Expulsion move worth pondering
Moscow denounces such actions as ‘boorish’, pledges retaliation
More than 20 Western countries have announced the expulsion of Russian diplomats in response to the poisoning of a Russian ex-spy with a nerve agent,
US President Donald Trump on Monday announced that 60 Russian diplomats in the United States will be expelled and the Russian consulate in Seattle will be closed.
On Tuesday, NATO joined the wave of countries and groups expelling Russian diplomats.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance also would expel seven staffers from the Russian mission and deny the pending accreditation requests of three other workers at the facility.
Russia has denied any involvement in the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, Britain, on March 4.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov blamed the US for strong-arming its allies to expel Russian diplomats.
Lavrov said: “Colossal pressure, colossal blackmail have become Washington’s main instrument on the international arena.” He warned that Moscow will retaliate for the expulsions, saying “such boorishness can’t be tolerated”.
Seldom have the US and its European allies danced at a synchronized tempo on the global stage since Trump assumed presidency.
Given the widening rift within the transatlantic alliance, the display of unity among the Western nations vis-a-vis the poisoning case is worth pondering.
There has been a shadow over the transatlantic partnership since Trump’s election and Brexit.
Trump embarrassed his European allies by refusing to shake hands with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at a meeting in the Oval Office packed with journalists, instigating a public handshaking match with French President Emmanuel Macron, endorsing Brexit and openly criticizing Germany on its immigration policy.
The relationship with its European allies has long
Colossal pressure, colossal blackmail have become Washington’s main instrument on the international arena.”
Sergey Lavrov,
been a critical cornerstone of the US foreign policy after World War II. Nevertheless, the Trump administration appears to have responded to disquiet in Europe and restarted the tradition.
Trump’s “America First” policy was frequently at odds with the EU. He called NATO “obsolete”, withdrew from the Paris Agreement on climate change, threatened to scrap the Iranian nuclear deal and announced moving the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.
In recent years, there were increasing complaints and dissatisfaction with the US in Europe. Many European mainstream media including German weekly Der Spiegel hold that even convinced Atlanticists can no longer deny the crisis of the transatlantic relations. And it is Washington that poses the biggest threat to the values shared across the Atlantic.
German politician Rolf Mutzenich said in his article End of Transatlanticism that Trump is not an accident of US history, but the result of years of arrogance and the self-righteous hubris of the US world power after the Cold War.
Due to their differences on strategies, interests and policies, the US and its European allies have been drifting apart. The poisoning incident helped Washington bond with its allies across the Atlantic despite the deepening rift, which could explain why they took collective action against Russia.
AP contributed to this story.