Friday, November 30, 2007

Russian agression, a concern for the West?

President Vladimir Putin has signed a law which suspends Russia's participation in a treaty limiting military forces in Europe. It follows its adoption earlier this month by the Russian parliament. The Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty, signed in 1990, limits the deployment of tanks, aircraft and other heavy conventional weapons. Russia says the suspension is a reply to the non-ratification of the treaty by Nato countries. The law will come into effect on 12 December, allowing Russia to boost its troop levels on its western and southern borders, although no imminent plans to this effect have been announced. Nato members, led by the United States, have refused to ratify the CFE treaty until Moscow withdraws its troops from the former Soviet republics of Moldova and Georgia, as Russia had promised in 1999. (BBC World, 30.11.2007 )

This means a further and probably more intencified threat in Abkhazia from the Russian "peacekeepers". It's not good news for Georgia. neither is it for the rest of the world. It means we are beyond the level of cold war, and probably entering a hotter one, where Russian KGB..or FSB as they now call themselves will act more offencively in order to expand their "empire". As an example I would like to mention that a journalist from the National Norwegian Broadcasting yesterday was arrested twice for covering the Russian election. That NEVER happened during the cold war. I think the escalating situation should call for a boicott of the Olympic games in Sochi in 2014, as it did in 1980 when Russia attacked Afghanistan. But who knows..the west is probably more concerned about money than politics theese days. The Norwegian forreignminister Jonas Gahr Støre is busy sucking up to the Russians because of the joint gas adventure at Shtokman developing field in the north. His comment to the situation in Adresseavisen 01.12.2007 is: "Russias main worries is in the south and east. Not in the north", thereby supporting earlier Norwegian official statements wich point out that "there is nothing to be worried about for Norway". They should be so lucky! This is exactly the same rethoric and attitude the Norwegian government expressed before they were attacked in the 2. world war by Germany. And we havent learned anything from that, have we? In order to evaluate a threat, you have to look at the general practice of a country, not the practice in some selected areas. Take the Russian agression in Chechenya, Dagestan, Georgia/Abkhazia/Ossetia, The Baltics, Moldova...I should say there is really something to bare in mind when the northern areas of Norway/Russia should be considdered a target for Russian agression, given the fact that this area is extremely more valuable concerning fish / gas than the areas in the south and east.
What about the others?Angela Merkel is probably having dinner with Putins liason in oil matters, Gerhard Schrøder, and Sharko is French in all the meanings of the word. I guess that leaves us with Bush. And he's busy at the moment. Anyway, it seems that the global community are more worried about finances than solidarity. Not that it came as any surprice..indeed.

3 Comments:

Blogger Elisabeth said...

Hei!
Jeg skulle oenske jeg hadde visst om sidene dine foer jeg kom hit, eller tidligere.. utrolig interessant aa lese mye av det som staar her! Og du har sikkert sett bildene mine fra 7. november, tenker jeg, hvis du er interessert. Jeg reiser til Trondheim 21. desember, men skal forsoeke aa finne Dagny Juells grav foer jeg drar, og ogsaa Hotel London. Visste at Hamsun hadde vaert her, men ante ikke at det var her han skrev den historien.

Forresten: Du har en liten faktafeil. Jeg kommer fra Stokmarknes, og der HAR vi Knut Hamsuns gate. Det er rett nok bare en stubb, men der er flere hus som har adresse Knut Hamsuns gate:) Kan maile deg bilder derfra i romjula hvis du vil, saa du faar se selv.

Thursday, December 13, 2007 10:43:00 am  
Blogger Eistein G. said...

Hyggelig at du likte dem. Du kom jo på en måte rett opp i krangelen i november..hehe. Interessant å se bildene dine. Faktisk noen av de bedre jeg har sett av den hendelsen.

En gatestump på Stokmarknes teller definitivt. Det hadde vært morsomt å se bildene. :-)

Thursday, December 13, 2007 3:05:00 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I fix! Kommer dit i romjula og skal huske det:) Linken er bl.a. at Hamsun var paa St.nes til det aarlige sankthansmarkedet. I 'Landstrykere' er markedet paa Stokmarknes/i Hadsel noe av det foerste som skjer innledningsvis i boka, det er der de moeter Papst bl.a. Og saa var jo den godeste Pedersen lensmannsbetjent osv i nabokommunen. Men jeg digrerer. Bilde skal bli, i romjula:)

(Og saa har jeg 60 bilder paa facebook i eget album, fra 7-8 november...)

Thursday, December 13, 2007 3:33:00 pm  

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