Word: short
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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This is astonishing. When one thinks back to how dangerously unstabilizing the collapse of the Soviet Union was thought to be in the early 1990s, it is little short of miraculous that the Continent should have been so peaceful, and so prosperous, for so long. Even the wars of the Yugoslav succession, long and brutal though they may have been, were contained. In the mid-1990s, there were fears that other parts of Central and Eastern Europe would see the same sort of ethnic cleansing as the former Yugloslavia. It never happened...
...been turning its gas pipelines on and off. That got the attention of Ukraine, Belarus and the Czechs. To cow Poland it slapped an embargo on meat imports, pitting the angry Poles against their not-so-supportive Western neighbors. The most recent gambit is the threat to install short-range missiles in Kaliningrad or Belarus - as if those 10 American antiballistic missiles slated for deployment in Poland were aimed straight at the Kremlin's men's room. Of course, they are not. They are intended as a hedge against an Iranian nuclear threat. And the Russians know that by dint...
...fact, the short freeze in the aftermath of Georgia was the exception that proves the rule - which reads: "When in doubt, seek to please." Call it instinct, call it reflex - the fact is that Europe (minus those Easterners who remember the terrible old days under the Soviet knout) will seek to avoid confrontation. The Russians know it, and the Obama Administration will learn this soon enough...
...live peacefully in the "common house" of Eurasia, especially after two hot world wars and one cold one, is of course a perfectly rational desire. But a desire is not a strategy, and that is where Europe sells itself short. The E.U. has a population around three times larger than Russia's. Its GDP dwarfs Russia's by a factor of 12. And the 27 members of the E.U. heavily outspend Moscow on defense...
...From its gates, late one sunny morning, the detainees could be seen inside, a few with their arms hanging through the bars of the shut door. Several immigrants released that day said the center's bathrooms and showers were filthy, and that they were allowed into the courtyard for short spells only twice a week...