The Russian Bear: What, if anything, should be done to tame it?

[-:Undertaker:-]

The Russian Bear: What, if anything, should be done to tame it?


http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02839/obama-putin-grudge_2839361b.jpg

With the downing of a Netherlands flight over the Ukraine by Russian rebels (apparently), focus has come from western nations such as Britain, America, the Netherlands and Germany over how to respond in foreign policy to the Russian President Vladimir Putin who they blame for the attack on the aircraft due to the claim that Russia supplied anti-aircraft weapons to the rebels. In terms of foreign responses, many are being mooted: British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has suggested stripping Russia of the 2018 FIFA World Cup whilst others are suggesting freezing Russian assets and freezing Russia out of the next G8. More recently 1,800 British Armed Forces have been sent to Poland.

Is all this enough? Or is this an overreaction? What do you think should be done (if anything) to punish Russia?


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The debate is open to you.

[Grig]

I'll add more later if I have time, but one thing I must say in this case is that you need to understand the Russian psyche, as well as Putin's. Putin (and this is a fact) operates under the system that you will do anything to protect your friends and seek revenge on your enemies and that is what he's doing. Sanctions won't help, because when Russian people get bottled up in a corner, they usually start working harder to prove whoever wrong.

However, long-term it's going to be bad for the Russian people, as it is easier for the west to recover. It's hard to predict because you never know what Putin is going to do next, seeing as he's an excellent psychologist, an area that Obama is weak in- reading people. Russia could potentially shift it's corporation to Asia, but that is very minimal when compared to Europe.

The equilibrium of power is shifting, it's interesting to see what's next.