{"id":4385,"date":"2014-03-18T11:03:45","date_gmt":"2014-03-18T15:03:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/nsj\/?p=4385"},"modified":"2014-03-18T22:21:03","modified_gmt":"2014-03-19T02:21:03","slug":"crimean-diplomacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/nsj\/2014\/03\/crimean-diplomacy\/","title":{"rendered":"Crimean Diplomacy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>By Katherine Earle<\/em><\/p>\n<p>In the wake of Crimea\u2019s decision to join the Russian Federation in Sunday\u2019s referendum, it\u2019s about time the U.S. and the West stop clinging to false hope for a diplomatic solution with Russia over Ukraine. The first misguided attempt to provide Russian president Vladimir Putin with an \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2014\/03\/03\/world\/europe\/kerry-warns-russia-of-possible-eviction-from-g-8.html\" target=\"_blank\">off-ramp<\/a>\u201d by volunteering international observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to protect the rights of the Russian-speaking population in Crimea failed. The OSCE observers were prevented from entering the Ukrainian peninsula, not once, not twice, but four times. By whom? Certainly <a href=\"http:\/\/eng.kremlin.ru\/transcripts\/6763\" target=\"_blank\">not Russian forces<\/a> because, according to Putin, there weren\u2019t any in Crimea.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>This was complete nonsense. Numerous Russian soldiers in Crimea have given up their identity to reporters on the ground. However, the likes of Russian Foreign Defense Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russia Today, an English-language news channel that \u201creports\u201d pro-Kremlin propaganda, have maintained that these \u201cself-defense squads\u201d were not in fact controlled by Russia, but had mobilized on their own to defend Crimea from the pro-Western \u201cfascists\u201d in Kiev. Putin has mastered the art of painting any and all opposition to friendly authoritarian regimes as paid-off American puppets looking to advance US interests under the guise of democracy. The cr\u00e8me de la cr\u00e8me of the Kremlin\u2019s propaganda war &#8211; Putin is trumpeted as the only one who can stand up to the US and effectively guarantee the sovereignty of Moscow\u2019s allies, most recently in Syrian, and now in Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>While the U.S. and Europe looked to give Russia a graceful way out of the crisis, pro-Russia billboards were erected through Crimea. One <a href=\"http:\/\/kazanfirst.ru\/online\/16543\" target=\"_blank\">depicted<\/a> the Crimean people\u2019s choice as one between fascism and Russia and another <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rferl.org\/content\/eu-offers-500-million-euros-of-trade-benefits-to-kyiv\/25293353.html\" target=\"_blank\"> read<\/a>, \u201cSTOP, fascists won&#8217;t pass, let&#8217;s all go to the referendum.\u201d The propaganda and misinformation campaign didn\u2019t stop there. Crimea replaced Ukrainian TV channels with broadcasting straight from Moscow. And, to add to the chaos, Russia reportedly <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2014\/03\/15\/world\/europe\/john-kerry-russia-ukraine-talks.html&amp;_r=0\" target=\"_blank\"> bused<\/a> in many of its own citizens to eastern Ukrainian cities to join the pro-Russia protests. Simply put, the West could not have expected to negotiate with a regime so willing to distort reality and with a president determined to make the fog of war even murkier.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Threatening to isolate Russia from the international legal system (or \u201c21<sup>st<\/sup> century\u201d politics as John Kerry would say) isn\u2019t enough. Case and point: on the day before the referendum in Crimea, Russia vetoed a Western-backed UN Security Council resolution that would have rendered Sunday\u2019s vote null and void. China chose to abstain. Did calling international attention to Russia\u2019s intransigence prove anything? Nope. On the same day as the UNSC vote, Russian troops entered the Kherson region of southern Ukraine under the pretext of defending a gas line that serves Crimea.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Crimea\u2019s decision to join Russia was a forgone conclusion after a pro-Western government came to power in Kiev, which is part of Putin\u2019s perceived sphere of influence. The referendum was never going to be negotiated away. The Putin regime has framed the Ukrainian crisis from the get-go as part of a greater contest between the West and Russia, in which Crimea is just the latest battleground. So what can the West do? Economic, rather than diplomatic, isolation for starters, followed by military assistance to Ukraine that is more substantial than food rations. Kiev has <a href=\"http:\/\/online.wsj.com\/news\/articles\/SB10001424052702304914904579437523037894270\" target=\"_blank\"> requested<\/a> communication gear, intelligence support, aviation fuel and night vision goggles, why not start there?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Katherine Earle of AEI discusses the recent Crimean referendum to join Russia and the associated security implications.  <i>Image courtesy of Getty Images.<\/i> 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