UKRAINE CRISIS MAY BE EUROPEAN OPPORTUNITY

German Chancellor Angela Merkel meets Britain's Queen Elizabeth 27.2.2014

There was an interesting interview with former Soviet President Khrushchev's grand daughter Nina Khrushcheva on BBC Radio 4's The World Tonight Programme last week. Khrushcheva, a professor of international affairs in the United States, said that Russia and Ukraine should ultimately share the same aim: to become part of Europe. Instead, she argues in a recent article,"Putin takes perverse pride in his persistent efforts to alienate the West" - http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/nina-l--khrushcheva-asks-whether-vladimir-putin-will-exploit-ukraine-s-disarray-to-reclaim-lost-territory

There does indeed seem to be something about the Olympics which raises Mr Putin's geo-political testosterone. Russia's invasion of South Ossetia co-incided with the 2008 Beijing Games and the latest occupation of strategic facilities in Crimea has taken place in the midst of the Sochi Winter Olympics (with the Paralympics due to begin later this week). A report in today's Guardian suggests that Angela Merkel felt that Putin had lost touch with reality in telephone conversation about Crimea: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/03/ukraine-vladimir-putin-angela-merkel-russian

However, the ever-sensible Mrs Merkel has been careful not to over-react to the situation. Instead, according to The Guardian article, ".... she suggested to Putin that the EU send a fact-finding mission to Ukraine. The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which is also meeting to discuss Ukraine on Monday (today) in Vienna, could be charged with the mission, diplomats said." Mrs Merkel also pressed the Russian President "to back down from his invasion of Ukraine and occupation of the Crimean peninsula."

Both Merkel and Putin share the same Soviet Bloc hinterland, but whilst the German Chancellor has moved inexorably on from the GDR, Russia's President still regrets the passing of the USSR. Fortunately, "cometh the hour, cometh the woman", and Mrs Merkel, the undoubted Queen of Europe, is the contemporary political leader most likely to be able to transform the current crisis in Ukraine into an opportunity for "The Greater European Project". This is bigger than the present (or presumed) EU configuration, and may be something to which even Britain could sign up.

CRIMEA - THE SPECTRE OF NIKITA KHRUSHCHEV

Image: www.pushkinpress.com

I have just finished reading "The Spectre of Alexander Wolf" by Gaito Gazdanov -  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaito_Gazdanov - a Russian emigre writer of Ossetian heritage: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ossetia The book deals with the subject of fate, and how an earlier event can unexpectedly determine the future.

So it is that the fate of Crimea - a gift of former Soviet President Khrushchev to the Ukraine - now seems bound up with that of its Russian benefactor.  The transfer of Crimea was framed as a goodwill gesture to mark the 300th anniversary of Ukraine's merger with tsarist Russia, although the actual politics were rather more complicated: http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_world_/2014/02/25/separatism_in_ukraine_blame_nikita_khrushchev_for_ukraine_s_newest_crisis.html

Recent events in the Ukraine may now lead to the gift's forcible return to Russian control, notwithstanding an "urgent diplomatic offensive" by Western governments: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ukraine/10669850/William-Hague-demands-Russia-respect-Ukraines-territory-as-Kremlin-tightens-grip-on-Crimea.html