The scarlet thread of Maidan is weaving itself even more tighter around Putin and Trump.

In my blog entry of 23/07/2017, I wrote that,

"Neither Putin nor Trump can now easily escape from the corner into which they have both painted themselves."

This is best illustrated by the fact that;

1. Trump has sitting on his Oval Room desk a new 'sanctions bill' against Putin and his kleptocratic siloviki clique, passed by BOTH the US House of Congress and the US Senate, and which he, as yet, simply cannot bring himself to sign into law,
2. whilst Putin has, rather belatedly, decided to retaliate against these new US sanctions by expelling more than 700 US diplomatic staff in Moscow, as well as shutting down US recreational facilities in Moscow. 

 

As Vladimir Solovyov reports, Putin himself has stated that,

"The American side has made a move which, it is important to note, hasn't been provoked by anything, to worsen Russian-US relations. [It includes] unlawful restrictions, attempts to influence other states of the world, including our allies, who are interested in developing and keeping relations with Russia," (RT : 30 Jul, 2017) (my emphasis)

Russian Senator Andrei Klimov (left), being interviewed by Richard Engel of MSNBC (28/07/2017), said that,

Richard Engel : "Supporters of the sanctions would argue that Russia had no right to try and interfere

with the US political process

Andrei Klimov : "That's nonsense because we have no reason to do that "

Further on in the interview, Klimov then rather gives the game away by trying to argue that it was not the Russian state that interfered in the US elections, but may have been some of the 146 million Russian citizens.

 

 

Richard Engel also reports on the degree to which Putin is now trying to cover his own tracks in Russia of the Kremlin's collusion with Trump's lieutenants, just as Trump is trying to cover his tracks of collusion with Putin, both during the 2016 US presidential elections.

 

 

Like those of Trump, Putin's actions displays 'irrational behaviour' since his current expelling of all those US diplomatic staff members will, as Michael McFaul explains,

"It may sound like tough talk .. but in fact in many times he's hurting Russians not Americans when he does these kinds of responses ..." (MSNBC : 30/7/2017) (my emphasis)

And as Putin is 'throwing a tantrum' by retaliating against the new US sanctions against himself and his kleptocratic siloviki clique, RFERL reports that,

"Ukraine says that one of its soldiers was killed and nine others injured in fighting with Russia-backed separatists in the east of the country.

Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council said on July 30 that the bulk of the casualties over the previous 24 hours were sustained in the front-line town of Krasnohorivka due to shelling from separatist forces." (RFERL : July 30, 2017) (my emphasis)

UNIAN also reports that,

"The situation in the Luhansk sector escalated most by the end of the day when the Russian-backed militants used grenade launchers and small arms several times to attack the Ukrainian positions in the villages of Novo-Oleksandrivka, Novotoshkivske, and Stanytsia Luhanska. 

In addition, the Ukrainian fortified positions in the village of Krymske came under mortar fire at about 21:00 Kyiv time on Sunday, July 30." (UNIAN : 31 July 2017) (my emphasis)

It should always be borne in mind that the whole of the EU-US sanctions regime against Putin and his kleptocratic siloviki Kremlin clique has its origin in Putin's illegal annexation of Ukrainian Crimea in 2014, and his ongoing war with Ukraine in the Donbas, which he invaded in 2014.

Now the 'US sanctions-removal payback' that Putin expected of Trump for getting Trump into the White House is crumbling to dust in his very hands.

And just as Putin's expectations of US sanctions removal is crumbling to dust in his hands, so the spectre of impeachment is beginning to haunt Trump, as the possibilities for his impeachment begins to slowly bubble to the surface.

The scarlet thread of Maidan is weaving itself even more tighter around Putin and Trump.

(to be continued)