USA - President Bush is trying to undermine the Russian Federation via Georgia and the Ukraine joining NATO.

USA - President Bush is trying to undermine the Russian Federation via Georgia and the Ukraine!

President George Bush will leave office in the near future, however, before this he appears to desire a more robust foreign policy aimed at alienating the Russian Federation. More alarming, the majority of people in the Czech Republic and the Ukraine are against his policies. Yet despite this both NATO expansion and the American missile defense system are being pushed and who is this aimed at? For most people the answer is obvious, it is aimed at the Russian Federation. So why does he desire to create another negative front?

This question rankles many people in the Russian Federation because instead of a collective organization or understanding based on geopolitics, we are merely seeing NATO expansion eastwards. It is clear that America believes that Russia`s only collective space should apply to the Russian Federation. Outside this, then all former Soviet states apart from the Russian Federation are deemed to be possible future members of NATO.

Behind all the smiles and rhetoric of President Bush it is clear that he, and policy advisers, are intent on encircling the Russian Federation and this lattest idea is really mocking this nation. After all, look at both Georgia and Ukraine, they are neither stable or bastions of democracy. Also, the vast majority of people in the Ukraine do not want to join NATO but this does not matter. Instead we get the American mantra that expansion and her missile defence system is aimed at Iran. Only someone very naive would belive that!

So let us look at Georgia and why allowing this nation would be dangerous. Firstly, Georgia is deemed important to America because of geopolitics and the West desires to use both Azerbaijan and Georgia in order to bypass the Russian Federation via energy links. By doing this, then both the Russian Federation and Iran will lose out. Secondly, Georgia is probably the most anti-Russian state in the region because of past history so America can garner support more easily in this nation.

However, and this is the crux, Georgia is far from being a stable democracy because of both internal politics and because of her internal ethnic divisions. If Georgia joins NATO then does this mean that NATO forces will crush Abkhazia and South Ossetia? Because both Abkhazia and South Ossetia desire independence from Georgia. So if Georgia is not even a unitary state now, then how can this nation join NATO? If I was either an Abkhazian or South Ossetian I would be worried.

Then if we turn to the Ukraine then it is abundantly clear that this nation is always on the brink of political meltdown because tensions arise frequently. Also, in the east of this nation you have many ethnic Russians and they certainly do not desire NATO membership. More alarmingly, this nation could certainly be used to launch an offensive against the Russian Federation and this will of course lead to fresh tensions.

Therefore, NATO membership must be stopped and it is up to nations like Germany to stop this American "madness." You don`t have any justification for encircling the Russian Federation like this. America appears to be bent on causing divisions in the Balkans, the Middle East, Northeast Asia, and in Eurasia.

So nations must stand up to this policy of divide and rule. Because this policy is clearly aimed at containing the Russian Federation and you have no justification for doing this. Does America want to contain the entire world, from China to the Russian Federation and then Venezuela. Surely geopolitics is about understanding self-interests of regional powers. However, America is now bent on global containment and this policy is not valid in the 21st century.

Lee Jay Walker Dip BA MA