OSCE’s role as Moscow’s “useful idiot”

There is a simple explanation for the incredible liberalism and peace-loving bent of Russian mass media, which proclaimed Russia's readiness to endure the boots of "armed sycophants of the Kyiv junta,"  at its border control stations. As Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced, "Of course I want to emphasize that the invitation to Ukrainian border guards and OSCE representatives is valid for the period of the ceasefire." Lavrov's rhetoric, when translated from diplomatic to normal language, means the following: "As long as the Ukrainian side allows our fighters to peacefully regroup, retrench and kill Ukrainian military as much as possible, we are ready to put up with the inconvenience and deliver supplies to the militants through side roads, while placing OSCE representatives and even Ukrainian border guards at border checkpoint positions. If the scheming Ukrainians begin to shoot back at our fighters, we will replenish people, ammunition and equipment directly, using the main road without being distracted by camouflage maneuvers." And this is exactly what happened. This morning, after the president's decision to continue ATO, two columns of Russian armored vehicles suddenly broke through the border. One of them, according to our sources, went in the direction of Sloviansk; the other one was observed in Luhansk. In this manner, out of all the wonderful initiatives for using OSCE resources for the resolution of the conflict in the Donbas, only the international contact group remains. We should remember that the creation of this group was proposed by the Speaker of the Russian State Duma, Sergey Naryshkin, and it was announced by the chairman of the Duma's CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) Committee, Leonid Slutsky. The Duma's Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Alexei Pushkov, added that the Russian delegation proposed the inclusion in the group of some 10 people representing the "core countries" that are most interested and most active in addressing this crisis. Leaving claims of "core" and "secondary" countries to the conscience of the authors, it is possible to pose the logical question -- why do we need yet another organization to discuss the Ukrainian crisis? One that, unlike the meetings of foreign presidents or ministers of foreign affairs, PACE  (Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe), or even the UN Security Council, does not have any real power. The answer, it appears, is obvious. Russia has simply been thrown out of PACE. Naturally it cannot be expelled from the Security Council -- but there for every Vitaliy Churkin there is a Samantha Power. But the OSCE is traditionally a more convenient platform for relaying Russia's geopolitical positions. Suffice it to remember that the OSCE special envoy for resolving armed conflict in the Donbas, Heidi Tagliavini, at one time achieved international renown when she proved that the Georgian-Russian conflict of 2008 lay exclusively at the bloody hands of the Saakashvili regime. And speaking of hands, during the last negotiating session with the Donetsk terrorists, this same Tagliavini warmly shook hands with representatives of the so-called "Donetsk People's Republic" and the "Luhansk People's Republic." Even our unforgettable Leonid Kuchma refused to do that. It seems that, in principle, this serious international organization is currently playing the role of "useful idiot" in the Moscow court. OSCE will continue to distribute messages on the "unlawful use of force," the "necessity for 160th round of talks and the forty-fourth truce" and other wonderful and just things, which are impossible to realize for one reason -- before it is possible to build peace in the region, it is necessary to expel and destroy people who have been given a concrete assignment to start a war, who believe their life's vocation is to bring war to foreign soil. The Ukrainian government can only advise this respected international organization to become more courageous and still send a few missions to the Donbas to make sure Ukrainian goons are not violating the rights of ordinary Donetsk terrorists. If the ungrateful terrorists kidnap observers again, then perhaps the organization can stop pretending that someone can actually arrange adequate negotiations with scattered groups of psychopaths who are now filling up the Donbas thanks to the efforts of our dear northeastern neighbors. By Taras Panyo, Espreso TV, July 1, 2014 Translated by Anna Mostovych Image: http://kpravda.com/ Source: Espreso TV