Putin's Orwellian world

Shuttle diplomacy is defined as,

".... the action of an outside party in serving as an intermediary between (or among) principals in a dispute, without direct principal-to-principal contact. Originally and usually, the process entails successive travel ("shuttling") by the intermediary, from the working location of one principal, to that of another." (Wikipedia)

This rather neatly sums up the diplomatic to-ing and fro-ing of  Frank-Walter Steinmeier (Reuters: Nov 18, 2014), German Foreign Minister, between Berlin, Moscow, and Kiev to try and 'defuse' Putin's determination to militarily invade and absorb eastern Ukraine into Russia, as he did with Ukrainian Crimea.

Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier (L) shakes hands with Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk during a press briefing in Kiev, November 18, 2014.

Unfortunately for Steinmeir, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov played down the likelihood of [his] trip having any real impact on Russian policy towards Ukraine.

"The visit is a working one. We have agreed of course to talk about Ukraine, about our bilateral relations (but) no-one is expecting any breakthrough," Lavrov told a news conference in Minsk. (ibid Reuters)

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier (left) and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov make a joint statement following the Moscow talks. (RIA Novosti/Maksim Blinov)

The futility of this shuttle-diplomacy is best summed up by Putin's latest outburst during a meeting with his supporters in Moscow that,

 

"They [the US ] don't want to humiliate us, they want to subjugate us, to solve their problems at our expense," he said. "They want to bring us under control." Mr Putin added: "Throughout history no one has ever succeeded in doing that to Russia and they never will." (Tom Parfitt reporting from Moscow:18 Nov 2014) (my emphasis)

President Vladimir Putin takes part in the plenary meeting of the United People's Front's Second Action Forum in Moscow

As Tom Parfitt reports,

"Before his speech on Tuesday, the Russian leader was shown a new military vehicle described as a cross between a car and an armoured personnel carrier.
Manufacturers had jokingly labelled the vehicles "polite armoured cars"

 

On seeing the machine, Mr Putin quipped: "You can get a lot more done with weapons and politeness than you can with politeness alone." (ibid Tom Parfitt)

"The phrase appeared to echo a saying attributed to Al Capone: "You can get much further with a kind word and a gun than you can with a kind word alone." (ibid Tom Parfitt)

Al Capone                                                  Putin                  

Even more disconcerting, Putin said that,

".....events in Crimea and Ukraine – where pro-Moscow rebels have carved out a de facto independent territory in the Russo-phone east of the country – had united the Russian people." (ibid Tom Parfitt)

Why, then, is everyone still clinging to Putin's Trojan Minsk Agreement when the 3rd point states that,

"A decentralisation of power, including through the adoption of the law of Ukraine "about local government provisional arrangements in some areas of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts" (law on the special status). (my emphasis)"? (Wikipedia)

Putin is categorically stating that the rebel-held territories of eastern Ukraine are de facto independent territories whereas his Trojan Minsk Agreement defines them as part of Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Russia has [now] called for "a 100% guarantee that no-one would think about Ukraine joining Nato", President Vladimir Putin's spokesman has told the BBC. (18 November 2014)

At the same time,

"Russia [continues to deny] NATO claims that its army has crossed into eastern Ukraine in the past few days, calling them groundless, the Defense Ministry said.
 

"We have stopped paying attention to the groundless accusations made by NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, US General Philip Breedlove, of the ‘observed’ Russian military columns allegedly invading Ukraine,” said Defense Ministry official representative, General-Major Igor Konashenkov on Wednesday."(RT: November 12, 2014) 

And yet,

"[Russian] families receive a soldier’s body for burial with information about the date of death, but nothing more — and the Russian government responds to questions by threatening to cut off death benefits or send family members to prison for national security violations." (Paul Huard: Nov 18, 2014) (my emphasis)

Above—the grave of a Russian soldier who died on Aug. 18 in Ukraine. He is buried in the Krestovsky Cemetery in Pskov. Photo via Gruz-200 Facebook page.

George Orwell's "1984" is alive and well, and living in Russia.

(to be continued)