New Cold War Hysteria by William Pfaff

http://www.williampfaff.com/article.php?storyid=670

New Cold War Hysteria

William Pfaff

Paris, March 19, 2014 – After Vladimir Putin’s speech in the Kremlin justifying and welcoming Russian annexation of Crimea, the western press now asks what next will Putin do?  How far will he go?

That question was answered by Vladimir Putin himself in his address. The Russian president said his country has no further demands to make on Ukraine. Crimea became an issue because the West “crossed a red line,” a reference to American and European efforts to bring Ukraine into NATO,  which they renounced in 1990, in exchange for Russian agreement to German unification.

The Ukrainians – the Ukrainian-speaking westerners at least – don’t believe that President Putin intends to go no further. Ukraine’s new prime minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, back from  Washington, declared that President Putin now “threatens the entire world.”