In eying aggression, Putin envying American tactics

OTTAWA—As the sabre-rattling between NATO and Russia intensifies over the sovereignty of Ukraine, so, too, has the hypocrisy increased on the part of those cheerleading for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. These tub-thumpers feign moral outrage that Russian President Vladimir Putin would even attempt to exert influence over his neighbouring states. For Russia, the stakes are high. Putin views this potential admittance of Ukraine into the NATO alliance as a reckless provocation. Since 2014 the eastern provinces of Ukraine have been under the control of pro-Russian Ukrainian rebels. The enclaves of Donetsk and Luhansk have remained an often not-so-frozen conflict between Ukrainian government forces—many of whom are trained by Canadian military personnel—and the Russian-backed Ukrainian rebels. Should Ukraine opt to accept the invitation from the NATO alliance that was first extended to them in 2008, and never revoked, this would commit all 30 NATO member states to the collective defence of Ukraine. Given that Ukraine authorities describe the eastern breakaway territories as “Russian occupied,” and that they do not accept Putin’s 2014 formal annexation of the Crimea, it means that upon admission to NATO, the alliance would essentially be at war with Russia. One can understand how that might be a little intimidating for Putin. Those few conflict analysts who dare challenge the pro-west narrative often point out that the U.S. responded with similar indignation back in 1962. At that juncture, the Soviet Union had signed a deal with Cuban President Fidel Castro to forward deploy nuclear missiles in Cuba. The rationale for this was two-fold. For the Soviet Union, it was seen as a strategic counter to the U.S. having recently deployed nuclear missiles in both Turkey and Italy. For Castro and the Cubans, it was hoped that these Soviet missiles would deter the U.S. from attempting to repeat their 1961 failed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba. Having Soviet nuclear warheads based just 120 kilometres off the coast of Florida was a red line for the U.S. President John F. Kennedy overruled his Pentagon advisers who advocated a pre-emptive strike on the Cuban-based Soviet missiles. Instead, Kennedy ordered a full scale naval “quarantine” of Cuba to prevent any further Soviet military support being delivered. Kennedy was careful to avoid using the word “blockade,” as that would have been an act of war. After taking the world to the mutual destruction nuclear precipice, both the Soviets and the Americans blinked and backed down. The Cuban missile crisis ended with the Soviets withdrawing their missiles from Cuba, and the U.S. removed their warheads from Turkey. In October 1983, in response to internal political strife and the increased influence of Cuban and Soviet communists, the U.S. led a coalition to invade the Caribbean island of Grenada. This attack was denounced by the United Nations General Assembly as a “flagrant violation of international law.” This denouncement by the UN mattered not a whit to U.S. President Ronald Reagan, who was prepared to dismiss the “rules-based international order” moniker to demonstrate that America polices its own back yard. This approach was repeated in December 1989 by President George H.W. Bush when he ordered the U.S. invasion of Panama. The primary objective of the attack was to depose Panamanian ruler Manuel Noriega and replace him with a more pro-American puppet. Militarily, this conflict was about as one-sided as you could get with the U.S. already having troops and bases in the country as part of their Canal Zone defence force. It was not a case of David versus Goliath; it was more like Mickey Mouse versus Goliath on steroids. This time around, both the UN General Assembly and the Organization of American States (OAS) condemned the U.S. invasion of a sovereign state as a “violation of international law.” Again, the U.S. leadership could not give a rat’s behind what the world thought about their invasion. In an ironic twist that proved the Pentagon planners have a self-awareness and a sense of humour, the invasion of Panama and the subsequent arrest of Noriega was codenamed “Operation Just Cause.” Putin might wish to mimic his U.S. counterparts with an equally cavalier disregard for international law, justified by the nearness of the threat to Russia itself. However, Russia of 2022 is not the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War. Putin can make threats of unleashing nuclear Armageddon should he feel further threatened. However, he does not have the military means to defy NATO, even in his own neighbourhood. In that, Putin can only envy the U.S. Scott Taylor is the editor and publisher of Esprit de Corps magazine. The Hill Times