Just as Putin thought that he had the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, on his side after wooing him with membership of the Eurasian Economic Union, and the building of the Turkish Steam Gas Pipeline, Merkel has thrown a big spanner in his plans.
As Matthew Karnitschnig reports,
Turkey's help was
needed to stem the flow of refugees to Europe but that this hadn't
changed her view that Ankara should not become a member of the European
Union." (Noah Barkin (right): Reuters : 7/10/2015) (my emphasis)
Chancellor Angela
Merkel pressed Ukraine on Saturday to tackle corruption and roll back
the influence of oligarchs, saying German businesses are ready to invest
there if the right conditions are in place.
Merkel
made her remarks ahead of a visit to Berlin by Ukrainian Prime Minister
Arseny Yatseniuk next Friday, when the two leaders are due to open a
German-Ukrainian economic conference at which investment opportunities
will be explored." (Paul Carrel : Reuters : Sat Oct 17,2015) (my emphasis)
Added to which, now Ukraine has a seat on the UN Security Council, as Edith M. Lederer (right) reports.
"Ukraine won a seat on the U.N. Security Council on Thursday and immediately promised to use the platform to wage a political battle against Russia for annexing Crimea and supporting eastern Ukrainian separatists." (ABC News (AP) :
19.10.2015)
Furthermore, that,
"Now Ukraine can "demand an immediate UN SC meeting, whether it is 1 a.m. or 2 a.m.," he said. "Before we had to ask our friends and partners - now we can do so ourselves," Poroshenko said." (ibid Interfax) (my emphasis)
What makes this newfound power of Ukraine's seat on the UN Security Council is that,
And if this were not enough to enrage Putin, the fact that,
"The fact that the bonds were purchased via
the Irish stock exchange makes the disbursement a private creditor debt.
However, the Russian side insists that this is an interstate debt, as
the buyer was a state-owned National Wealth Fund." (Unian : 15.10.2015) (my emphasis)
As the old saying goes, "this legal tussle will run and run", but will not be enough for Putin to spike a $17 billion loan from the IMF.
Adding to Putin's woes, Ukraine Today informs us that,
More protests in Moscow - in support of Ukraine and against Russian airstrikes in Syria. Estimates suggest some 100 to 200 activists attended the rally on Saturday, October 17." (UT : Oct. 17, 2015)
Whilst this was a small demonstration, the fact that Russians are now willing to risk arrest by supporting Ukraine speaks volumes.
What must, however, be worrying for Putin's propaganda machine is the release of,
"The documentary ‘Winter on Fire’ [that] captures the Ukrainian uprising in all its brutal, bloody realness." (
Three portraits of the former Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin
are on display in the centre of Donetsk, the rebel capital of eastern
Ukraine, as the separatist authorities fuel a mood of Soviet nostalgia.
The Stalin portraits have been placed in the main square and feature a quote from the wartime leader: “Our cause is just. The enemy will be routed. We will claim victory.” (Agence France-Presse : The Guardian : Monday 19 October 2015)
Like Putin,
"The Donetsk rebel leader, Alexander Zakharchenko, said how he regretted the break-up of the Soviet Union." (ibid The Guardian)
while,
"In August, the Donetsk rebel authorities decided to pull down a monument to victims of the 1930s famine in Ukraine [a famine created by none other than Stalin himself]." (ibid The Guardian)
(to be continued)
As Matthew Karnitschnig reports,
Turkey's help was
needed to stem the flow of refugees to Europe but that this hadn't
changed her view that Ankara should not become a member of the European
Union." (Noah Barkin (right): Reuters : 7/10/2015) (my emphasis)Chancellor Angela
Merkel pressed Ukraine on Saturday to tackle corruption and roll back
the influence of oligarchs, saying German businesses are ready to invest
there if the right conditions are in place.Added to which, now Ukraine has a seat on the UN Security Council, as Edith M. Lederer (right) reports."Ukraine won a seat on the U.N. Security Council on Thursday and immediately promised to use the platform to wage a political battle against Russia for annexing Crimea and supporting eastern Ukrainian separatists." (ABC News (AP) :
19.10.2015)
Furthermore, that,
"Now Ukraine can "demand an immediate UN SC meeting, whether it is 1 a.m. or 2 a.m.," he said. "Before we had to ask our friends and partners - now we can do so ourselves," Poroshenko said." (ibid Interfax) (my emphasis)
What makes this newfound power of Ukraine's seat on the UN Security Council is that,
"President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko [now] does not exclude returning the
next year to the proposal for deployment of the UN peacekeeping force,
if the Minsk Agreement are not implemented according to the agreed
schedule, that’s according to President’s Sunday night interview with
major Ukrainian TV channels." (Unian : 18.10.2015)
Putin may have a veto on the UN Security Council, but vetoing the use of UN peacekeeping forces in eastern Ukraine will simply reinforce the truth that Russian soldiers have always been active, alongside his rebel forces, in eastern Ukraine.
Perhaps even more significantly, the fact that Poroshenko is sticking to the Minsk2 timetable means that the border between Ukraine and Russia has to be returned to the control of Ukraine and, possibly, patrolled by Ukrainian soldiers together with UN Peacekeeping Forces.
And if this were not enough to enrage Putin, the fact that,
"Ukraine on Thursday gave Russia two weeks to accept to write off part of
its loans to the country, as other international creditors have agreed
to do, opening a new front in the show-down between the countries." (Nataliya Vasilyeva : Associate Press (Yahoo News) : October 15, 2015),
is positively making him spit nails! (my emphasis)
Putin's threat of legal action has been countered by Poroshenko's threat of legal action. According to Poroshenko, the $3 billion loan that Putin gave to Yanukovich, his comrade in arms, was a private creditor debt i.e.
"The fact that the bonds were purchased via
the Irish stock exchange makes the disbursement a private creditor debt.
However, the Russian side insists that this is an interstate debt, as
the buyer was a state-owned National Wealth Fund." (Unian : 15.10.2015) (my emphasis)As the old saying goes, "this legal tussle will run and run", but will not be enough for Putin to spike a $17 billion loan from the IMF.
Adding to Putin's woes, Ukraine Today informs us that,
"Some 100-200 activists gathered in Moscow on October 17
Whilst this was a small demonstration, the fact that Russians are now willing to risk arrest by supporting Ukraine speaks volumes.
What must, however, be worrying for Putin's propaganda machine is the release of,
"The documentary ‘Winter on Fire’ [that] captures the Ukrainian uprising in all its brutal, bloody realness." (Three portraits of the former Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin
are on display in the centre of Donetsk, the rebel capital of eastern
Ukraine, as the separatist authorities fuel a mood of Soviet nostalgia.The Stalin portraits have been placed in the main square and feature a quote from the wartime leader: “Our cause is just. The enemy will be routed. We will claim victory.” (Agence France-Presse : The Guardian : Monday 19 October 2015)
Like Putin,
"The Donetsk rebel leader, Alexander Zakharchenko, said how he regretted the break-up of the Soviet Union." (ibid The Guardian)
while,
"In August, the Donetsk rebel authorities decided to pull down a monument to victims of the 1930s famine in Ukraine [a famine created by none other than Stalin himself]." (ibid The Guardian)
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