Putin's 'Trojan Horse' Alexis Tsipras, and the German Army exercising in Ukraine.

On the same day that Greece voted to reject the austerity conditions set out by the ECB (European Central Bank) before it receives further funding to keep its failing economy afloat,  Jackson Diehl  (left) posed the following question,

"Will this be remembered as the summer when the West let Ukraine die? 

And he answered it by saying that,

"It’s beginning to look like it." (The Washington Post : July 5, 2015) (my emphasis)

Now that the dust has settled on the Greek 'No!' vote, Diehl seems to be right. There is a growing chorus of commentators who are expressing the same attitude as Diehl. 

Diane Francis (right), writing in the New York Post, quoted John Herbst (below left) as saying,

“The struggle in Ukraine is more serious than ISIS” ....
 .......
 “It’s very simple. Any military thinker looks at a threat — what is the [possible] damage? Putin wants to change the peace established in 1991 and after World War II.” (New York Post : July 5, 2015) (my emphasis)

Even Anders Aslund (right), a Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council, has stated that "Putin's war on Ukraine is more important than Greek Debt." (KyivPost : 6 July, 2015). He stated that,

"For one year, Russia has pursued a long, costly war of aggression against Ukraine. Its objective is obvious: to destabilize Ukraine so that the new democratic regime fails. Therefore, the West should adjust its goals accordingly to offer Ukraine financial support." (ibid KyivPost) (my emphasis)

Jackson Diehl rather succinctly sums up the sidelining of Ukraine by stating that,

"German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her Eurozone EU partners are preoccupied with the crisis in Greece; 

[whilst] Barack Obama is intently focused on completing a nuclear bargain with Iran.

Western governments have taken no new action either to prevent a new Russian military offensive this summer or to provide Ukraine’s government with the funds it needs to survive through another year." (ibid Diehl) (my emphasis)

To put this into perspective, let us for a moment compare Greek with Ukrainian external debt.

External Debt in Ukraine decreased to $125.967 billion in the first quarter of 2015 from $126.307 USD Million in the fourth quarter of 2014.

In other words, Ukraine's external debt has FALLEN by $340 million since the beginning of this year.

Greek external debt currently stands at  €320 billion i.e. $351 billion.

Yet Tsipras is calling for another bailout from the ECB (European Central Bank), which will simply INCREASE Greece's debt burden.

And Putin is standing in the wings to help bail Tsipras out. "Alexis Tsipras, had telephoned the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, to discuss the consequences of the referendum in which Greeks voted by 61 per cent to 39 per cent to reject the EU’s previous austerity demands......

During the call, the Kremlin said, Mr Putin “expressed support for the Greek people in overcoming the difficulties facing their country” and that they discussed “several questions about the further development of Russian-Greek  co-operation”. (Leo Cendrowicz , Ben Chu: The Independent : Tuesday 07 July 2015) (my emphasis)

Putin must be jumping with joy that the current focus of attention of the EU members is now on the Greek financial tragedy, and that all eyes have now been diverted from his military buildup in eastern Ukraine for his impending assault against Mariupol.

Added to which, his support of Alexis Tsipras falls into line with his aim to ensure that the EU is mired in conflics that, he hopes, will tear it apart.


As Gordon Rayner  (left) reports,

“For Mr Hamon (the former French education minister and ally of Francois Hollande), the resounding “no” vote was “an opportunity for Francois Hollande to resume leadership” in Europe.

Old divisions run deep across the continent, and the Greek crisis brought them right back to the surface as Europe’s financial superpowers squabbled like children at playtime.

Watching gleefully from the wings was the Russian President Vladimir Putin, who took the opportunity to stir the pot by ringing the Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and offering to strengthen “Russian-Greek co-operation”.(The Telegraph : 06 Jul 2015) (my emphasis)

More importantly that,

"Major banks now rate a Greek exit from the euro as a probability. The man installed as Greece’s new finance minister believes a Grexit would lead to the “break-up” of the Eurozone." (ibid Gordon Rayner) (my emphasis)

If, however, Alexis Tsipras has, wittingly or unwittingly, cast himself in the role of Putin's 'Trojan Horse' to destroy the Eurozone, NATO has not taken its eye off Putin's military build-up in eastern Ukraine.

At the explicit request of Poroshenko, NATO Rapid Trident  and Sea Breeze military exercises are to take place in Ukraine.

"German state news agency Deutsche Welle reported Sunday (July 05) that the German Army would participate in  two military exercises [Rapid Trident and Sea Breeze] in Ukraine.
......
Rapid Trident supports interoperability among Ukraine, US, NATO and Partnership for Peace member nations.

Participating nations' forces include Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Canada, Georgia, Germany, Great Britain, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Norway, Poland, Romania, Spain, and the US.

The Rapid Trident exercise comes at the explicit request of the Ukrainian government and military." (Ukraine Today : Jul. 5, 2015)

Furthermore,

"The Swedish military say fighter aircraft were scrambled on Saturday to intercept two Russian Tupolev planes.

The Russian planes flew over parts of the southern Baltic, and came close to Swedish airspace.

They were followed by several nations' air forces, according to a press release from the Swedish Armed Forces." (Ukraine Today : Jul. 4, 2015) (my emphasis)

 

Perhaps even more significant, as Vitaliy Portnikov explains,

"Both countries [Putin's Russian and Ukraine] have almost the same decline in GDP: 

Ukraine – 4 percent as compared with the fourth quarter of last year. 

In Russia it’s 3.5 percent.

And this despite the fact that Ukraine has lost territory, while Russia has acquired territory. 

This despite the fact that there is a war in Ukraine, while in Russia there is peace. 

This despite the fact that Ukraine has no energy to export, while Russia has both oil and gas. 

Nevertheless, the Russian economy is going to hell in a handbasket! (EuroMaidan Press : 05/07/2015)

(to be continued)