Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Russia faces global isolation - again

un assai apprezzabile intervento del ministro degli esteri britannico
 
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/10716194/Russia-faces-global-isolation-again.html
 
 
Russia faces global isolation - again
Those Russians who feel temporarily victorious do not realise how much 
their country has to lose
 
By William Hague 4:14PM GMT 22 Mar 2014
 
This week European nations adopted unprecedented sanctions on Russia. 
These are not designed to punish the Russian people. They are a message 
and a warning to Russia’s leaders.
We have not embarked on this course lightly. For twenty years Britain 
and our allies in Europe and Nato have gradually built a normal 
relationship with Russia. Russia joined the G8 and the World Trade 
Organisation, we created the Nato-Russia Council, and we have worked 
together on the United Nations Security Council from Yemen to Somalia. 
We have all gained from this cooperation.
But Russia’s actions in Ukraine hark back to a wholly different era. The 
illegal annexation of Crimea is an outrageous land grab, and the 
referendum that preceded it was a mockery of democracy. Russia has 
invaded a fellow European nation, and used force to change its borders.
This is the most serious risk to European security we have seen so far 
in the 21st century. Vital principles are at stake, including the 
territorial integrity of European nations and the right of democratic 
countries to choose their own future.
All nations, including Russia, depend on a rules-based international 
system. For those rules to remain credible there must be costs attached 
to breaking international agreements. If we do not defend these 
principles in Ukraine, they will be threatened elsewhere in Europe and 
the world.
 
There is a pattern emerging of Russia taking advantage of frozen 
conflicts from Transnistria to South Ossetia, and seeking to impair the 
ability of countries to chart an independent future. And with thousands 
of Russian troops still massed on Ukraine’s borders, there is a grave 
risk of the Ukraine crisis deepening.
That is why the EU, the United States and our allies have imposed 
sanctions. The European Commission are working now on more far-reaching 
economic measures that will be imposed if Russia takes further steps to 
undermine Ukraine.
We want Russia to enter into direct talks with Ukraine, and to work with 
other nations to resolve this dispute peacefully. We have never given up 
on diplomacy or sought a path of permanent confrontation with Russia. 
But nor should European nations run scared before bullying behaviour.
Despite our preference and our work to improve relations with Russia 
this means, sadly, that we and our allies must be prepared to 
contemplate a new state of relations with Russia that is very different 
to the last 20 years. This would involve Russia being outside some 
international organisations, facing lasting restrictions on military 
cooperation and arms sales, and having less influence over the rest of 
Europe.
Some in Russia may think that their actions in Crimea will produce 
short-term pain in the form of limited sanctions, after which matters 
will return to the status quo ante. But in fact, the Russian people 
stand to lose a great deal over time - in Ukraine, in Europe, and 
internationally.
Russia’s actions have done immense damage to its reputation. At the 
United Nations Security Council last week no other country voted with 
Russia, which was forced to use its veto alone. The Russian government 
has alienated the great majority of Ukrainians.
And in Europe, ideas are now being discussed for how we build greater 
energy security. If necessary, we should be prepared to diversify future 
sources of natural gas supplies to Europe, including through the 
Southern Corridor. We would need to boost investment in gas 
interconnections and terminals in Europe, and develop indigenous 
European energy supplies for countries wishing to develop their own 
resources, such as shale gas.
And it would mean helping Ukraine and neighbourhood countries to 
liberalise their energy markets, increase energy efficiency and ensure 
more resilient energy supplies. Russia’s actions in Ukraine should make 
it much more likely that the European Union takes such decisions.
Accelerating energy diversity in Europe may have to be part of our 
answer to recent events. Increasing our focus on supporting democratic 
institutions in nations vulnerable to interference by Russia may be another.
Russia has been damaged by its failure to develop independent 
institutions and by an oligarchic economic system. The same 
oligarchisation has damaged Ukraine, and indeed I have stressed to 
Ukraine’s leaders that tackling corruption, creating independent 
institutions and the rule of law are fundamental to their country’s future.
There is an evident danger of some of the same corrupting habits 
spreading into democratic countries. In South East Europe and the 
Balkans in particular, we are seeing the creation of concentrations of 
economic, political and media power which could inhibit the development 
of genuine or stable democracy and reverse progress already made. If 
this is allowed to go unchecked, European democracy could be damaged and 
undermined over the long term.
Facing up to this and supporting healthy democracy in such countries is 
now an additional strategic challenge for Europe. Britain has much to 
offer. We have an unbroken history of democracy for an extraordinary 
length of time because we have learnt how to guard against excessive 
concentrations of power.
Focusing on these two challenges would require a serious reappraisal of 
how Europe thinks about itself in the 21st century, and the readiness to 
change our long term relationship with Russia if that proves necessary.
Some in Russia may feel temporarily victorious, and think that Russia 
has won at Europe’s expense. What they fail to see is that Russia loses 
even more than turning the Ukrainian people against Moscow. As things 
stand today, the arc of Russia’s path in world affairs risks once again 
bending towards isolation and stagnation.

 referendum that preceded it was a mockery of democracy.
 
traduzione letterale:
mi sto cagando sotto per il referendum scozzese...
in un solo mese il vantaggio del no è crollato dal 26 al 5%.

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fonti?