What Senator Menendez demands is nothing short of a soft coup brought about by voluntarily reversing Kyrgyzstan’s recent “Democratic Security” successes under the Damocles’ sword of “security and economic” consequences if it dares to refuse.
Menendez' letter sounds like something written by the Godfather. "Nice country you got there. Be a shame if something happened to it." America's sanctions on Russia are shared by the EU and UK. Other countries have a perfect right to enter into them or decline to do so as they view their own best interests. The Senator is still living in the unipolar world. The "rules-based international order" that Russia violated is the US's rules, not the entire rest of the world. I grew up during the Cold War when we respected the USSR as a worthy adversary that had as many nukes as we had. Last time I looked Russia still has even more than we do. The Ukraine war has been a wake-up call to Russia that it's military sucked. I don't think they will make that mistake again. This war has come about because US policymakers have refused to respect Russia and look at things from Russia's point of view. And the "rules" that Russia has operated under are those that were in effect in the 19th century and early 20th century. And John Mearsheimer has consistently emphasized. If we want to make a stable peace we need to respect the red lines of our worthy adversary.
Menendez' letter sounds like something written by the Godfather. "Nice country you got there. Be a shame if something happened to it." America's sanctions on Russia are shared by the EU and UK. Other countries have a perfect right to enter into them or decline to do so as they view their own best interests. The Senator is still living in the unipolar world. The "rules-based international order" that Russia violated is the US's rules, not the entire rest of the world. I grew up during the Cold War when we respected the USSR as a worthy adversary that had as many nukes as we had. Last time I looked Russia still has even more than we do. The Ukraine war has been a wake-up call to Russia that it's military sucked. I don't think they will make that mistake again. This war has come about because US policymakers have refused to respect Russia and look at things from Russia's point of view. And the "rules" that Russia has operated under are those that were in effect in the 19th century and early 20th century. And John Mearsheimer has consistently emphasized. If we want to make a stable peace we need to respect the red lines of our worthy adversary.