National Interest article: It's time to turn the tables on Putin

The American magazine

National Interest warned in

that Russian President Vladimir Putin "is practicing dangerous tricks with the West, and so far has succeeded."

In the article published by the magazine, former US Undersecretary of Defense Dov Zakheim says that it is time to turn the tables on Putin to put an end to him once and for all.

He adds that Putin's opponents have for years seen him as a skillful manipulator rather than a strategist, but they were "wrong" in what they went on.

The man was able to put Russia in the eastern Mediterranean in an unprecedented way, to the extent that it is using the Hmeimim Air Base in Syria with a long-term contract, and the Tartus naval base under a new contract.

More nibbling

Now, Putin has managed to bolster Russia's position in Europe with the promise of doing more.

He also - according to the author - added the Ukrainian regions of Lugansk and Donetsk to the list of "alleged" independent states, similar to the Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and the breakaway region of Transnistria in Moldova.

Only Russia recognized the independence of those regions.

It also "practically absorbed" the Republic of Belarus (Belarus) in the Russian axis, so that it no longer enjoys more independence than it was when it was known as the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic during the era of the former Soviet Union.

Dov Zakhim - who is vice president of the Center for the National Interest - believes that Putin is inevitably planning to do the same with Ukraine.

constant pressure

And the former US Defense Department official continues in his article that it must be recognized that the approach that Putin has always followed in putting pressure on Kiev has proven very effective.

Continuing to deploy 300,000 troops on the border with Ukraine, including 50,000 in Belarus, for a seemingly endless maneuver, he was able to keep pressure on Kiev to discourage it from taking any action against Donetsk and Luhansk.

In addition, as stated in the article, the Russian president can always create a new excuse to “chop off” more of the territory of Ukraine, starting with the cities of Mariupol in the Donetsk region, and Odessa in the southwest of the country.

According to the article, there is no doubt that Putin is seeking to restore the glories of the Tsarist Russian Empire.

In the meantime, there is good cause for concern not only in Ukraine but also in Finland, the Baltic states and Poland, which were part of the Russian Empire in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Expansive appetite

In Zakheim's opinion, "Putin's expansionist appetite" differs from the fate of America in one sensitive aspect.

Whether it was Texas or California, or any other state that joined the United States, it was done by the will of the people.

Neither the Baltic states nor Poland nor Finland has any desire to join Russia.

The same is true of the former Soviet Union's allies in the Warsaw Pact, all of which are now entrenched in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

In the opinion of the author of the article, the West does little to undermine Putin's rules of the game.

The Russian leader argues that he is only seeking to protect the people of breakaway provinces from Kiev's predation.

Just a mosquito bite

Moreover, the West, led by the United States, does little more than impose sanctions, not on Russia itself, but on Lugansk and Donetsk alone.

For Putin, these sanctions are nothing more than a "mosquito bite," as Zakhem puts it.

Washington fears that its heavy involvement in the conflict may ignite a war with Russia.

So why doesn't Putin have the same fear?

The writer asks, who concludes by saying that Washington and NATO should not limit their sanctions to the separatist regions only, but must also include Russia itself. "The current state of waiting and waiting makes the initiative in the hands of Putin."

Zakhim concludes: It is always possible to lift sanctions, especially on oil and gas supplies, if Putin withdraws his forces.

The writer also notes, pointing out that Germany has temporarily suspended the approval procedures for the "Nord Stream 2" pipeline to transport Russian gas to Europe, "which will worry Putin now and force him to respond instead of the opposite."