Lifting the veil behind Putin (Part 1)

Finally Putin has publicly dispensed with the lie that Russia is not at war with Ukraine. The war between Ukraine and Russia has finally burst out in the open. Yesterday  "two teenagers died and four were wounded when an artillery shell hit a school playing field as they played football in eastern Ukraine. (BBC News Nov 5 2014)

As reported by Simon Shuster ( Nov. 5, 2014), "[s]ince August, Russia has sent six massive convoys of trucks, hundreds of them in all, into the rebel strongholds, carrying what Moscow claims to be humanitarian aid. None of them have been inspected by Ukrainian authorities, who have lost control of the roads leading into rebel territory from Russia, so the government in Kiev suspects the cargo could be loaded down with heavy weaponry."

Now the criminal mouthpieces of Putin in the rebel-held territories of eastern Ukraine are giving Putin the perfect excuse derived from that Trojan Minsk Agreement of his by stating that,

“The law on the special status and the law on amnesty agreed with the [rebel-held territories in eastern Ukraine] were an obligation for Kiev,” they said. Canceling the laws will “in fact cancel the Minsk Protocol.” (Bloomberg 6 Nov 2014) (my emphasis) (note: Unlike the 'fragrant' Mogherini, I do not regard these rebel-held territories as 'republics' of any kind.)

Poroshenko is warning that,

"[the] risk of an invasion is growing, particularly near the Sea of Azov port of Mariupol, and Russia has sent agents and instructors to separatist areas, Markiyan Lubkivsky, an adviser to Ukrainian Security Service head Valentyn Nalyvaychenko, told RBK-Ukraine news service"(6 Nov 2014)

Poroshenko

He further stated that, "Ukraine has set up new military units to protect the eastern cities of Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Mariupol."

While war is being effectively waged by Putin against Ukraine, and Ukrainian children are being killed whilst playing soccer, both Merkel and Mogherini are calling for "sanctions against the rebel leaders in eastern Ukraine."

                  
Merkel:  (Nov 5 2014)

BERLIN: German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Wednesday that the West should consider following disputed elections adding pro-Russian separatists to sanction lists imposed on Moscow over its actions in Ukraine.
“We should take another look at possibly listing certain people who are now in charge in eastern Ukraine after these illegitimate elections,” she told reporters.


Mogherini: (Nov 6 2014)

"The so-called elections were a very negative sign. The situation on the ground is very negative, with people dying yesterday. It is clear that things are not improving....I am convinced that we will need to exercise pressure on Russia. So we need to discuss what kind of next step we take... also in our strategy in terms of sanctions."
It adds fuel to the speculation that the individuals involved in the elections will face travel bans, and possibly economic and financial sanctioning.( Finbarr Bermingham)

The mind simply boggles that these two key individuals in the EU could suggest that slapping travel bans on Putin's criminal proxies in eastern Ukraine, together with POSSIBLY adding them to the existing sanctions list imposed upon Putin's Mafia kleptocratic circle presently in control of Russia; that this will stop the bullets and bombs raining upon Ukrainian citizens in eastern Ukraine. Note, also, that this is a mere possibility, not that it will take place.

Meanwhile, following on from the successes of the Republican Party in gaining control over the Senate and the House of Representatives in America, Senator McCain,  the incoming chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has stated that,

“Burr and Corker and I will be working closely together on everything,” [he] said. “For example, arms for Ukraine’s [government], examination of our strategy in the Middle East, our assets with regard to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin in the region, China’s continued encroachment in the South China Sea.” (Nov 5 2014 [my emphasis])

Senator McCain

Added to which, President Niinistö of Finland recently said that, "We’re on the brink of a cold war, but we’re not afraid" (YLE Finland Nov 6 2014 as reported by Simon Tisdall in the Guardian)

President Niinistö of Finland

President Niinistö was "speaking on the eve of the fourth gathering of heads of government from the Baltics, Nordics and the UK, Niinistö warned of the possibility of a descent into a Cold War – partly because of frayed relations over the situation in Ukraine, but also because of a failure to grasp the depth of Vladimir Putin’s gripe with the US and the EU." (Simon Tisdall) (my emphasis)

What President Niinistö is telling us is that Finland and the Baltic States are also in the cross hairs of Putin. What is of critical importance is that President Niinistö talks of FRAYED relations over the situation in Ukraine. To whom, exactly, can he be referring? And why are the heads of state of the Baltics, Nordics and the UK meeting under such urgent circumstances? 

Firstly, the 'frayed relations' can only be referring to those members of the EU

• pushing for the implementation of Putin's Trojan Minsk Agreement by Putin himself
• worried about the impact that any call for 'more economic sanctions against Russia' would have on their own economies
• worried about the political fallout in their own countries should Putin's gas exports to their countries be switched off now that winter has arrived
• worried that this may lead to their own political downfall.

 

Secondly, the Baltics, Nordics, and the UK are urgently meeting simply because Putin's bombers are threatening them, NOT Germany, Italy or France, 3 of the other powerhouses in the EU! (cf entry 21 of this Blog)

What is even most disconcerting, in view of Angela Merkel's fixation on Putin's Trojan Minsk Agreement, is that even Gorbachev has now come to Putin's defence. As reported from AFP in the Telegraph, (Nov 6 2014) Gorbachev has said that,

"... he would seek to defend Vladimir Putin's policies when he travels to Germany for ceremonies commemorating the fall of the Berlin Wall this week."

Gorbachev and Putin

Meanwhile, Tom Parfitt in Moscow ( Nov 6 2014) informs us that,

"Vladimir Putin says there was nothing wrong with [the] Soviet Union's pact with Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany" (my emphasis)

Hitler                                                    Putin        

What is it about this mutual admiration society between Germany and Russia, given the economic status of Germany within the EU? 

Earlier this year Ralf Neukirch (March 31, 2014) reported that,

"Those [Germans] expressing understanding for Russia's move are clearly dominating the Internet forums and talk shows. One former German chancellor, Helmut Schmidt, even declared that the situation in Ukraine is dangerous "because the West has gotten so terribly worked up about it." (my emphasis)

Furthermore, that

" [There is a] long line of general forgiveness [that] extends from Philipp Missfelder, the foreign affairs spokesman for the parliamentary group of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives, to German feminist intellectual leader Alice Schwarzer, from the left-wing to middle-class households and even deep into the conservative camp. Armin Laschet, who heads Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party in the populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia, has even warned against anti-Putin populism."

Feminist figurehead Alice Schwarzer: "It wasn't all that long ago that Nazi Germany invaded Russia."

More recently (Sep 9 2014), German novelist Ingo Schulze, in an interview with Der Spiegel, revealed that:

• Germany and Russia are bound by a history of cultural, political and economic contacts going back to tsarist times.
• Many Russians have German roots due to large-scale German immigration to Russia over the centuries.  This is particularly true in St. Petersburg. (my emphasis)
• Many East Germans speak Russian and were taught that Russia is a good and friendly country.  Resentment against former Russian domination is balanced by sympathy.
• German and Russian leaders have a history of close contacts.  Putin speaks German.  The East German Merkel speaks Russian.  Kohl and Schroeder invested heavily in good relations with Russia.  Schroeder backed the Nord Stream pipeline.

amongst many other reasons. 

When it comes to Putin and Russia it would seem that many Germans, including their political and cultural movers and shakers, simply do not wish to see, speak, or hear anything that exposes Putin as a criminal, and the Russian State as nothing more, nor less, than a Mafia state.

Lifting the veil behind Putin

In the first entry of this blog I wrote:

" .... a deal struck between Putin and the German banks and businessmen in 1992. This deal involved the export of $100m worth of raw materials in exchange for food for the citizens of St Petersburg. The materials were exported, but the food never arrived, as Marina Salye, 

who was put in charge of a city council investigation into the deal, and who fastidiously kept the documents from that time, identified Putin's fingerprints all over it."

I also wrote that,

"Can the country [Italy] that gave us the Italian Mafia, stand up against one of its most ardent emulators, Putin's Russian (FSB) Mafia clan?",

and I included the following video about Putin's Clan. (you can choose English sub-titles)

These, however, is rather small beer in revealing both the criminal nature of Putin, his kleptocratic clan, and the criminal nature of the Russian State.

On 30 September, 2014, a book was published in the US by Professor Karen Dawisha, which has caused a stir in the US. The book is called, "Putin’s Kleptocracy: Who Owns Russia?" 

                                             Professor Karen Dawisha meeting Putin (2007)

As Dave Ghose (9 Sept 2014) explains,
 

"Already, the manuscript is something of a cause célèbre, thanks to its explosive revelations and a brush with censorship that drew the attention of The New York Times and the Washington Post. As The Economist put it this spring, Dawisha’s book “could hardly be more timely and important.” Gulnaz Sharafutdinova, a Russia expert at King’s College London, predicts it will have a big impact. “It will clarify in the minds of many the nature of Putin’s regime,” she says.

Karen Dawisha

Unfortunately people in the UK, and possibly the whole of the EU, will NOT be able to buy locally a copy of this book. Why? From The Economist we learn that it is,

"Because Mrs Dawisha’s publisher [CUP] has got cold feet. She has just received this letter (posted in full in The Economist article) from Cambridge University Press [CUP], saying that the legal risk of publishing the book is too great:

“given the controversial subject matter of the book, and its basic premise that Putin’s power is founded on his links to organised crime, we are not convinced that there is a way to rewrite the book that would give us the necessary comfort.”"

As part of this letter states,

"... President Putin has never been convicted for the crimes or activities which are outlined in the book, and we cannot be sure that any of the other named individuals or organisations have either.  That the allegations may have been published elsewhere is no defence; re-publication of a libellous statement is still libel if it cannot be proven to be true."

A small excerpt from her book will give the reader a flavour of what it contains.

"In July 2014, as relations with Russia deteriorated, British prime minister David Cameron announced he would let the public inquest proceed. At the center of the inquiry was a claim by Litvinenko’s widow that, at the time of his 2006 death by polonium-210 poisoning, he was providing evidence to Spanish authorities about “Russian mafia links to the Kremlin and Vladimir Putin.” The inquest pointed to the tangled web of relations between the Russian state and the mafia, relations that were known to Western governments and much discussed in U.S. cables released by Wikileaks.  (my emphasis) In particular, a series of events in Spain underlined what had become an interlocking network of associations and clan-based politics centered on Putin. First there was the arrest in Spain in 2008 of the reputed leaders of the St. Petersburg-based Tambov-Malyshev organized crime group, including Gennadiy Pemytrov and Aleksandr Malyshev. Then there was the warrant for the arrest of Vladislav Reznik, who was the cochairman of the ruling United Russia Party and chairman of the Duma’s Finance Committee. Finally, there was the revelation that Communications Minister Leonid Reyman owned a beachfront house in the same resort in Majorca as Petrov, who introduced him to potential Spanish partners, and that Reyman himself was under investigation by Spanish authorities.
All those under investigation in Spain came from St. Petersburg, and all were close associates of Putin, as they rose up together from the early 1990s onward."

(to be continued in "Lifting the veil behind Putin (Part 2)"