IT IS one thing to stand defiant and aloof on the world stage, another to be a pariah. That is the message that Western governments hope President Vladimir Putin will absorb as he digests the co-ordinated expulsion of over 130 Russian diplomats by more than two dozen countries, in response to a nerve-agent attack in Britain. America’s decision to throw out 60 Russian officials accused of spying under diplomatic cover was that country’s largest such action, exceeding even expulsions in the chilliest years of the cold war. President Donald Trump’s government also ordered the Russian consulate in Seattle to close, citing its proximity to a nuclear submarine base and to the headquarters of Boeing, an aircraft maker.
Foreign leaders, notably those from Britain, France and Germany, used a European Union summit and a flurry of telephone diplomacy to urge allies to act in concert. Suspected spooks were given their marching orders from Oslo to Ottawa, and from Copenhagen to Canberra. New Zealand shyly admitted it knew of no undeclared...Continue reading
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