{"id":1438679,"date":"2022-04-14T16:44:53","date_gmt":"2022-04-14T20:44:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1438679"},"modified":"2022-04-14T16:45:00","modified_gmt":"2022-04-14T20:45:00","slug":"what-does-putin-really-want-foreign-policy-experts-break-down-cold-war-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/what-does-putin-really-want-foreign-policy-experts-break-down-cold-war-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"What Does Putin Really Want? Foreign Policy Experts Break Down \u2018Cold War II\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwhat-does-putin-really-want-foreign-policy-experts-break-down-cold-war-ii%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1438679&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2022\/04\/Putin.jpg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.3.0\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p><span>On February 24, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that he would launch a \u201cspecial military operation\u201d into Ukraine. Over the subsequent two months, the Russian invasion has sent <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/janet-yellen-expects-enormous-economic-repercussions-from-ukraine-invasion\"><span>economic shockwaves<\/span><\/a><span> across the globe, induced a massive <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/10-million-civilians-have-fled-war-in-ukraine-top-un-official-says\"><span>refugee crisis<\/span><\/a><span>, and caused thousands of <\/span><span>civilian deaths, as the Daily Wire has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/more-than-10000-civilians-killed-in-mariupol-report\">reported<\/a><\/span><span>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Yet many Americans remain perplexed as to why Putin would choose to invade Ukraine \u2014 a decision that triggered the first significant land war in Europe since World War II and fundamentally <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/heres-why-putin-invaded-ukraine-and-how-he-just-shattered-the-world-order?%3Futm_source=twitter\"><span>upended the global order<\/span><\/a><span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span>What does Putin want?<\/span><\/i><span> The Daily Wire spoke to three foreign policy experts to find out.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>\u2018Russian Elites Have Always Struggled With Identity\u2019<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span>The historical relationship between Ukraine and Russia is rooted in the latter\u2019s quest for identity, explained <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heritage.org\/staff\/luke-coffey\"><span>Luke Coffey<\/span><\/a><span> \u2014 the director of the Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies at the Heritage Foundation and a former defense adviser for the British government.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cWhile in some cases Russia and Ukraine share a common recent history, Ukrainian language and culture are distant from Russia\u2019s. One should not forget that Kyiv was founded around 1,500 years ago at a time when Moscow was still a forest,\u201d Coffey described. \u201cMore often than not, the relationship was built on the reality that Russia was the colonizer and Ukraine the colonized.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cRussian elites have always struggled with identity \u2014 basically whether or not Russia is a European country or an Asian one,\u201d Coffey continued. \u201cIn the past two and a half centuries the prevalent school of thought among Russian leaders was that without control, or at least influence, over countries like Ukraine, Russia was merely an Asian power and not a European one.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hudson.org\/experts\/1032-peter-rough\"><span>Peter Rough<\/span><\/a><span> \u2014 a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute who formerly served as associate director in the White House Office of Strategic Initiatives under President George W. Bush \u2014 likewise explained that Russia feels a \u201cperpetual insecurity on its European flank.\u201d Nevertheless, Putin also has his own \u201cultranationalist, revanchist views of historical Russia\u201d and its relations with Ukraine. As Rough recently <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hudson.org\/research\/17745-keynote-address-to-simulex-2022-war-in-europe\"><span>noted<\/span><\/a><span>, Putin published an article last year entitled \u201cOn the Historical Unity of the Russian and Ukrainian Peoples\u201d \u2014 in which he argued that Ukraine, in essence, is the true cradle of Russian civilization and essential to the nation\u2019s security.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Referring to the same essay, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fdd.org\/team\/clifford-d-may\/\"><span>Cliff May<\/span><\/a><span> \u2014 the founder and president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a former member of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom \u2014 said that \u201cPutin sees himself as a latter-day czar.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cHis mission is to restore, and, if possible, expand the Russian empire which was, for some decades, re-branded as the Soviet Union,\u201d May argued. \u201cHe does not acknowledge Ukraine as a separate, sovereign, and independent country. He regards it as a rogue Russian province that must be brought back into the fold. He\u2019s now attempting to do that with the use of the most brutal methods, including war crimes.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>\u2018Moscow\u2019s Motivation Runs Much Deeper Than NATO\u2019<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span>Putin claimed that his country\u2019s invasion is at least partially motivated by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) \u2014 an intergovernmental collective security alliance among western and central European powers, as well as the United States and Canada \u2014 further <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/biden-joins-emergency-nato-talks-as-ukraine-war-enters-second-month\"><span>expanding its influence eastward<\/span><\/a><span>. Yet Coffey and Rough do not believe Putin\u2019s claims are legitimate.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cNATO is at base a defensive alliance which contorted itself to meet Russian demands in the lead-up to the invasion,\u201d Rough contended. \u201cEven after the Russian annexation of Crimea eight years ago, for example, NATO held fast to the NATO-Russia Founding Act of 1997, which prohibited certain deployments into the alliance\u2019s new member states. For its part, Ukraine was effectively barred from admission into NATO owing to Russian sensitivities.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201c<\/span><span>The basic facts of this war are quite simple: Russia invaded Ukraine and not the other way around. Russia is the aggressor and Ukraine is the victim,\u201d Coffey added. \u201cNATO enlargement is often used as an excuse for Russia, but Moscow\u2019s motivation runs much deeper than NATO adding new members. Putin is an imperial leader and is trying to recreate imperial Russia \u2014 not the Soviet Union.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIt is worth pointing out that while three former countries of the USSR joined NATO in 2004, in the past 17 years only four new members have been added to the alliance, with the nearest one to Russia located 900 miles away.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Meanwhile, May acknowledges that former Soviet possessions desiring to join NATO makes Putin \u201cfurious\u201d and \u201cfurther motivates his imperialism and colonialism,\u201d yet recognizes that Putin is \u201csmart enough to know that NATO is purely a defensive alliance.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>\u2018Raising The Past To Rally The Public\u2019<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span>Putin has also argued that Ukraine is <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/why-is-putin-constantly-calling-ukrainians-nazis\"><span>in the grip of Nazis<\/span><\/a><span>. During his speech announcing the invasion of Ukraine, Putin said that his forces would \u201cdemilitarize and denazify Ukraine, as well as bring to trial those who perpetrated numerous bloody crimes against civilians.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Coffey explained that Putin\u2019s assertions are by no means grounded in reality; rather, he is attempting to leverage nationalistic pride in support of his war effort.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThe heroism of the Soviet Union against Nazi Germany in World War II still resonates with your average Russian. In simple terms, this bogus \u2018denazification\u2019 narrative helps Putin convince his public that Russia faces an imminent threat from Ukraine,\u201d Coffey said. \u201cIn reality, Ukraine has a Jewish president who lost three male relatives during the Holocaust and far right parties hold no seats in the Parliament. Claiming that it is run by Nazis is beyond ridiculous.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Observing that the Soviet Union lost tens of millions of citizens during their \u201cGreat Patriotic War\u201d against Nazi Germany, Rough noted that American politicians sometimes use similar rhetorical tactics. \u201c<\/span><span>Just as after 9\/11 President Bush spoke of an \u2018Axis of Evil\u2019 that conjured memories of the evil empire and the Axis powers, President Putin is raising the past to rally the public for the battles of today.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>May noted the \u201cconvenience\u201d of labeling one\u2019s enemies as Nazis. \u201cWhat better boogieman?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cAre there Nazis in Ukraine? Yes. There are Nazis in the U.S., too. And Russia\u2019s Wagner Group, do we not think they\u2019re neo-Nazis? But nothing justifies Putin\u2019s invasion of Ukraine and the war crimes he\u2019s committing there.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>\u2018Weaken And Deter Russia\u2019<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span>To counter Russia while avoiding direct military intervention, Western nations \u2014 including the United States \u2014 have <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/how-russia-sanctions-could-impact-american-consumers\"><span>issued a round of sanctions<\/span><\/a><span> aimed at cutting off Russian financial institutions, restricting debt and equity for Russian corporations, and targeting certain Russian elites. Yet Coffey, Rough, and May named other means by which the United States can increase pressure on Russia.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cRecent actions by the U.S. and its NATO allies are steps in the right direction, but they must do much more,\u201d Coffey suggested. \u201cThe U.S. must prioritize the free and rapid flow of weapons and intelligence to Ukraine, extend economic sanctions to include all major Russian banks, apply the same sanctions to Belarus and any other country helping Russia, think strategically of how to engage with countries in Eurasia, help Europe to reduce its dependence on Russian energy, and prepare for long-term training and equipping of Ukrainian fighters in NATO countries.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Rough said that <\/span><span>Putin \u201cwill not be persuaded\u201d and therefore \u201cmust be checked\u201d \u2014 necessitating \u201cbuilding up positions of strength across Europe and using our economic and military advantages to weaken and deter Russia.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>He also recognized that Ukraine has \u201cwon the first month of the information war.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIf the Iraq war was the war of the satellite dish and the Arab Spring a revolution of online organizing, the war in Ukraine is the social media war,\u201d Rough said. \u201cNothing has done more to press reluctant Western governments into adopting larger economic sanctions and military aid packages than the flow of short clips from citizens across Ukraine. Because Putin must manufacture his lies in a strict hierarchy, his information operations are more cumbersome and limited.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>\u2018Russia Will Look To China\u2019<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span>Some intelligence officials believe that <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/report-russia-china-coordinated-on-timing-of-ukraine-invasion\"><span>Moscow and Beijing coordinated<\/span><\/a><span> on the timing of the Ukraine invasion \u2014 an allegation that Chinese officials have denied. In any case, the rise of China complicates the crisis in Ukraine.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Noting how \u201c<\/span><span>China gives political top cover to Russia\u201d \u2014 for example, through its voting pattern on the United Nations Security Council \u2014 Coffey said that \u201cRussia is also dependent on China for economic engagement in light of the immense international sanctions.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cChina is most likely giving limited material support to the Russian military in the form of spare parts, but they would never advertise this publicly,\u201d he asserted. \u201cHowever, the longer the war in Ukraine goes on, and the longer international sanctions remain, the more dependent Russia becomes on China. Russia is the junior partner in the relationship with China and will continue to be so for the foreseeable future.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>May also noted that the roles once played by China and the Soviet Union have reversed themselves. \u201cIn the Cold War, Russia was the senior partner, and China was the junior partner. In the new Cold War \u2014 call it Cold War II \u2014 it\u2019s the other way around. China is assisting Putin\u2026 we don\u2019t yet know how far Xi Jinping will go.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Rough added that countries \u201c<\/span><span>challenging the American-built international order\u201d have a friend in China \u2014 meaning that the United States no longer presides over a \u201cunipolar moment.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cRussia will look to China to sidestep sanctions,\u201d he explained. \u201cTo be sure, to land on the wrong side of the West is still damaging. The Russian economy has taken a beating\u2026 but unless the West is prepared to go all the way, it can no longer simply wave a wand and have its way.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span>The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author\u2019s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On February 24, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that he would launch a \u201cspecial military operation\u201d into Ukraine. Over the subsequent two months, the Russian invasion has sent economic<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1438679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1438679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/99"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1438679"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1438679\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1438679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1438679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1438679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}