West Stumbles As Autocratic Force Trumps Economics

[Purveyor]

By David Rohde
Tue Apr 1, 2014 12:15pm EDT

(Reuters) - A quarter-century after the fall of the Soviet Union, authoritarian rulers such as Vladimir Putin and Bashar al-Assad are showing they can and will defy international norms, suppress dissent and use military force. American policymakers are struggling with how to respond.

"It's a big philosophical question about how to deal with a strong state with anti-Western and autocratic proclivities," said Michael McFaul, the most recent American ambassador to Moscow. "I would say on that score we are kind of confused as a country."

Citing the sweeping unpopularity of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, American officials have embraced economic sanctions as their primary means of pressuring foreign governments. In an interconnected, 21st-century global economy, President Barack Obama argues, economic sanctions are more powerful than ever.

If Russia continues on its current course, Obama warned last week, "the isolation will deepen, sanctions will increase and there will be more consequences for the Russian economy."

He may be proven right. Over the course of 2014, the threat of economic sanctions may result in Putin backing down in Crimea and Ukraine. And historic sanctions against Iran - which slashed oil sales and cut the country off from the world banking system - could produce an accord that halts Iran's nuclear program.

MORE...

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/01/us-analysis-west-idUSBREA300W220140401

[jakeXT]

1. "defy international norms, suppress dissent and use military force", who would do such things ?

I was recently thinking about Bahrain and Uzbekistan

I had a heck of a time making sense of the U.S. Navy’s new motto “A Global Force for Good” until I realized that it meant “We are a global force, and wherever we go we’re never leaving.”

For three years now people in the little island nation of Bahrain have been nonviolently protesting and demanding democratic reforms.

For three years now the king of Bahrain and his royal thugs have been shooting, kidnapping, torturing, imprisoning, and terrorizing nonviolent opponents. An opponent includes anyone speaking up for human rights or even “insulting” the king or his flag, which carries a sentence of 7 years in prison and a hefty fine.

For three years now, Saudi Arabia has been aiding the King of Bahrain in his crackdown on the people of Bahrain. A U.S. police chief named John Timoney, with a reputation for brutality earned in Miami and Philadelphia, was hired to help the Bahraini government intimidate and brutalize its population.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/101685503

[DJ13]

2. 1. "defy international norms, suppress dissent and use military force", who would do such things ?

Most every major metropolitan police force in the US?

[bemildred]

3. Derp. nt

[bemildred]

4. West must wake up to Ukraine crisis, Madeleine Albright says

Albright, who became America’s first female secretary of state during Bill Clinton’s presidency, called the Crimea takeover “a game changer” in her country’s relations with the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin, but she also expressed worry about western resolve and limited options in the face of Moscow’s expansionist ambitions.

---

“The targeting countries could be affected as much as the target,” she said. “Europeans are addicted to Russian gas and oil.”

Although clearly disturbed by Putin’s recent actions (he is “living in a parallel universe,” she said), the U.S. visitor declined to paint a worst-case scenario.

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2014/04/01/west_must_wake_up_to_ukraine_crisis_madeleine_albright_says.html