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'The West Must Stop Putin'

The West urgently needs to get tough to contain Russia's new-found imperialism in the wake of its military action in Georgia, write German media commentators. The problem is that the EU, as usual, lacks the required unity while the US has a lame duck president whose invasion of Iraq robbed him of authority.

Russia has shown the world it won't shy away from using tanks to enforce its geopolitical interests. And the West has shown it doesn't have any leverage to halt Russia's new-found imperialism, write German newspaper commentators.

The West now urgently needs to get tough with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, commentators say, arguing that failure to come up with a strong, unified response will encourage the Russian strongman to go on expanding Russia's sphere of influence.

Left-leaning Die Tageszeitung writes:

"The EU cannot accept such developments in neighboring countries and it must not look on without doing something. It must make a clear statement addressed to Russia and in a second step it must think about what contribution the EU could make towards securing the peacefire in Georgia. It's doubtful whether the EU will be able to reach a consensus on this. But if the required unified action were again to fall victim to the strategic interests of individual EU members, that would be a further victory for Moscow."

Center-right Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes:

"The West would be well advised to get used to the idea that Moscow no longer shies away from military action in pursuing its interests. That forces the EU to define its foreign policy lines more clearly. Should a country like Georgia that is of strategic importance to the West as a transit country for oil and gas be left to Russia? The EU will have to tackle these uncomfortable questions and even more uncomfortable answers, if it ever wants to be more than a superfluous 'mediator' in the step-by-step restoration of the Russian empire."

Center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes:

"The battle for a wretched mountain region in the Caucasus has created a new world order. After deluding itself for too long, the West now rapidly needs to find a convincing stance for dealing with a resurgent Russia that no longer just rattles its sabre but makes use of it as well."

"The West must find a clear language for addressing Moscow. After hesitating for days, George W. Bush found strong words and branded the Russian attack on a 'sovereign neighboring state' as unacceptable in the 21st century. But the admonition of the outgoing American president won't have much impact in Moscow. Firstly, the Russian leadership doesn't see itself as morally accountable to the Iraq warrior Bush. Secondly, it's waiting to see who will be moving into the White House: Republican hawk John McCain, who wants to throw Russia out of the G8 group of leading industrial nations, or the young Democrat Barack Obama who has made more moderate noises."

"There's a big risk that unclear signals may be misunderstood by Moscow in this situation."

Business daily Financial Times Deutschland writes:

"The world, and that means not just the West, has a choice: It can keep on knuckling under to Putin by just tut-tutting and doing nothing. If it does, it will have to live with the consequences of Putin's imperialism. Or it shows him a clear stop sign and forces him and his so-called peacekeepers out of Georgia so that an international peacekeeping force can be stationed in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Travel restrictions, economic sanctions or frozen Russian bank accounts abroad are measures that could hit Russia's economy hard."

David Crossland, 3 p.m. CET