A WIN-WIN SOLUTION
To achieve this win-win scenario, success will require something from the West that has been in remarkably short supply since the end of the Cold War: long-term cooperative thinking about, and with, Russia. Russia should certainly back down from its threats to Ukraine and restore fully sovereignty to Crimea. But the West should also give Russia the security and assurances of economic cooperation that it needs. These include a closer economic association between Russia and the European Union; respect for Russia’s efforts to forge closer economic links with its own Eurasian neighbors; support for a Ukrainian government that is respectful to both Russia and the European Union, rather than one that threatens Russia’s security and economic interests; and the respect by all parties for Ukraine’s borders and national sovereignty.
The European Union, Russia, Ukraine, and the United States all share an interest in a system of international law and foreign policy behavior that is not simply a matter of national convenience and opportunism, but is an inducement for further cooperation. All four parties would be wise to follow that principle now. By doing so, they can avoid an escalation of the current crisis -- one that could end in tragedy if rhetoric and bombast trump reality.
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