former Edinburgh resident and now expatriate based in Russia I have been following the international response to the troubling situation in South Ossetia and Abkhazia with a growing sense of disquiet and disbelief.
I will leave it to others to analyse the order of events and the rights and wrongs on either side.

My point is directed at what appears to be a bewildering naivete in western dealings with Moscow stretching back at least as far as the era of Glasnost and epitomised in David Miliband's past and present posturings in relation to the Russian Federation.

Russians will never respond to being lectured at, patronised, talked down to, sent to Coventry or "punished" for their actions. There is every chance they will respond to being shown respect, being treated as equal partners and actually being engaged in dialogue. In Russian this is called "finding a common tongue".

Surely there must be at least one statesperson on the world stage who is willing to attempt this – or is everyone content with damage-limitation and containment?

RUSSELL PHILLIPS

Prospekt Karla Marxa

Novosibirsk, Russia



The full article contains 190 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
Page 1 of 1

  • Last Updated: 29 August 2008 8:05 PM
  • Source: The Scotsman
  • Location: Edinburgh
 
1

madrab,

edinburgh 30/08/2008 08:54:03
When will the UN charge Putin for the war crimes in Chechnya?

Russia only gets away with what the US and China let them.

Bullying a tiny country like Georgia impresses nobody.
2

Martinh,

30/08/2008 09:11:19
Well said Russell. Georgia started it, by invading South Ossetia and bombing their Capital City. Bullying a tiny Statelet impresses nobody.
3

Destroy the Planet,

30/08/2008 09:30:39
Washington’s bloody fingerprints are all over the invasion of South Ossetia
4

Itchy,

30/08/2008 10:11:19
#3 Moscow's bloody fingerprints are still sticky years later.

"There is every chance they will respond to being shown respect, being treated as equal partners and actually being engaged in dialogue. In Russian this is called "finding a common tongue". "

This man is living on another planet. The Russians have only ever understood brute force. They have never been a free country.
5

Neil,

Glasgow 30/08/2008 11:44:38
"Russians will never respond to being lectured at, patronised, talked down to, sent to Coventry or "punished" for their actions. There is every chance they will respond to being shown respect"

Gosh isn't it amazing that Russians behave just like human beings (well not Itchy obviously but most of us).
6

McGinty,

Glasgow & Aberdeen 31/08/2008 01:44:18
The hypocrisies of Western countries or any other countries are well known, but the fact remains that Russian tanks are patrolling Georgia beyond the disputed boundaries. In comparing different countries activites, this point is being missed. If Iraq was an illegal war, then this is an illegal war. One can criticise the UN ad nauseam but it remains the international organisation with a legitimate peacekeeping mandate. Whatever the charges of hypocrisy by other nations, Russia are out of order and are as much hypocrites as any other nation. Until there is a united voice to spell this out agaist Putin and Medvedev's bluster and bravado, Russia will probably stay put. This needs to go beyond just one statesperson on the world stage. Civilians and politicians of every hue need to stand up and spell this out. Those who sympathise with Putin and Medvedev might as well sympathise with Bush, Rumsfeld, Cheney, Blair, Saddam Hussein and the Islamist extremists.

 

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