Prospect Roundtable: How should the EU respond to the Ukraine crisis?

Listen to our discussion on the current crisis in the Ukraine which considered the wider implications of Russia's invasion of Crimea

by Prospect Team / March 11, 2014 / Leave a comment

Attendees:

Ian Bond, Director of Foreign Policy, Centre for European Reform

Professor Archie Brown, Emeritus Professor of Politics, University of Oxford

Nick Carn, founder, Carn Macro Advisers

Jennifer Coombs, Prospect Director

Jay Elwes, Deputy Editor, Prospect

Lorenzo Fanara, Counsellor for Political Affairs, Italian Embassy

Dr. Rory Finnin, University Senior Lecturer in Ukrainian Studies, University of Cambridge

Robert Fox, Defence Correspondent, Evening Standard

Mike Gapes, MP for Ilford South, member of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee

James Gray, MP for North Wiltshire, member of the Defence Select Committee

HE Mr. Claus Grube, Danish Ambassador

Charles Hecker, Global Research Director, Global Risks Analysis

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Comments

Max Roberts
March 14, 2014 at 15:55
Relatively quick, gestural and procedural moves do not sway Putin or any like him. The only legal moves against Russia would come under international law. No leverage there. Putin and his kind regard laws only as conventions binding 'others'. Mineral-rich Russia is pretty self-reliant, so then one asks "How much and how long would the Russian people endure unfolding economic consequences, if Russia was locked out of commodity trade?" The locking out takes a lot of agreement among nations. And ever suspicious Russians are quick to hunker down against foreigners. A good dose of suffering seems nothing to them. Armed intervention? Out of the question! Intervention involves mobilization which takes too long and involves sacrifice. Mobilization would require real unity among Europeans, who don't have real unity. As long as the EU brings benefits, Europeans are for benefits. If the EU calls for sacrifice, forget sacrifice. Europeans are not hunker-down-and-suffer types like Russians. The West (code for the US) can best discommode Russia if other nations to go along with freezing Russian assets and denying travel to Russians or any who deal with Russians.