The Encirclement of Russia

The rumour persists that the West is planning a war against Russia, having already encircled it with NATO. A commentary by Karl von Habsburg.

At the end of March 2018, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy published an ‘Action Plan on Military Mobility’ in the EU. Scarcely had the EU Commission’s press release been published when reports began to emerge via the usual channels claiming it was finally clear: the EU was being goaded by the USA into war preparations against Russia. All EU countries are now supposedly being urged ‘by the EU’ to upgrade roads and bridges so that tanks can roll eastwards unhindered. Anyone who dares to look at the action plan will find nothing that could even remotely point to war preparations.

If one takes European integration seriously, and thus views the crucial security question as one of the core elements of this integration, then the action plan actually appears very sensible. It is, at the very least, a small step towards an EU security dimension.

Time and again, certain political circles claim that the West or NATO has already encircled Russia. A brief glance at the map proves the absurdity of this thesis. To the north of the world’s largest country lies the eternal ice; to the south lie China and the former Soviet republics (where Moscow’s long arm can still be felt, even if one or two states officially support the USA in the fight against the Taliban); to the west lie Ukraine and Belarus, neither of which belongs to NATO. Thus, the entire encirclement of Russia by NATO is limited to the borders with Estonia and Latvia. That is just a few hundred kilometres. Only Kaliningrad, the former Königsberg, is actually ‘encircled’ by NATO.

The encirclement thesis is then usually supplemented by the claim that NATO promised, at the time of the collapse of the Iron Curtain, never to expand to the east. There is no evidence for this. Yet the rumour persists all the more stubbornly. Had such a promise actually been made, it would have been fixed in writing.

Now, history has seen conspiracy theories time and again. Rarely, however, have they gripped such broad sections of society, who can no longer clearly distinguish between facts on the one hand, and rumours, disinformation, and propaganda on the other (or – for whatever reason – no longer wish to do so).

The more such theses take hold, the more difficult it becomes to conduct sensible politics. Sensible politics can only be made on the basis of facts. This represents one of the truly great political challenges for the coming years.

The article originally appeared on the site of Karl von Habsburg.

Featured image: European Union 2016