The Concert of Vienna: Russia’s New Strategy

06.11.2015 | http://carnegie.ru/commentary/?fa=61892&mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRohs6XLZKXonjHpfsX57uQsW6Sg38431UFwdcjKPmjr1YQHScZ0aPyQAgobGp5I5FEIQ7XYTLB2t60MWA%3D%3D

The Concert of Vienna: Russia’s New Strategy

Alexander Baunov

Russia sees the renewal of diplomacy on Syria as a chance to lose the status of international pariah. It has found relevance by getting involved in a crisis where Western strategy is full of holes. For Russia the recent diplomatic talks on Syria in Vienna reflected the kind of world it likes to see—a latter-day version of the nineteenth-century Concert of Europe. It was a vision of a multilateral world order in which several major powers came together to do a deal, but no single one was in the ascendant.
For this very reason, the October 30 talks—and U.S. acquiescence to Russia’s role in them— have been criticized. President Obama is being attacked, by domestic critics and much of the Sunni world, for giving Russia a role in the first place. The West is doing a terrible job as the global board of directors, the critics say, and Obama is failing as its chairman.
But Obama’s alleged weakness may actually be a sign of strength. Russia’s new role may be a convenient way to fill gaps in the United States’ failing Syria strategy.http://carnegie.ru/commentary/?fa=61892&mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRohs6XLZKXonjHpfsX57uQsW6Sg38431UFwdcjKPmjr1YQHScZ0aPyQAgobGp5I5FEIQ7XYTLB2t60MWA%3D%3D