Putin not the bad guy this time

“Speak loudly and carry a big twig” (Michael Costello, February 19-25) was the perfect summation of our federal government’s foreign diplomacy. It’s sad to read something written by yet another “former secretary” to a government department. We need more people like Michael Costello to still be advising the ignoramuses in Canberra, as it’s obvious they get their ideas from the Cornflakes packet. Many of us may have little time for Vladimir Putin, but his behaviour over Ukraine does not make the West blameless. Anyone aware of Russia’s past can understand its obduracy at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s attempt to expand eastwards. When Russia finally began to pull out of Germany in 1989-90, it was with the assurance from the Bush administration that NATO would not expand eastwards. According to Joshua Shifrinson’s 2016 study: “In early February 1990, US leaders made the Soviets an offer. According to transcripts of meetings in Moscow on Feb. 9, then-secretary of State James Baker suggested that in exchange for cooperation on Germany, US could make ‘ironclad guarantees’ that NATO would not expand ‘one inch eastward’. Less than a week later,

Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev agreed to begin reunification talks. No formal deal was struck, but from all the evidence, the quid pro quo was clear: Gorbachev acceded to Germany’s western alignment and the US would limit NATO’S expansion.” This seems to have been conveniently forgotten. We should not be duped into thinking that Putin is the bad guy here: Russia for once is not expanding westwards, but NATO is certainly threatening to expand eastwards. As Costello rightly states, there needs to be consideration for Russia’s concerns instead of the US continually beating drums of war. And please let’s keep minnows such as Scott Morrison and Peter Dutton out of it.

– Eileen Whitehead, Queens Park, WA