Section: Atlantic Community (Germany)
Diverging Perceptions Between Russia and EU Complicate Solutions in Ukraine
Atlantische Initiative, publisher of atlantic-community.org, has concluded a German-language project “Germany and the Ukraine conflict” in which participants discussed their ideas on the causes and possible solutions for the Ukraine conflict with eminent policy-makers. Following this consultation, all parties deemed Russia a key...
Modernity Versus Archaics
In the latest years globalization has made great progress, having left critically little space for archaics. The scared archaic societies have demonstrated an aggressive reaction, considering (not without reason) the current state of affairs in the world as a threat to their existence. This situation is particularly exemplified by Russia and the...
Armament and Sanctions: Hard Power Versus Soft Power
The options on arming Ukraine and on sanctions against Russia, and how they relate to the options on NATO membership must also be given ample consideration in this situation, as well as all of the leftover in-between options experts have to offer. The necessity of choice is certainly important considering the amount of time that has lapsed since...
Ukrainian NATO Membership as a Bargaining Chip with Russia
There are two ways of using the NATO membership question in negotiations with Russia: soft-line and hardline. Both aim at a deal for peace in Ukraine, but on different terms; one would refuse Ukraine membership in return for a deal, the other would not grant membership unless Russia agreed to a good enough deal. The former would need a compromise...
The Emergence of a New Reality
In the last two years, out of the four options on Ukraine, Russia, and NATO, one that in the past had seemed the least likely, has suddenly materialized: Russia treated Ukraine so badly that it has driven Ukrainians into NATO’s arms. This option came second on the list, but last on expectations. It depended on two failures: the failure of...
The Four Original Options on Ukraine and NATO
In the conditions of a strongly anti-NATO popular leaning, from 1991 to 2013, Ukraine could not join NATO, nor could it join a Russian-dominated union without coercion, and the attempts, of its respective westernizers and easternizers to do so, backfired. The pressures to simplify and choose sides came from both ends, East and West. Their...
How Should the West Respond to Ukraine’s NATO Bid?
It used to be that Ukrainians were heavily pro-Russian, and would have agreed to join NATO only alongside Russia’s joining. However, in light of the conflict ignited almost two years ago, it appears that Ukrainians have finally had enough and today, a supermajority favors joining NATO without Russia. The new thinking in Ukraine requires the...
Putin’ the NATO-Russia Founding Act to Rest
The United States is renegotiating its temporary military presence into a permanent arrangement with a NATO member state. While the country in question is not one you may expect, there is a dire need to boost deterrence capabilities via permanently stationed forces in member states with exterior borders. With Putin on the loose in Ukraine, the...
The EU Eastern Partnership Needs More Attention to Security
On March 6-7, 2015, the EU Ministers of Foreign Affairs reached the conclusion that the EU Eastern Partnership (EaP) requires transformation and further development. The current situation in the EaP Region, frozen conflicts, and aggression against Ukraine demands more attention to the security dimension of the EU initiative and it is very...
Holding Putin over a Barrel
Authors Sijbren de Jong, Willem Th. Oosterveld, Willem Auping and Daniel Fiott write that the collapse of the price of oil has masked the fact that Europe’s response to the Ukraine crisis has been vacillating, slow, and toothless. Yet worsening economic conditions in Russia should not tempt Europeans to consider prematurely easing...
