In the Washington Post on November 25, Katrina vanden Heuvel had a very interesting article on the mistakes that Europe, NATO, and the US have made in their approach to Russia over the Ukraine and Crimea. She quotes Henry Kissinger as saying ‘Nobody in the West has offered a concrete program to restore Crimea. Nobody is willing to fight over Eastern Ukraine. That’s a fact of life.’ Kissinger has said that the West might weigh its real security concerns before posturing and escalation over Ukraine.
Even far away Australia has been posturing over Ukraine. In one of his more bellicose moments, and as a way of shirt-fronting Vladimir Putin, Tony Abbott suggested that Australia might send 1,000 Australian troops to secure the crash site in Eastern Ukraine! The link to this article is below. John Menadue
John Menadue is the Founder of Pearls and Irritations and a board member. He was formerly the Editor-in-Chief. John was the Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet under Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser, Ambassador to Japan, Secretary of the Department of Immigration and CEO of Qantas.