Has Putin's negative reception at the G20 summit increased his determination to crush Ukraine?

"Newspeak is the fictional language in the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, written by George Orwell. It is a controlled language created by the totalitarian state as a tool to limit freedom of thought, and concepts that pose a threat to the regime such as freedom, self-expression, individuality, and peace. Any form of thought alternative to the party’s construct is classified as "thoughtcrime". (Wikipedia)

Orwell's press card portrait, 1943

This 'fictional language' is now the language employed by Putin and his acolytes, as well as his extensive and growing global propaganda machine, to try and convince the world that Russia is not sending, has never sent, and will not send, it's own troops and military equipment into the rebel-held areas of Donetsk and Luhansk.

On Monday (Nov 10 2014)

"Russia ..... launched a state-of-the-art media organisation with hundreds of journalists abroad intended to wean the world off what it called aggressive Western propaganda - dubbing it, with echoes of the Cold War, Sputnik." (Timothy Heritage: Sydney Morning Herald)

"We are against the aggressive propaganda that is feeding the world," said Dmitry Kiselyov, (Putin's Chief Spin Doctor) a conservative television anchor who heads the Rossiya Segodnya media outlet created by Mr Putin last year to promote Russia's image abroad." (ibid Sydney Morning Herald)

As stated in an earlier post  'conspiracy theory' has become part of the Orwellian Newspeak of the Kremlin.

" ... the Kremlin is turning more and more to conspiracy theory as a "major tool" with which to manage its own people, as Vladimir Zhirinovsky has suggested it should do. ..."

Furthermore, Putin's propaganda machine is being very consistent in claiming that there are NO Russian troops in Ukraine. When confronted with actual proof of Russian troops supporting the rebels in the east of Ukraine, Putin and his propaganda machine always refer to them as "off-duty" Russian soldiers "volunteering" to help the rebels in eastern Ukraine. This 'Orwellian Newspeak' of Putin's propaganda machine has, since the beginning of his invasion of eastern Ukraine, been thoroughly discredited by the actual facts, more so since the recent invasion of troops and hardware into the rebel-controlled areas of eastern Ukraine. (Nov 12 2014: Melik Kaylan: Forbes)
 

Melik Kaylan

 Yet Putin is convinced that by throwing more and more money at his propaganda machines, and by extending its global reach, this will allow him to somehow 'discredit' the facts to fit in with his distortions thereof. Unfortunately for him, people in the west have access to the facts and, more importantly, can both privately and publicly, exercise critical thought over events irrespective of the avalanche of distortions directed towards them from Putin's propaganda machines. Putin's reception at the recent G20 Meeting in Australia rather clearly illustrates the incapacity of his  propaganda machines to control the thoughts and perceptions of people in the west.

Leaders at G20 Meeting

Heather Mcnab (for Dailymail Australia: 16 November 2014) rather accurately describes his reception at this summit, and which also illustrates just how ineffective his global propaganda machines are.

From Vlad to worse: He was snubbed at the airport, made to sit alone at dinner, shunted to the edge of the family photo and condemned by world leaders… it’s no wonder President Putin was Russian to leave the G20 summit

• Russian President Vladimir Putin has left Australia, cutting his attendance at Brisbane's G20 Summit short
• The weekend saw a series of diplomatic snubs from Western leaders who demanded accountability from the Russian President for the MH17 flight disaster
• Many expected outright confrontation as Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott had threatened to 'shirtfront' the Russian hardman and some had speculated whether he would be banned from the event entirely

• The weekend got off to a bad start when Mr Putin was greeted at Brisbane airport by minor political figures, only minutes before delegates from China and Germany were met by the cream of Australia's political crop
• The Russian president had an awkward encounter when he was greeted by Mr Abbott, giving an odd hand gesture
• Mr Putin was put in 'social Siberia' in the G20 leaders 'family photo' and ate dinner alone
• Canadian PM Stephen Harper allegedly told Mr Putin to 'get out of the Ukraine' while other leaders including US President Barack Obama publicly condemned Russia's involvement in the embattled nation
• Mr Putin announced he was leaving the Summit early after a 'tense' meeting with UK leader David Cameron
• The Russian President claimed he was leaving early due to long flight back to Russia and the need to sleep 

Mr Putin's visit to Australia was marred by a series of diplomatic snubs and frostiness from Western leaders, sparking an early exit for the Russian hardman who flew out of Australia on Sunday afternoon, cutting his intended stay short

No matter how much money Putin throws at his propaganda machines, he does seem to find it rather 'strange' that in the west people are not as receptive to his propaganda as is his audience in Russia.

It is thus no wonder that,

"David Cameron warned Vladimir Putin, face to face, that Russia’s whole post-Cold War relationship with the West is at a “fork in the road” over Ukraine. After a tense build-up to the meeting over the past week, when the Prime Minister has repeatedly compared Russia’s interventions in Ukraine with the actions of Nazi Germany, the pair gave no quarter in talks lasting nearly an hour." (Monday 17 November 2014) (my emphasis)

Demonstrators at G20 Meeting against Putin's invasion of Ukraine

However, if Andrew Critchlow is correct that Putin,

" ... [in] his glib response to these threats and warnings [at the G20 summit] was [simply] to complain about a lack of sleep, [and that his response is] suggesting that he is preparing to dig in over his support for pro-Russian separatists around Donetsk..."

then we should all be worried.

(to be continued)

Putin's insane nuclear gambit

Russian troops entering Ukraine nuclear-capable? 

This is the news that greets the world this morning, the 12th November 2014.

Obama has now to decide whether he is going to continually avert the eyes of the world away from Putin's insane and dangerously escalating war against Ukraine by continuing to focus the eyes of the world on ebola and ISIS. Putin has reached a point of no return. The rapid build-up of troops and equipment in eastern Ukraine and Crimea, coupled with the recent escalating encounters between NATO and Russian forces, signifies that Putin is throwing down the gauntlet to both the US and the EU. Yesterday, as reported by Steve Sherer, NATO Commander Philip Breedlove had this to say.

"In the air those interactions [between NATO and Russian Forces] have multiplied, by some accounts, as many as three times ... We now see larger (Russian) forces participating, as opposed to one or two bombers in the past" (11 November 2014)

NATO Commander Philip Breedlove

In a speech Monday, [British PM] Cameron said Russia's actions are "destabilizing a sovereign state" and pose a "grave danger to the rest of Europe," 25 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall. (VOA News: November 11, 2014)

David Cameron - British Prime Minister

Furthermore, that he "... promised to tell Russian President Vladimir Putin at the [upcoming] G20 meeting in Australia that if Russia continues its actions in Ukraine, then Britain and its allies will keep upping the pressure."

Meanwhile, "Germany's foreign minister [Frank-Walter Steinmeier] has said that the situation in Ukraine's insurgent-occupied eastern regions has become 'serious' and has urged all sides in the conflict to return to the terms of the Minsk peace deal signed in September", whilst the 'fragrant' Mogherini, the "EU's foreign policy chief  ..... says OSCE reports of heavy tanks and weapons in Donetsk are "a very worrying development." The EU has called on Russia to withdraw from Ukraine any troops and weapons under its control. (Ukraine Today: Nov. 11, 2014)

Yet again Russia's favoured nation, Germany, is pushing Putin's Trojan Minsk Deal, whilst the 'fragrant' Mogherini is "worried" about Putin's blatant invasion of Ukraine. Added to which, Angela Merkel said yesterday  (Nov 11 2014)

".. that there were no plans at present for further economic sanctions on Russia over Ukraine, but she was unhappy that a cease-fire agreement was being broken and that pro-Russian rebels had gone ahead with their elections." (my emphasis)

Contrast this with the response of David Cameron (British PM) wanting the pressure on Putin to be increased.

One cannot but help to be reminded of the words of Alexander Motyl that,

"In the final analysis, the willingness of France, Germany and all the other states making up the European Union to respond to Putin's evil doing will determine the moral fate of the EU. If they sacrifice morality to arms contracts or gas, the EU will have lost its raison d'etre. Worse, like Putin, it will be without a soul." (my emphasis)

Alexander Motyl

The rumblings within the EU about economic assistance to Ukraine over the enormous gas bill that Putin is presenting to them is further evidence that the moral fate of the EU is at stake.

As recently as Oct 31, 2014, ABC News reported that,

"The EU is not paying fresh money or additional money to help Ukraine pay its gas bills," said [EU spokeswoman Marlene Holzner]. "And the EU is not giving any guarantee to the Russian side in case Ukraine says we cannot order X amount of gas or we cannot pay."

Has the EU conveniently forgotted the billions of dollars that was stolen from Ukraine's coffers by Victor Yanukovich, now comfortably residing in Russia under the protection of Putin, and that would have allowed Ukraine to pay off all the monies it now owes to Russia? As reported by Reuters (Wed Apr 30, 2014),

"[Former acting Ukrainian Prosecutor General Oleh Makhnitsky] said that Yanukovich and his people had spirited $32 billion dollars in cash across the border in trucks as his power crumbled early this year and that some of the money was now being used to fund separatists in eastern Ukraine. (my emphasis) This money is now in Putin's Russia. What is the guessing that Putin's Bank Rossiya now holds this money?

Oleh Makhnitsky

Even "FBI and U.S. Treasury agents have arrived in Kyiv to aid Ukraine’s interim leaders to uncover the financial crimes of the government of ousted President Viktor Yanukovych in an effort to repatriate billions of dollars." (James Dettmer: March 10, 2014)

Why, therefore, is the EU so deafeningly silent over the stolen Ukrainian billions that they know is in Putin's Russia?

And now we have Putin's nuclear-capable troops entering Ukrainian Crimea, and truckloads of Russian soldiers and equipment entering eastern Ukraine.

What Putin is doing in Ukraine is also having repercussions in Kazakhstan, a member of Putin's Eurasian Economic Union.

As reported by Abdujalil Abdurasulov (BBC: 9 November 2014) from northern Kazakhstan,

"The crisis in Ukraine has prompted many [in Kazakhstan]  to ask who the Russian community in Kazakhstan would support if relations with Moscow turned sour.

"Events in Ukraine became a good lesson for Kazakhstan," says Dosym Satpayev, a political analyst.
He says that it helped people to realise that northern Kazakhstan is a very sensitive issue - and not simply because of large Russian communities living there.

Mr Satpayev argues that people in the region, like many others in Kazakhstan, are especially receptive to Russia's propaganda machine. (my emphasis)

"It means that if there is a conflict between our countries, some people in Kazakhstan will support Russian policy towards Kazakhstan," he says.

"And maybe some of these people will support the same scenario as we see in Ukraine."
Such concerns have led to some friction with Moscow.

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev has even talked of leaving President Putin's Eurasian Economic Union "if it threatens independence".

President Nazarbayev (right) is feeling the breath of Russia's President Vladimir Putin in more ways than one

It is truly ironic that the president of Kazakhstan is willing to stand up against Putin whilst so many EU politicians are afraid to.

 (to be continued)

Gorbachev and Ukraine

During the celebrations of the fall of the Berlin Wall (Nov 9 2014) , Gorbachev gave a speech at the German Allianz Forum which, amidst all its New World Order propaganda, seems to have been written by Putin himself.

Firstly, he stated that the war in Ukraine is nothing more than a 'fratricidal' conflict in the family of Ukraine, NOT an invasion by Putin's army or his use of his criminal proxies in Donetsk and Luhansk.

Secondly like Merkel, Mogherini, and many members of the EU, he called for Putin's Trojan Minsk Agreement to be the pivot around which the war raging in eastern Ukraine should be resolved, as well as the lifting of the sanctions against Russia.

Thirdly, he glossed over Putin's ranting diatribe against the US and Ukraine in particular at his Valdai Conference, and actually stated that  Putin's speech outlined the basis for a new partnership (New World Order?) between the US, the EU, and Ukraine (minus, of course, the criminally annexed Crimea and the rebel-occupied areas of eastern Ukraine).

                                     

Perhaps most disturbing of all is Gorbachev's assertion that there can be NO SECURITY in Europe without a strong Russian-German partnership.

Here we should all be reminded of Putin's recent remarks regarding the pact between Hitler and Stalin.

 As Tom Parfitt  informed us from Moscow as recently as Nov 6 2014,

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

Hitler                                                    Putin        

We might now say that Merkel could equally pronounce that,

"There is nothing wrong with Germany fully supporting Putin's Trojan Minsk Agreement so that the strong economic relations between a Putin-favoured Germany and Russia can be re-instated as soon as possible."

Putin with Angela Merkel and former German Chancellor Gehard Schroeder

Now if this relationship between Putin and Merkel was not enough,  Aljazeera reported on Nov. 8, 2014 that,

" ....Sergei Lavrov and John Kerry agree at talks in Beijing to exchange information about [the]  situation on Russia-Ukraine border."

Furthermore, that

"Russia's foreign minister Sergey Lavrov has welcomed US involvement in resolving the Ukraine crisis, saying it would be a "step in the right direction," in comments that appear to reflect a toning down in bilateral tension that has been at its worst since the end of the Cold War."

Kerry and Lavrov

Is Obama, through Secretary of State Kerry, trying to present the new Republican Senate and House of Representatives, specifically Senator McCain,  the incoming chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, with a fait accompli regarding his strategy towards Putin and the situation in Ukraine? 

Senator McCain

McCain 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]) 

Was Putin's build-up of Russian troops and equipment in the rebel-controlled areas of eastern Ukraine a pre-emptive strike against the outcome of the recent American elections? And why was Gorbachev so deafeningly silent about this invasion of Ukraine by Putin's army?

Mikhail Gorbachev

Maybe it is, as David Blair (Nov 9 2014) so perceptively points out,

"When crowds surged through the Brandenburg Gate, presaging the birth of a new Europe, did America and its allies then bungle the moment and behave in a way that made today’s confrontation with Russia all but inevitable? Put bluntly, did they cheat and humiliate Russia at its moment of weakness, thereby sowing the seeds of President Vladimir Putin’s revanchism? That is certainly the view of Mikhail Gorbachev."

 

In other words, according to Gorbachev, the west is entirely to blame for Putin's war against Ukraine. It all hinges on the expansion of NATO i.e. enlarging its membership to include six previous members of the Warsaw Pact and three former Soviet republics.  Apparently, according to Gorbachev, a unified Germany joining NATO was okay, but all those 'other' former members of the Warsaw Pact should have been denied NATO membership.

NATO

As David Blair points out,

"Six nations broke away from the Warsaw Pact; the Soviet Union, meanwhile, dissolved into 15 successor states. The essence of the revolution in Moscow’s thinking that Mr Gorbachev presided over was his acceptance that each of these countries had every right to go its own way and choose its own path."

Furthermore,

"If Mr Gorbachev really thinks that after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Russia should have been granted a veto over Nato membership for its former satellite states then that is an example of the very Cold War mentality he was supposed to reject. Today, however, that is effectively what Mr Putin seeks. He will not tolerate Ukraine turning West and seeking eventual membership of the European Union, even if that is what most of its people want."

It would now seem that to Putin, Merkel, and Mogherini, we have to add Gorbachev, a member of the Club de Madrid. (Dear readers, may I suggest that if you click on this link you leave it so that you can see the moving scroll of who the ex-prime ministers and ex-president members are.)

(to be continued)

Lifting the veil behind Putin (Part 2)

On 28 June 1991, Putin was appointed head of the Committee for External Relations (the KVS) of the Saint Petersburg Mayor's Office, with responsibility for promoting international relations and foreign investments. As Karen Dawisha points out, from this time,

"..Putin occupied one position after another [in St. Petersburg] that regulated and controlled the privatization process, becoming indispensible in legalizing what otherwise would have been illicit activities. He relied not only on friends and coworkers in the former KGB, but also on those who shared his desire to develop capitalism in Russia, including both economists and businessmen who were willing to take the extraordinary risks required to build something from nothing in post-Soviet Russia. For this they needed and initially relied on criminal elements from the Russian underworld." (Putin's Kleptocracy (PK). Who owns Russia p39) (my emphasis) Let it particularly be noted that Dmitri Medvedev was Putin's legal advisor at the time. (PK p. 65)
 

Part of Putins members of the Ozera Dacha 
                                                          Consumer Co-operative. Some members of           his 'pakhan' regime.

During this time, also,Putin set up the Ozera Dacha Consumer Co-operative. More than anything else, this dacha complex cemented the relationships between Putin and his choosen 'pakhan'.

A Russian ' pakhan' is similar to a Mafia 'capo'. A caporegime or capodecina, usually shortened to just a capo, is a term used in the Mafia for a high-ranking made member of a crime family who heads a "crew" of soldiers and has major social status and influence in the organization.

One could translate this into Putin's criminal group as,

" A 'pakhan' is a high-ranking made member of Putin's crime family who heads a "crew" of FSB 'soldiers' and has major political status and influence in Russia."

Unlike the Italian Mafia, however, Putin's 'caporegime' is fully trained and experienced in KGB  tactics (except Dmitri Medvedev) and bound by Checkism i.e. loyalty to the idea of an unbroken chain of security services, from Lenin's Cheka through the KGB to Russia's new FSB, (PK p.29).

As an indication of the continuing close links between Putin and Russia's criminal mobsters since his time in St. Petersburg; Sergei Mikhailov, widely believed to be a leader of the powerful Solntsevo organized crime group ....is claiming that the Russian leader recently honored him with a presidential wristwatch. [He is claiming] on his website that Putin awarded him the prestigious timepiece on May 14.[2014]

Sergei Mikhailov and the presidential wristwatch

A Kirkus review quoting from Karen Dawisha's book sums up Putin rather neatly.

"In his first 100 days, Putin clamped down on the media, surrounded himself with loyalists, (read 'pakhan') shoved out opponents, changed the symbolism of the country (returning to prominence a version of the old Soviet national anthem), embraced international organized crime, enriched those who supported him, impoverished and even imprisoned those who didn’t, avoided prosecutions on earlier corruption charges, and forced the media to portray him as “the undisputed Leader of his People.” He continues to misinform and deceive the public about international events." (my emphasis)

Western governments are fully knowledgeable about Putin's past and current criminality. Why, then, do so many members of the EU establishment choose to ignore the fact that Putin is a dyed-in-the-wool criminal ? How can they not be aware of Putin's current and past criminal activity with all that information at their fingertips? Karen Dawisha's exceptionally detailed book outlines the origin, nature, and continuing criminal exercise of the power of Putin's kleptocracy over the Russian people in particular, and its current attempt to extend their power over the Ukrainian people by waging war against them. Yet Karen Dawisha cannot tell the whole story because of the secrecy surrounding the added information that Western governments have and rather conveniently define as "secret".

On July 25, 2014, rather presciently,  Alexander Motyl  posed the question,

"Is Putin evil? His actions certainly are, if by evil we understand behavior that willfully, consciously and purposely destroys human life. Perhaps we can call his actions undeniably evil and Putin himself "evil enough." Evil enough for what? Evil enough for condemnation by people of good will."

Alexander Motyl

He further stated that,

"Ultimately, France and Germany, as well as all countries that aid and abet Russia's destructive capabilities, have to decide whether they care more about values or about money. Dictatorships can answer that question easily: Their leaders [like Putin] are indifferent to values."

Yet yesterday Gorbachev gave a press  interview in Germany, arguing in part that ALL sanctions against Russia should be dropped.Why? So that we can all step back from the brink of a nuclear war. Has he not heard Putin threatening nuclear war? Did he not say (Aug 31 2014) that,

"“I want to remind you that Russia is one of the most powerful nuclear nations,” he said. “This is a reality, not just words.” Russia, he told listeners, is “strengthening our nuclear deterrence forces.” (my emphasis)

Who, therefore, is pushing the world towards the brink of nuclear war?

 Added to which, fear and despair is mounting amongst the people of Ukraine as Putin accellerates his invasion of eastern Ukraine by sending in dozens of tanks. ( Greg Botelho CNN Nov 7 2014)

Today, the 9th of November 2014, whilst Gorbachev is being given pride of place during the celebratory festivities in Germany about the fall of the Berlin wall, Britain is today commemorating 'Armistice Day', a day of remeberance of the fallen in WW1, WW2, the Korean War, and more recently the war in Afghanistan.

(to be continued)

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)"