In my last blog I stated that,
"The fallout from the recent German elections is now beginning to take shape, and it is no wonder that Putin's mouthpiece, RT, is cozying up to the AfD political party that won 12.6% of the vote, and now contstitutes the 3rd largest political party in Germany.
Already one can hear the clinking glasses of champagne in the boardrooms of German business." (blog entry: 28 September, 2017)
Putin's jubilation at this result in the German elections stems primarily from the fact that it further adds pressure on Angela Merkel to move faster in the direction of supporting the lifting of EU sanctions against Putin and his kleptocratic 'siloviki'.
Putin's eyes are now firmly fixed on October 15, when 8.75 million Austrians head to the polls.
As Zoie O'Brien (left) reports,
" Sebastian Kurz, also known as "Wunderwuzzi" has successfully rebranded the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) and looks set to propel them into Government in the coming elections.
The vote could spell trouble for the EU as 31-year-old Mr Kurz has not ruled out a partnership with the nationalist Freedom Party (FPO)." (Express : Sun, Oct 1, 2017) (my emphasis)
Recall that in December 2016, when then Foreign Minister of Austria, Sebastian Kurz, was to take over the chairing of the OSCE in January 2017, one of his stated aims was,
" ... to seek through the organization a change
of the EU sanctions policy toward Russia, Minister of Foreign Affairs of
Austria Sebastian Kurtz has told Spiegel.
"We must once again restore trust here in Europe and shift from the path of sanctions with the system of penalties to the path of creating a system of incentives," said Kurz." (Unian : 30 December 2016) (my emphasis)
Coupled with the fact that Sebastian Kurz is the front-runner in the upcoming Austrian elections, Putin must be rubbing his hands with glee that Austria's Freedom Party, "founded in the 1950s by, among others, former Nazis",
" ... is riding high in the country’s opinion polls and has a good chance of joining any coalition government after elections on October 15, a year earlier than planned." (Ralph Atkins : Financial Times :
call[s] to lift "damaging and pointless international sanctions" against Russia over its actions in Ukraine, including the 2014 annexation of Crimea and its backing of separatists in the southeast of the country." (RFERL : December 19, 2016) (my emphasis)
And whilst Putin-supported Right-Wing parties in Germany and Austria are gaining critical political power, Matthias Williams and Pavel Polityuk report that,
"Russia has left troops behind after staging war
games in Belarus despite promising not to, Ukraine’s Commander in Chief
Viktor Muzhenko told Reuters.
Just prior to Russia's Zapad-2017 exercises with Belarus, Poroshenko warned that,
" .... Russia could use massive military manoeuvres next week as a cover for invasion.
In a major speech, Mr Poroshenko said Russia's Zapad-2017 exercises with Belarus might be "a smokescreen to create new Russian army assault groups to invade Ukrainian territory". (BBC : 7 September, 2017) (my emphasis)
This warning of Poroshenko now has to be viewed against the backdrop of the success of the AfD party in Germany, and the expected success of the Freedom Party of Austria, BOTH of whom are calling for the lifting of sanctions against Putin and his kleptocratic 'siloviki' clique.
Angela Merkel's political wings have been clipped to the degree that we can safely assume the complete tearing up of the Minsk2 protocols which she has so assiduously championed since they were first drawn up.
The only thing that will now unseat Putin from being in the political driving seat and that will determine the fate of Ukraine will be the impeachment of Trump, and the full implementation of the support for Ukraine emanating from the US Senate and Congress, including the arming of Ukraine with lethal defensive weaponry.
(to be continued)
"The fallout from the recent German elections is now beginning to take shape, and it is no wonder that Putin's mouthpiece, RT, is cozying up to the AfD political party that won 12.6% of the vote, and now contstitutes the 3rd largest political party in Germany.
Already one can hear the clinking glasses of champagne in the boardrooms of German business." (blog entry: 28 September, 2017)
Putin's jubilation at this result in the German elections stems primarily from the fact that it further adds pressure on Angela Merkel to move faster in the direction of supporting the lifting of EU sanctions against Putin and his kleptocratic 'siloviki'.
Putin's eyes are now firmly fixed on October 15, when 8.75 million Austrians head to the polls.
As Zoie O'Brien (left) reports," Sebastian Kurz, also known as "Wunderwuzzi" has successfully rebranded the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) and looks set to propel them into Government in the coming elections.
The vote could spell trouble for the EU as 31-year-old Mr Kurz has not ruled out a partnership with the nationalist Freedom Party (FPO)." (Express : Sun, Oct 1, 2017) (my emphasis)
Recall that in December 2016, when then Foreign Minister of Austria, Sebastian Kurz, was to take over the chairing of the OSCE in January 2017, one of his stated aims was,
" ... to seek through the organization a change
of the EU sanctions policy toward Russia, Minister of Foreign Affairs of
Austria Sebastian Kurtz has told Spiegel."We must once again restore trust here in Europe and shift from the path of sanctions with the system of penalties to the path of creating a system of incentives," said Kurz." (Unian : 30 December 2016) (my emphasis)
Coupled with the fact that Sebastian Kurz is the front-runner in the upcoming Austrian elections, Putin must be rubbing his hands with glee that Austria's Freedom Party, "founded in the 1950s by, among others, former Nazis",
" ... is riding high in the country’s opinion polls and has a good chance of joining any coalition government after elections on October 15, a year earlier than planned." (Ralph Atkins : Financial Times :
call[s] to lift "damaging and pointless international sanctions" against Russia over its actions in Ukraine, including the 2014 annexation of Crimea and its backing of separatists in the southeast of the country." (RFERL : December 19, 2016) (my emphasis)
And whilst Putin-supported Right-Wing parties in Germany and Austria are gaining critical political power, Matthias Williams and Pavel Polityuk report that,
"Russia has left troops behind after staging war
games in Belarus despite promising not to, Ukraine’s Commander in Chief
Viktor Muzhenko told Reuters.
In an interview
on a military plane on Thursday evening, Muzhenko said Russia has
withdrawn only a few units from Belarus and had lied about how many of
its soldiers were there in the first place" (Reuters : September 29, 2017) (my emphasis)
Just prior to Russia's Zapad-2017 exercises with Belarus, Poroshenko warned that," .... Russia could use massive military manoeuvres next week as a cover for invasion.
In a major speech, Mr Poroshenko said Russia's Zapad-2017 exercises with Belarus might be "a smokescreen to create new Russian army assault groups to invade Ukrainian territory". (BBC : 7 September, 2017) (my emphasis)
This warning of Poroshenko now has to be viewed against the backdrop of the success of the AfD party in Germany, and the expected success of the Freedom Party of Austria, BOTH of whom are calling for the lifting of sanctions against Putin and his kleptocratic 'siloviki' clique.
Angela Merkel's political wings have been clipped to the degree that we can safely assume the complete tearing up of the Minsk2 protocols which she has so assiduously championed since they were first drawn up.The only thing that will now unseat Putin from being in the political driving seat and that will determine the fate of Ukraine will be the impeachment of Trump, and the full implementation of the support for Ukraine emanating from the US Senate and Congress, including the arming of Ukraine with lethal defensive weaponry.
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