A Possible Future / Upgraded Detente

[jone]

National Interest, a Foreign Policy Periodical

Leslie H. Gelb / Opinion

WITH THE Cold War’s demise, the menacing Russia that long loomed over Europe seemed to vanish. The Russia of 1992 was just a fragment of its historic self in military punch and economic weight. Not even Russia’s still-formidable nuclear arsenal deflected perceptions of decline. It was inevitable, then, that Western policy makers would feel that this shrunken Russia was more to be ignored than feared. They were wrong.


...... The strategy proposed here should be thought of as Détente Plus. It would pick up from the détente diplomacy of the past and go well beyond it. The old détente was about managing serious conflicts of interests and values with a mostly implacable foe. Détente Plus would not treat Russia as an enemy, but as a combination of adversary and partner. Détente Plus would exceed the arms-control focus of the past and address first-rank political matters in Europe and worldwide. It would recognize a wide range of common and overlapping interests, solving both Russian and American problems.

http://nationalinterest.org/feature/russia-america-toward-new-detente-13077

[JayH]

From the perspective of handling Putin  Hillary seems to me to have the most correct assessment-- and she has the "balls"to handle Russia's ridiculous behaviour.
Already--she has stated her position.
I might add-- I also think she is most likely to win the Presidency.

Hillary Clinton’s hawkish position on Russia troubles both sides of aisle

Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton has pivoted left on domestic issues but stands out on foreign policy as more hawkish than some of her GOP rivals, even stoking fears that she’s ready to put the U.S. on a warpath with Russia.

Mrs. Clinton is poised to make her foreign policy experience as senator and secretary of state a central argument for her White House run. It’s a record that includes supporting military intervention in Iraq and Libya, positions that put her at odds with her party’s liberal base.

And since leaving the State Department in 2013, her harsh rhetoric about Russia raised eyebrows among hawks and doves alike.

At a California fundraiser last year, she reportedly compared Russian President Vladimir Putin to Adolf Hitler. At a meeting earlier this year with London Mayor Boris Johnson, he said she faulted European leaders for being “too wimpy” about challenging Mr. Putin.

Conservative commentator Paul Craig Roberts, an economist who served as assistant secretary of treasury under President Reagan, warned that Mrs. Clinton will have a difficulty backing down from a confrontation with Mr. Putin after calling him Hitler.

“When you go that far out on a limb, you really kind of have to go the rest of the way,” he said in an interview at Infowars.com. “I don’t’ think there is any candidate that we can end up with as president that would be more likely to go to war with Russia than Hillary.”




http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jun/9/hillary-clintons-hawkish-position-on-russia-troubl/

[JayH]

Now Jeb Bush wants to get in on condemning Putin & Russia

Putin is a 'bully,' U.S. needs to respond resolutely: Heb Bush


Likely Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush said on Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin was a "bully" and the United States and its allies in Europe should be resolute in responding to Russian aggression.

Bush, the brother of former U.S. President George W. Bush, is on a five-day tour of Europe in a bid to prove his foreign policy credentials before he is expected to launch his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination next week.

"Ultimately I think to deal with Putin you need to deal from strength - he's a bully and ... you enable bad behavior when you're nuanced with a guy like that," Bush, the former governor of Florida, told reporters in Berlin.

"Just being clear - I'm not talking about being bellicose - but saying 'here are the consequences of your actions', that would deter the kind of bad outcome we don't want to see."

Bush said signaling what further sanctions Russia could face, and reassuring Poland and the Baltic states that the United States would meet its NATO obligations to view an attack on one member state as an attack against the whole alliance could help halt Putin's aggression.


http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/10/us-ukraine-crisis-bush-germany-idUSKBN0OQ17I20150610