Mac-Coleman

10 March 2014 –

Who’s in charge around here, anyway? 

“Sovereignty: supreme and independent power or authority in government as possessed or claimed by a state or community. “  -- Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary.

The current crisis in the Ukraine highlights Russia’s efforts to dominate Eastern Europe.  Russia is exploiting our administration’s fundamental neglect of its primary duty to safeguard the U.S.’s interests in the world.  Our administration has no viable strategy to use its instruments of national power—economic, military, and diplomatic—to maintain the U.S.’s sovereignty and our influence and security in the world.  Power abhors such a vacuum of intent and action, and the lesser power mongers of the world are exhibiting their plans to exploit that space.

Deploying troops to the Crimea is Russia’s latest step in taking advantage of local instability in order to dominate the vassal states of the former Soviet Union.  Since the early 1990s, Russia has supported separatist movements in surrounding countries in an attempt to place subservient governments in power to be dominated in the future.  In 2008, Russian troops entered rebellious regions in Georgia to fight alongside separatists against government troops.  The Bush administration did little to help Georgia or to dissuade Russia’s aggression.  Russia paid no penalty for its expansion of regional dominance, and Georgia’s aspirations to enter NATO died.  My military and diplomatic contacts from the region expressed dismay, but then pragmatically accepted that Georgia would remain beyond the U.S.’s attainable interests in Europe.  Our influence withered on the outer edges of Europe, and Russia’s dominance grew.  Our sovereignty weakened.

President Obama then announced in 2009 the scrapping of a proposed Bush-era antiballistic missile shield system in Poland and the Czech Republic.  My Eastern European contacts were unanimous in their assessments:  the U.S. gave Russia carte blanche to again dominate Eastern Europe economically, militarily, and diplomatically.  My friends were specifically concerned that the expansion of NATO deep into Eastern Europe, while welcome, would not have the deterrent power it had during the Cold War because the U.S. did not show sufficient military commitment.  One officer had hoped that the ethnic Poles and Czechs in President Obama’s home city, Chicago, would have protested more loudly against his abandonment of their relatives.  My friend had hoped that the U.S. would be exceptional in the world.  Alas, he said, our President is ordinary. 

Our unilateral dismantlement of military and diplomatic power has made it harder to wield U. S. influence, particularly in Eastern Europe.  The edge of our sovereignty has withered even further west, snubbing many of our allies and friends. 

So, Russia has reentered the power vacuum.  Russia assessed it was worth the risk to militarily occupy what international treaty had declared to be Ukrainian territory.  The Crimea, with its Russian naval and air bases, is critical to Russia’s dominance of the Black Sea and to Russia’s influence on Turkey for naval access to the Mediterranean.  Russia will soon control the peninsula under a Russian flag.  Russia’s sovereignty, concentrated in strongman Vladimir Putin, is ascending.  The U.S.’s sovereignty, weakly expressed by the executive and legislative branches of government, is descending.

What instruments of national power can we bolster to stop this strategically erosive trend?  

First, we should expand domestic energy production, particularly natural gas.  We can soon become a legitimate competitor with Russia in the European market, increasing our influence and decreasing Russia’s.  To do this, President Obama must lift his moratorium on exercising drilling leases on federal lands.   He should approve the Keystone pipeline immediately.  The subsequent, strategic shift in the energy market would benefit the U.S. more than any other country.  Our bolstered economic instrument of national power would greatly strengthen U.S. sovereignty at home and U.S. influence abroad.

We also should invigorate our military ties with our allies and increase our military capability in the regions surrounding Russia.  Our existing treaty mechanisms are rusty, but they’re not corroded beyond repair.  We should give Eastern Europeans a reason to contribute to and feel protected by NATO.  We should give countries a reason to aspire to join with the U.S. and her allies in the common defense of borders and economies.  With a dwindling military, we can’t do this. 

A strong economy and effective military best protect our vital interests in the world when they operate under a clear and grand strategy to maintain US. sovereignty.  We can then wield our diplomatic instrument of national power with strength.  Our diplomats can then be polite and soft-spoken because our opponents will hear a clear message:  we have set the edges of our interests and we will protect them well.  Until then, it’s President Putin’s game, and he will continue to play it well.