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Asia-Pacific
Letters from Tokyo
USA — President Bush Is Trying to Contain Russia via Georgia and Ukraine
By Lee Jay Walker Tokyo Correspondent
 | Russian leader Vladimir Putin accused President Bush on Aug. 29, 2008 of orchestrating the war in Georgia in a plot to get Sen. John McCain elected to the White House. | US President George Bush will leave office in the near future, however, before this he appears to desire a more robust foreign policy aimed at alienating the Russian Federation. More alarming, the majority of people in the Czech Republic and the Ukraine are against his policies. Yet despite this both NATO expansion and the American missile defense system are being pushed and who is this aimed at? For most people the answer is obvious, it is aimed at the Russian Federation. So why does the current leader of America desire to create another negative front?This question angers many people in the Russian Federation because instead of a collective organization or understanding based on geopolitics, we are merely seeing NATO expansion. It is clear, therefore, that America believes that Russia's only collective space should apply to the Russian Federation. Outside this, then all former Soviet states apart from the Russian Federation are deemed to be possible future members of NATO.Behind all the smiles and rhetoric of President Bush, it is clear that he, and policy advisers, are intent on encircling the Russian Federation. After all, look at both Georgia and the Ukraine; neither nation is stable. Also, the vast majority of people in the Ukraine do not want to join NATO but this does not matter. Instead we get the American mantra that NATO expansion and the missile defense system is aimed at Iran. However, it is abundantly clear that the real factor behind both these policies is the containment of the Russian Federation.So let us look at Georgia and why allowing this nation to join NATO would be very dangerous. Firstly, Georgia is deemed important to America because of geopolitics and the West desires to use both Azerbaijan and Georgia in order to bypass the Russian Federation via energy links. By doing this, then both the Russian Federation and Iran will lose out. Secondly, Georgia is probably the most anti-Russian state in the region because of past history so America can garner support more easily in this nation.However, and this is the crux, Georgia is far from being a stable democracy because of both internal politics and because of major internal ethnic divisions. If Georgia joins NATO then does this mean that NATO forces will crush Abkhazia and South Ossetia? Because both Abkhazia and South Ossetia desire independence from Georgia. So if Georgia is not even a unitary state now, then how can this nation join NATO? If I was either an Abkhazian or South Ossetian I would be worried.Then if we focus on the Ukraine, then it is abundantly clear that this nation is always on the brink of political meltdown because tensions arise frequently. Also, in the east of this nation you have many ethnic Russians and they certainly do not desire NATO membership. More alarmingly, this nation could certainly be used to launch an offensive against the Russian Federation and this will of course lead to fresh tensions.Therefore, NATO membership must be prevented and it is up to nations like Germany to stop this American "madness." After all, you don't have any justification for encircling the Russian Federation like this. So it would appear that America is bent on causing divisions in the Balkans, the Middle East, Northeast Asia, and in Eurasia. So nations must stand up to this policy of divide and rule. Because this policy is clearly aimed at containing the Russian Federation and on no grounds can this be justifiable under current conditions. Therefore, it would appear that America wants to contain the entire world, from China to the Russian Federation, and towards any independent nation which happens to disagree with aspects of America's foreign policy. Surely geopolitics is about understanding the self-interests of regional powers. However, America is now bent on global containment and this policy is not valid in the 21st century.
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Lee Jay Walker serves as Tokyo Corrsepondent of The Seoul Times. He specializes in int'l relations and geopolitics. He is also involved in analyst work and research on business. After finishing BA degree in East European Studies at the University of London, He earned MA degree in Asia Pacific Studies in Nottingham Trent University. He also studied business at London Institute.
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