Merkel, the EU, and Putin. Selling out Ukraine!

"The EU mishandled much of the early strategy on Ukraine, sending mixed messages to Kiev and Moscow. Since the shooting down of the Malaysian airliner, the approach has become more consistent. Putin had assumed that the west, and particularly Germany and France (disproportionately dependent on trade with Russia) would buckle. (John Kampfner : Monday 17 November 2014) (my emphasis)

Putin still assumes that Angela Merkel and François Hollande will resist, and ultimately remove, the sanctions that are causing growing damage." (ibid John Kampfner)

Yet, as Ian Traynor ( Monday 17 November 2014) points out, Merkel is becoming more and more disheartened with Putin, even after

"..she spent four hours in private with Putin at the G20 summit in Brisbane. Without aides or translators present, the two leaders talked until 01.30 in the morning in Putin’s hotel, joined halfway through only by Jean-Claude Juncker, the new head of the European Commission." (ibid Ian Traynor) (my emphasis) 

The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, has criticised Vladmir Putin's foreign policy. Photograph: Pool/Reuters

“The Ukraine crisis is truly not a regional affair,” [Merkel] said, voicing incredulity that Putin’s campaign could take place 25 years after Europe’s division into two blocs ended with the fall of the Berlin Wall. “It affects us all … how can something like this happen in the middle of Europe? Old thinking about spheres of influence, trampling international law, must not succeed.” (ibid Ian Traynor)

Meanwhile, conservative commentators criticised [the 'fragrant] Mogherini for being too soft on Russia after she was appointed in August, and her first meeting with other European foreign ministers on Monday (17 Nov 2014) saw them agree to consider additional sanctions against separatist leaders but not Russian officials. (Alec Luhn in Moscow The Guardian, Tuesday 18 November 2014) (my emphasis)

The corrupt manner in which the inexperienced 'fragrant'  Mogherini was choosen as EU Foreign Secretary still rankles with many, especially with the leaders in the Baltic States. In a clear reference to Mogherini, Lithuania's President Dalia Grybauskaitė said that the EU must not pick someone who is “pro-Kremlin” [to be the foreign secretary of the EU], as reported by Thomas Wright. But Matteo Renzi, Italy's Prime Minister, was determined to get her appointed, contrary to EU appointing procedures. And so it was.

" Merkel [also] had concerns [about the appointment of Mogherini] but she [was] apparently willing to let it slide if it [meant] stopping Italy from diluting the EU’s budget rules."

 Not only is Mogherini soft on Putin. As Adrian Croft and Robin Emmot have pointed out, "...Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, have been openly scornful of sanctions...[against Russia] ".

Viktor Orban                                    Robert Fico

More significantly, as Gabriela Baczynska reports,

" ... Hungary - which relies heavily on Russia for natural gas supplies - is enjoying a rapprochement with the Kremlin.

"We share the attitude of the Hungarian leadership aimed at growing constructive dialogue, jointly carrying out planned very large investment projects," Putin told a Kremlin ceremony at which Hungary's new ambassador presented his credentials. (ibid Gabriela Baczynska) (Reuters: Wed Nov 19, 2014) (my emphasis)

The EU and the US are seriously worrying [that] Budapest .... is drifting into Russia's orbit.

Whilst the majority of the EU's foreign ministers agreed to CONSIDER (Only consider??) sanctions against the leaders of  Putin's proxies in eastern Ukraine, the British foreign secretary, Philip Hammond

Philip Hammond Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs

"... [announced] on Tuesday that the UK will donate communications equipment and 10 armoured vehicles worth £1.2m to the Ukraine special monitoring mission of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe , which is being expanded in the face of an increasingly unstable ceasefire in the east of the country." (ibid Alec Luhn)

 Furthermore, Thomas Grove and Richard Balmforth  have reported (Nov 20, 2014) that,

"Russia warned the United States on Thursday against supplying arms to Ukrainian forces fighting pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, hours before U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden was due to arrive in Kiev." (my emphasis)

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden (L) and his wife Jill
wave upon their arrival at Boryspil International
airport outside Kiev November 20, 2014.

So, whilst Putin is 'warning' the US, Hungary seems to be moving back into the orbit of Russia; the Baltic states, Poland, Finland, Great Britain, the US, Sweden, and NATO  are seriously worried about Putin's growing militaristic provocations; the 'fragrant' Mogherini and some European foreign ministers are considering sanctions against Putin's proxies in eastern Ukraine. 

If, as stated at the beginning of this blog entry, "The EU mishandled much of the early strategy on Ukraine..", it would now seem that it simply has no strategy at all. The continuous mantra that is heard in the corridors of Brussels about Putin's Trojan Minsk Agreement seems to be all the strategy that the EU has.

It is also about time that Merkel ends the rather suspicious 'special' relationship that she has with Putin. Those tete-a-tete's, those private conversations that she has with Putin, sometimes until 1.30am in the morning, rather belies her 'incredulity' about his 'open' invasion of eastern Ukraine and his behaviour on the international stage.

 Whilst at the G20 summit in Brisbane they spoke for 4 hours, significantly in private! (ibid Ian Traynor)

Rather reminiscent of the Stalin-Hilter pact!

"On August 23, 1939–shortly before World War II (1939-45) broke out in Europe–enemies Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union surprised the world by signing the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact, in which the two countries agreed to take no military action against each other for the next 10 years." (Wikipedia) The Rippentrop-Molotov pact! For "no military action" read " no economic sanctions" (2014)!

Stalin and Ribbentrop after the signature of the Soviet-Nazi German pact. August 23, 1939

Putin and Merkel

There is, truly, nothing new under the sun! 

Meanwhile, Russia’s last remotely independent radio station had been silenced. Ever since the country’s energy conglomerate Gazprom took a majority holding, Ekho Moskvy (Echo of Moscow) has battled against censorship.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin accused [Ekho Moskvy], a leading liberal radio station, of constantly disparaging him and serving foreign interests.

At a regular meeting with editors-in-chief of leading media, he told Moscow Echo radio's Alexei Venediktov: "You pour diarrhoea over me day and night." (my emphasis)

Mr Putin (gesturing) met editors of leading newspapers and broadcasters

Venediktov (left) also met Mr Putin at an awards ceremony earlier in January 2012

 

Orwell is turning in his grave! 

(to be continued)