That Atavistic No-War Mentality

“We are not happy about the situation around Georgia and Ukraine,” Mr Medvedev said. “We consider that it is extremely troublesome for the existing structure of European security. No state can be pleased about having representatives of a military bloc to which it does not belong coming close to its borders.” — BBC News

The Troy Aikman of Russia talks an eminently reasonable game, managing even to avoid asking us how we would like it if Russia reinstated the Warsaw Pact in Mexico City. Indeed, he passed up a golden opportunity to say “a military bloc to which it does not belong squatting right up against not one but two of its borders.”

Indeed, the longer I think about this the more bluntly I want to put it. Europeans: do not let the Americans force you into being fools. Ukraine and Georgia are useless to you as NATO members. Integrate and consolidate Europe first, integrate and consolidate now. What good is the pointy-compass flag over Tbilisi when all your grave security threats are streaming direct into the Continent? When it comes to mad bombers and unintegrated immigrants, you can’t fight ‘em on the Dnieper so you don’t have to fight ‘em in the banlieues.

Of course, the US and NATO’s constituent members in Europe, and even the governments of Ukraine and Georgia have every right to usher the latter two into the alliance. But then we will be in the Russian red zone, with no Troy Aikman of our own — and, worse, no intention of ever scoring a touchdown. One presumes!*

*Edit: Troy and Clay Aiken have been disambiguated. TAS regrets the error.