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Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Deja Vu Du Jour

Perhaps it is really unfair to consider Europeans as sell-outs.  However, the European effort too bargain over Ukraine's fate reminds me of Bosnia.  Early in the Balkan wars, the Europeans were pretty willing to agree to anything that would end the conflict quickly, including giving Serbia its desired chunks of Bosnia.  That it would reward the ethnic cleansers as it would mean that the refugees from Yugoslavia could then go home quickly.

These days, it seems to be that European leaders would like to end Ukraine's war as quickly as possible so that they could get their energy cheaply and certainly from Russia.  Is this fair to Merkel?  Well, it depends on the deal.  If it creates a demilitarized zone that essentially cements Russian (one could say separatist but let's be serious) gains, then "peace in our time" will be provided by selling out the Ukrainians.  If it allows the Ukrainians to actually govern throughout the country (minus Crimea because that ain't coming back), then maybe the Europeans are not selling out Ukraine.

Let's just say I don't have a heap of confidence that Putin will settle for anything that allows Ukraine to stabilize.

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