Putin preparing to attack Mariupol (20 Feb., 2015)

Finally it would seem that the EU is waking up to Putin's delusional ambition about re-creating the fiction of "Novorossiya". Putin is now treating the EU with more than contempt. What recently happened in Debaltseve is but the most recent in a catalogue of lies and deception that he has used to lead the likes of Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande, in particular, by the nose.

Yet, like 'gluttons for punishment',

"German Chancellor Angela Merkel told supporters that "Germany and France together, will not ease off on doing everything so that Ukraine can go its way and have its territorial integrity -- but we want to do it with Russia, not against Russia." (Fox News : February 20, 2015) (my emphasis)

                        Angela Merkel                                  Francois Hollande

At the same time,

Sen. Lindsey Graham

Sen. John McCain

"Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said in a statement, calling the deal a “delusional piece of paper.” ......

“Persisting with the illusion of a cease-fire will only give Putin the cover he wants to plan his next act of aggression inside of Ukraine,” they said, accusing President Obama and other leaders of using “any available excuse not to provide defensive arms.” (ibid Fox News) (my emphasis)

In yesterday's blog entry I underlined the fact that 'Mariupol' is the next target of Putin.
Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C are of the same opinion.

"McCain and Graham predicted the next offensive will likely occur in nearby Mariupol." (ibid Fox News)

Since the signing of the first Minsk agreement on 5 September 2014,

• a countless number of telephone conversations have taken place between Merkel and Putin,
• and between Merkel, Putin and Hollande...
• There have even been many calls between President Obama and Putin, as recently as a few days ago ....
• a new Minsk agreement was signed between Merkel, Poroshenko, Hollande, and Putin just over a week ago ....
• this ceasefire, like the first one, has been systematically torn up by Putin and his proxies and Russian soldiers in eastern Ukraine
• Putin and his proxies, together with his Russian soldiers, are now preparing for the invasion of Mariupol with a veritable avalanche of Russian military equipment that has crossed the Ukrainian-Russian border into eastern Ukraine.

And yet Merkel, Hollande, and Obama wish merely to add to the thousands of words that have already been spoken to the delusional Putin, as if by some miracle he will turn into a reasonable and peace-loving  person.

Yet many now, in both the EU and in the US, are shouting at them from the rafters that he simply will not listen to their 'diplomatic pleadings' as the evidence of his past and current behaviour amply illustrates.

Only yesterday, the House of Lords EU committee [correctly] claimed [that] Europe "sleepwalked" into the [Ukrainian] crisis.

" .... for too long the EU's relationship with Moscow had been based on the "optimistic premise" that Russia was on a trajectory to becoming a democratic country.

The result, it said, was a failure to appreciate the depth of Russian hostility when the EU opened talks aimed at establishing an "association agreement" with Ukraine in 2013." (BBC News UK: 20 February 2015) (my emphasis)

However, as a Foreign Office spokeswoman quite correctly states,

" ...... no-one could have predicted the scale of the "unjustifiable and illegal" Russian intervention in eastern Ukraine.

"The blame lies squarely with the pro-Russian separatists, backed by the Russian authorities, not with an Association Agreement between the EU and Ukraine which had been under negotiation for more than seven years before Russia decided to illegally invade and then annex part of its neighbour," she said. (ibid BBC) (my emphasis)

It really is quite stagerring that for almost a year, since the annexation of Ukrainian Crimea and the fomenting of, and military support of, by Putin of the rebels in eastern Ukraine; Merkel and Hollande are still trying to seek a so-called 'diplomatic' solution in the face of Putin practically walking all over them.

            Ursula von der Leyen

Yet Angela Merkel was quick to send troops and military equipment to fight against ISIL in Iraq.

"The German and Swedish governments have announced plans to increase military aid to Kurdish forces battling Islamic State in Iraq." (Max Metzger : Newsweek : 1/12/15) 

(picture shows German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen (2nd R) greets Kurdish forces female recruits at the Zeravani Training Centre in Bnaslava near Arbil, north of Iraq January 12, 2015) (note the date!)

For the Germans; what, really, is the difference between the terrorists in Iraq, and those in eastern Ukraine?

Two words rather sums it up viz. "Russlandversteher or Putinversteher"

As the Economist (May 10th 2014) pointed out many months ago,

"When Germans add the word Versteher (one who understands) to a term, they generally mix flattery with irony. So a Frauenversteher (one who understands women) is usually a man who boasts excessively about his knowledge of the opposite sex. The label is now being attached to so-called Russlandversteher or Putinversteher: members of the [German] elite or intelligentsia who gush with empathy for Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, on talk shows, in journals and at dinner parties." (my emphasis)

So here, in their own backyard, many EU politicians are too scared to send military equipment to Ukraine's Poroshenko, who is fighting Putin-backed terrorists, but more than willing to with military equipment and with boots on the ground, fight terrorists thousands of miles away.

As Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., so succinctly stated, Merkel, like so many other EU leaders, will use,
 
 “any available excuse not to provide [Ukraine with] defensive arms.” (ibid Fox News) (my emphasis)

This is what is emboldening Putin to prepare for his imminent attack on Mariupol.

(to be continued)