Shultz and Nunn: US Must Think 'Strategically' After
Russian Aggression
Former Secretary of State George
Shultz, left, and former Sen. Sam Nunn
Friday, 28 Mar 2014 07:10 AM
By Cathy Burke
With Russia's takeover in Crimea —
and the threat of further aggression looming — the United States has to think
"strategically," former Secretary of State George Shultz and former Georgia Sen. Sam Nunn say.
In a commentary in The Washington
Post, Shultz, who served as President Reagan's secretary of state from 1982 to
1989, and Nunn, CEO of the Nuclear
Threat Initiative, argue Russia is undermining its own security by
"the resentment and fear" its aggression has created.
And that, they wrote, will
ultimately affect Russia's
markets, investments and the standard of living of its people.
"This is the time for
strategic thinking and implementing a strategic design," they wrote.
"It is also a time for maximizing cooperation at home and with our allies
abroad."
Russia's plentiful oil and gas, which it ships to the Ukraine
and western Europe, and its trading and financial deals with Germany, Britain
and France
are all "potential liabilities," the former officials say.
"The Russian economy depends
on these trading and financial arrangements and on income from oil and gas
sales that are now taking place at historically high prices," they wrote,
adding now is the time for the United
States to speed up its own exports of oil
and gas.
And, they add, the United States
and its allies need to "ensure that our military capacity is
strengthened" and that "European allies get serious about their
defense capabilities."
"A key to ending the Cold War
was the Reagan administration’s rejection of the concept of linkage, which said
that bad behavior by Moscow
in one sphere had to lead to a freeze of cooperation in all spheres," they
wrote.
In the meantime, the former
officials urged securing nuclear materials and preventing "catastrophic
terrorism," destroying Syrian chemical stockpiles and preventing nuclear
proliferation.
"We need to engage with Russia against
the background of realism and development of our strengths and our
agenda," they wrote. "We can use our strategic advantages... Our hand
is strong if we play it wisely."
George P. Shultz
George
P. Shultz was the secretary for the U.S.
Department of State, a trustee at the Committee
for Economic Development, is interviewed in the Nuclear Tipping Point, and an honorary director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank).
Note: Richard H. Davis
is a trustee at the Committee for
Economic Development, and a managing director at Davis Manafort.
Viktor F.
Yanukovich is a Davis Manafort client, and was the president of the Ukraine.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Committee for Economic Development, and the Carnegie Endowment
for International Peace (think tank).
George Soros
was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society, is the
founder & chairman for the Open
Society Foundations.
Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the Atlantic Council of the United
States (think tank), and the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think tank).
Sam
Nunn is interviewed in the Nuclear
Tipping Point, a co-chairman & CEO for the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank).
Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think
tank) was a funder for the Nuclear
Threat Initiative (think tank).
Jessica Tuchman Mathews is a director
at the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think
tank), the president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
(think tank), a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg
(think tank), and a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).
Ed Griffin’s interview with
Norman Dodd in 1982
(The investigation into the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace uncovered the plans for population
control by involving the United
States in war)
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