Putin Knows: No One in West is Willing to Die for Sebastopol (de
Morgan, Belgium)
"What has Ukraine's economy got to offer that outweighs European
energy dependence on Russian oil and gas? ... In the cynical game called
geopolitics, every European and American leader knows that no one in the West
is willing to die for Sebastopol. And Putin knows that, too."
It turns out that Secretary of State John Kerry felt he had to show himself in Kiev - with a $1 billion aid package. Here, he meets with Ukraine's acting President Oleksander Turchinov, March 4.
Vladimir
Putin doesn't seem very impressed with European and U.S. warnings. On the
contrary, every day he escalates the Russian-Ukrainian conflict just a little more.
Perhaps he isn't completely convinced of the sincerity and justification for
the criticism being voiced against him. "You just don't in the
twenty-first century behave in nineteenth-century fashion by invading another
country on completely trumped up pretexts," said U.S. Secretary of State
John Kerry - with conviction. Right - for example as in the case of Iraq and its
alleged weapons of mass destruction we are still looking for.
Posted By
Worldmeets.US
An
interesting analysis of Putin's boldness in the face of U.S. and European
pressure comes from journalist Ben Judah, who wrote an authoritative book on
the power network surrounding Putin [Fragile Empire: How Russia Fell In and Out of
Love with Vladimir Putin]. According to him, over the last decade, the
Russian oligarchy has watched Europe with growing amazement. For the most part because
we had so few complaints when the Russians bought nearly half of London and the
Riviera - and not always with properly-obtained funds.
Putin's
own central bank recently estimated that as much as two-thirds of the €40
billion that left the country in 2012 can likely be traced to illegal
activities such as corruption, drugs, and tax fraud. These are things Europe
has never had a problem with.
Indeed,
Russia’s mighty have gratefully used the financial and tax expertise of
European bankers and other City of London experts to place these suspicious
billions in the best tax havens available. So is it any wonder that the
Russians began to think Europe has the mentality and morality of a hedge fund?:
everything for the money and economic interests, and above all, don't believe
us when we talk about human rights, democracy, and territorial integrity.
It's
a cynical analysis, but true in more ways than one, because Europe and America
haven't paid more than lip service to the new leaders in Kiev. Who would dare
advocate an associative agreement with this odd jumble of sincere democrats -
but also extreme-right anti-Semitic fanatics and super nationalists, just
months before confronting an electorate which is more Eurosceptic
than ever? What has Ukraine’s economy got to offer that outweighs European
energy dependence on Russian oil and gas?
In
the cynical game called geopolitics, every European and American leader knows
that no one in the West is willing to die for Sebastopol. And Putin knows that,
too.
