State Legistlative Leaders Foundation

Letter from the Director

August 2008

Dear friends of SLLF/Europe,

Exactly forty years ago today, Russian tanks halted the reforms, the so called “Prague Spring” of the ?SSR by invading the country. They brutally ended the ?SSR’s government endeavor to establish a “Socialism with a humanitarian face” within the Warsaw Pact.

By similar means the soviet superpower reacted to the peoples up rise in the “Soviet Occupied Zone” and Berlin on June 17th, 1953 and the up rise in Hungary in 1956.

After the collapse of communism in 1989 it was a widely held belief Russia would go through reforms geared towards a western style democracy, and therefore become a strong and independent partner within the frameworks of the world. The G-7 summit turned into the G-8 summit, the relations between the European Union and Russia, as well as NATO and Russia were institutionalized, intensified and the states started to befriend and embrace Russia. Trade relations among the Nations soared and military maneuvers were planned and done together.

Capitalism in Russia, especially as it was shown on the streets of Moscow, started to become obscene, and the travelling Russian upper-class swamped Ski resorts in Switzerland, the coastlines of the Côte d’Azur in France, the sunny beaches of Spain and German towns such as Baden-Baden and Berlin. Plenty of cash on hands turned into plenty of extravagant requests and extras. Meanwhile 20 Million Russians struggle to survive, and the number is growing.

Mostly overlooked the politics in Russia changed simultaneously:

Democracy, as we know it in the West, was replaced by a special Russian brand of Democracy: The Kremlin sees everything, hears everything, shapes everything, decides everything!

Since the constitution prohibited Russian’s President Putin to seek another term, he became Prime Minister. Criticism is not asked for; everything is brought in line.

 In addition, Russia’s imperial claims have risen. The most recent case is Georgia, so one easily can add another name to the list of Russian Military actions against sovereign states: 1952 East Germany, 1956 Hungary, 1968 ?SSR, 1980 Afghanistan, 2008 Georgia.

The invasion of Russian troops in Georgia might be legal according to international law, especially if one considers the special circumstances with the renegade province of South Ossetia. The whole Russian military operation on Georgian territory, however, was alarming and disproportionably out of scale.

The Solidarity visits of the Head of States and Prime Ministers of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine to Georgia immediately after the Russian invasion into Georgian territory is based on first hand experience with decades of Russian occupation of their respective home countries. The Republic of Poland and the Baltic states are resolute to fight off any Russian influence now and in the future. Being member of both, the European Union and NATO, guaranties them to be part of the value system of the free and democratic world. Despite the large Russian population in Estonia and Latvia, it is hard to envision a Russian invasion in the Baltics, because it would trigger an immediate military confrontation with NATO.

Much more worrisome, therefore, is Russian influence with regards to Ukraine and Georgia. There is no doubt, that Russian relations with the free world need to be rethought in light of the war with Georgia. NATO's response to Russia's invasion of Georgia was a decision this week to freeze formal consultative ties with Moscow, and Moscow respond similarly in other organizational bodies, one may be able to call this the beginning of a new “Cold War”.

The real question will be, how long a commodity hungry West and an isolated Russia can endure in this cold, especially if one considers the upcoming Olympic Winter Games in 2014 in Sochi, Russia. One can only hope, that a small flame in the relations will endure, because a large-scale fire cannot be in anybody’s interest.

Alfons Schöps
Director of European Operations