Saturday, April 26, 2014

When is a "OSCE observer" actually a NATO spy?

If ever there was an opportunity for the OSCE to achieve something useful, one would think that the Ukraine crisis would represent that chance. After all, both Russia and Ukraine are members.

How odd, then, that the thirteen OSCE "observers" detained in Slavyansk last week all happen to be soldiers from NATO countries? (with the possible exception of a lone Swede among them.)

Like NATO itself, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe is one of those Cold War relics that refuses to climb quietly into the dustbin of history. Instead, it provides a cushy sinecure for various well-connected political and military insiders who then face the conundrum of reinventing reasons for its existence.

In the present climate of hysterical propaganda-slinging by all sides, the question of whether this group were "observers" or "spies" is moot.

They were both, and what you call them depends on which direction you're hoping to fan the winds of propaganda.

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