This week the Economist is finishing off an online Oxford-style debate on Russia. The Proposal: The West must be bolder in response to the newly assertive Russia. The PRO position is argued by Anne-Marie Slaughter while the CON position is argued by Dmitri Trenin. I recommend my readers go on over, read the copious statements and arguments, and cast their vote. My take on all this? I suppose I feel like I have been debating this point on this blog for two years … even at the last Economist debate I participated in way back in 2006, I felt like I was going through the “chicken little” experience, facing great resistance to whatever warning or urgency I addressed to developments in Russia. Now that the sky is indeed falling, this topic of “the bold response” has entered the mainstream, but I can’t say that we are enjoying a more intelligent dialogue. On the one hand, a bold response from the West is absolutely necessary to prove to the siloviki that you can’t achieve your desired outcomes through confrontation, but rather cooperation and consensus. The response cannot just be bold, but must also be intelligent, focused on the specific divisions between key figures of the government, and not aimed at damaging the interests or well being or ordinary Russian citizens. On the other hand, myopic, Cold War-like confrontation very much serves the interests of the authoritarians in power, justifying their every seizure of institution, gagging of the press, and near complete erasure of rule of law in the name of protecting the security of the nation against a foreign enemy. We cannot presume that the Kremlin is a rational decision maker – they are not seeking long-term national interest, only short term personal survival and (oftentimes) wealth. After the cut, I have some excerpts of the closing statements from both Slaughter and Trenin. Go have some fun on the live chat, and make your voices heard … though you might find it hard to drown out the trolls.