JS: I understood your stance regarding economic and diplomatic responses, but I just want to clarify that when it comes to the military, you think the United States should refrain.
VS: I honestly don’t even know. It’s terrifying to think about it because warfare in the modern world, it’s apocalyptic. It’s impossible. It’s going to be either some kind of cold war or isolation of Russia, which I think that’s where the steps the U.S. is making leads to with the talk of economic sanctions, stopping military alliances and statements from NATO.
So there’s either going to be some kind of cold war, which might lead to some kind of lack of communication between countries and diplomatic warfare similar to the scenarios we saw during the Cold War. Because if it gets to military, I honestly don’t know how to picture that since Putin has nuclear weapons and he knows that.
That’s of course why everyone is concerned. It seems like the world is suspended watching and not really knowing what to do because what would you do. Putin has that button. He’s got one hand on the gas and oil which is his control over Europe and he’s got his other hand on the button and that is what gives him the idea that he can go and bully small nations around and the world is stunned and doesn’t know what to do because how can you risk starting the third World War?
JS: Kind of gives the impression that this situation might likely play out like 2008 when the United States didn’t involve itself militarily in the Russo-Georgia war.
VS: The U.S. did not, because in some way, before the Russo-Georgian war began, Russia was able to use a pretext. It was not a sufficient pretext to engage in war but at least Russia had a pretext of the Georgian government ordering its military to mobilize.
There is nothing like this in Ukraine. It’s clearly a manufactured pretense, that to make it as anything else, just shows a complete misunderstanding of events or dishonesty. There was not a single case documented against a Russian, and this is in the age of the Internet when information spreads quickly. Everything is being manufactured through Putin’s channels. If you look at Russian television, and he controls federal channels and radio stations and newspapers, they have to make up everything.
There was no violence against ethnic Russians in the Crimea. There are no refugees from Crimea. It’s just not happening. It’s completely manufactured. If this is not the case for a strong international intervention, then I don’t know what is. What else does dictator have to do to provoke an outrage.
If the world waits this out and tries to placate or appease him, to find excuses, they can't because there is no excuse at all. During the protests, perhaps, the Ukrainians expected more support but the West was cautious because they didn’t know who was the driving force, who was coming to power, would he be a legitimate president to negotiate with.
But here, I don’t see how it’s possible to frame it any other way than a complete violation of one country’s sovereignty, and that’s a cornerstone of international law. If this is allowed to happen, then it’s the whole concept of international law will have to be redefined – how we live with each other, and negotiate, and make agreements. I think it’s a very clear case of a violation and a very clear response should be forthcoming or we’ll be in a different world. It’s hard to say what kind of world it’s going to be but it will be different.
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