Russia Must be Part of the European Utopia
In an opinion editorial for The Observer, Constanze Stelzenmüller, a senior transatlantic fellow with the German Marshall Fund in Berlin, argues that the EU would benefit from engaging vigorously and meaningfully with the former Soviet Union and her neighbors
Stelzenmüller comments that two years after the 2008 war between Georgia and Russia, it is time for the US and Europe to realize that this was a watershed moment for the west.
Neither the US nor Europe has been able to craft a coherent common approach to eastern Europe and Russia. It is badly needed. And Stelzenmüller believes that new eastern policy for the west has to take into account three new realities: a new US administration, a new Russian foreign and security policy and the entry into force of the Lisbon treaty.
Stelzenmüller argues that Europe (and the US) must never choose between Eastern Europe and Russia, but, instead, treat them as a single strategic space. And it should help foster transformation, liberalization, and democracy. He concludes: stop exporting prosperity, good governance and democracy - and Europe stops too.