Understand Russian Nationalism to Understand Ukraine

While our short attention span news cycle focuses for now on events unfolding in the former Soviet republic of the Ukraine, it is easy to want to compare the Russian incursion to the Cold War years and put Vladimir Putin in the same category as Stalin, Khrushchev or Brezhnev.    Since nobody of any authority in the US or EU is calling on NATO military action, we in the West really need to understand the mind of Russia's authoritarian president and the challenges Russia faces from ethnic separatist and Islamic fundamentalism movements that resort to terror.   In Putin's view, he has one trump card that has historically been effective at rallying his supporters: Russian nationalism.   That seemed to work in Russia's war with neighboring Georgia... another region with a big Russian ethnic or Russian-speaking  population.   Regional insurrections within Russia itself have even seen spillover into the United States.   How many Americans had heard of Dagestan a year ago before last year's Boston Marathon bombing?   Terror, whether through Syrian chemical weapons or al-Qaeda, must be a concern of every civilized nation.

 

For all the differences between Russia and the West, there are strong economic ties that bind beyond the ongoing threat of terror.   Look at how the Russian markets have already been negatively impacted by Russia's aggression while worldwide stocks take a hit.   Business hates instability.   Europe needs natural gas to travel from Russia through the Ukraine while Russia disparately needs the revenue.   The Ukraine is also a breadbasket for much of Europe.

 

Meanwhile, Republicans take cheap shots at the Obama administration's "weak" response.   Do they really think sabre rattling between two nuclear powers should be option number one?   President Obama never got credit for standing steadfast against Russian-backed Syria's use of chemical weapons.   During a major international crisis, we owe it to ourselves to be united at home.    We don't have to approve of what "Mother Russia" is doing, but we have to have some understanding of it.