6 Mar 2014

Former US ambassador to UN calls for military deterrence

The former US ambassador to the UN John Bolton tells Channel 4 News that sanctions against Russian would be ineffective and calls for the United States and its allies to flex some military muscle.

The former US ambassador to the UN John Bolton has told Channel 4 News that planned sanctions against Russian would be ineffective and has called for United States and its allies to flex some military muscle through the Nato partnership.

We spoke with John Bolton at the CPAC conference near Washington today where he talked of his dismay about the sanctions proposals being discussed to target Russian banks, companies and even individuals.

He suggested they were unfeasible – partly because Europe lacks the appetite to enforce them – and he pointed to the accidental disclosure of a British government briefing paper suggesting there will be no tough line against Moscow as evidence.

He said: “I don’t think it’s (sanctions) going far enough. But I don’t think honestly that American sanctions – even if they were ramped up to the extent I would do – are going to be effective when the Europeans are clearly unwilling to do much more of anything.

“I was just in London two days ago I saw the famous briefing memo about what the British government is prepared to do, and if our closest allies are unwilling to stand firm against this Russian aggression, there is little we can do.

“This is not a failure of yesterday or a week before. This is failure going back 5 years.”

Our interview with Mr Bolton came as President Barack Obama imposed visa restrictions on officials for “threatening the sovereignty of Ukraine” and signing an executive order enabling further sanctions against Moscow.

The White House said the measures were a response to Russia’s “ongoing violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”, a reference to its intervention in the southern peninsula of Crimea.

The Obama administration did not say how many people were subject to the visa bans or reference their nationality.

However, the targets described as “officials and individuals” are believed to be Russians held responsible for the week-old occupation of Crimea.

The president’s press secretary, Jay Carney, said the additional executive order “authorises sanctions on individuals and entities responsible for activities undermining democratic processes or institutions in Ukraine”.

Republicans in the U.S. Congress have been urging swift sanctions against Russia for its incursion into Ukraine, while Democrats want to give President Barack Obama’s administration room to manoeuvre.

Citing what they call a pattern of foreign policy failures by Obama, some senior Republicans have urged Congress to respond quickly to persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin back off in the Crimea.

Bolton argued that restrictions on visa or even sanctions would have little or any bearing on the situation and he called for Nato to step in.

He said: “What I would say immediately is that the UNited States should press for Ukrainian and Georgian membership in Nato and try and persuade other nato allies to come on board.

“And I would immediately move troops and equipment in Estonia, Latvia and lithuania, three other former Soviet republics that are now Nato members. Ukraine is big prize in former Soviet and everyone knows that if Putin can get his way there, the other Republics are in danger of same thing.

“I think you need to Put some air assets into three Baltic republics. It’s a sign that we are committed if we believe still in article 5 in the treaty of washington, that an attack on one is an attack on all .

“That’s what deterrence is all about. Noone is looking for conflict here. But what we should be in a position of doing is establishing a deterrent capability to back Putin off. At the moment we don’t have that.”

He also slammed the idea that Congress would be able to bring any tough sanctions or other measures, adding: “I don’t think they are going to get strong sanctions. Harry Reid, the democratic majority leader in the senate, has already said we should let this play out a little bit.

“Letting this play out means Russian hegemony in the Ukraine. And it think that is almost the inevitable result at the moment.”