Prague, Oct 29 (CTK) – The EU’s policy towards Russia, Ukraine and selected Muslim countries is confused, ineffective, without a clear vision, and it evidently lacks a common sense, Antonin Rasek writes in Czech daily Pravo yesterday.
For many people in Europe it is difficult to understand that now that over a dozen years have elapsed since the toppling of Taliban in Afghanistan, an operation that cost hundreds of billions dollars and in which thousands of allied soldiers were killed, tens of thousands of Afghanis were killed or mutilated and further people fled the country en masse, the same Taliban is daring to reconquer Afghan towns now, Rasek writes.
In an effort to offer an association agreement to Ukraine, European politicians have helped, through the Maidan campaign, unseat the regularly elected oligarch leader, Viktor Yanukovych, and replace him with another oligarch, Petro Poroshenko, Rasek continues.
This cost thousands of lives and Ukraine lost Crimea as a result, he adds.
Many in Europe call for unseating Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, but they do not mind similar dictators in other Arab countries. Moreover, it is impossible to prevent Assad, if toppled, from being replaced by even a worse dictator, Rasek writes.
Europe rightfully accuses Assad of cruel methods of ruling. On the other hand, whenever it wants to justify the influx of Syrian refugees, Europe asserts that Syria [under Assad, before the current conflict’s outbreak] was a modern and advanced country with educated and qualified workforce, Rasek writes.
The same discrepancy applies to the West’s approach to Libya and its unseated leader Muammar Gaddafi, he says.
The resented Saddam Hussein’s regime was toppled in Iraq. The operation cost hundreds of billions dollars, thousands of killed allied soldiers and hundreds of thousands of killed Iraqis, only to instal the weak Maliki government, which, on its part, has enabled the birth of Islamic State with the assistance of the USA’s ally Saudi Arabia, Rasek writes.
The West’s helplessness in face of Islamic State again created space for Russia, which has started meddling in Europe’s plans in the Middle and Central East now, though Europe no longer knows what its plans actually are in the region, Rasek writes.
As far as Russia is concerned, many would like to see it being headed by someone else than Vladimir Putin. However, it is not known who would replace Putin or whether Russia would fall apart with disastrous consequences, Rasek writes.
No one can therefore wonder at people starting to speak about the Western policy’s common-sense shortage, he adds in conclusion.
