Tightrope: Punishing
Putin While Seeking his Aid (El Pais, Spain)
"The civil
war destroying Syria will not end without the help of Russia, a power that
supports and nurtures the Assad regime. It is there that can be found the
epicenter of an earthquake with colossal repercussions, such as the growing
threat of the Islamic State and the resulting centrifugal movement of people
fleeing barbarity and death. … One must include Russia, yet its abuses cannot
go unanswered. … Russia has forced Brussels - and Washington - into the contortions
of simultaneously seeking to make deals with it and punish it for its abuses.
We’ll see if they manage to maintain this."
Regardless of what Brussels seeks to do, it stumbles when it
comes to Russia - and we all know that this is never without its costs.
Brussels knows it as well as Washington does -for example when it comes to
stemming the massive flight of refugees from the shores of Africa to European
ports.
The civil war among various groups destroying Syria will not
end without the help of Russia, a power that supports and nurtures the Bashar al
Assad regime. It is there that can be found the epicenter of an earthquake with
colossal repercussions, such as the growing threat of the Islamic State and the
resulting centrifugal movement of people fleeing barbarity and death. The
Security Council resolution advocated by Spain to block sea transports at the
coast before they depart - in short a military intervention - cannot occur
without Moscow’s consent.
Europe even needs to keep half an eye on the Kremlin as it
resolves the Greek crisis, and even more so in negotiations with Iran to keep
it from obtaining nuclear weapons: just look at the way Russia broke the
embargo and negotiated the sale to Teheran of the S-300 missiles - which will
make it far more difficult the attack Iranian nuclear installations in the event
negotiations fail.
Posted By Worldmeets.US
It is no wonder that the European Union trips over Russia at
every step. From the geopolitical bird’s eye view, Europe is only one end of
the cast Eurasian land mass on which Russia is the central power with hegemonic
ambitions. It may be that it is now in recession due to the fall of oil prices;
its demographic projections are dismal; and its economy corroded by political
corruption and inefficiency, but it possesses nuclear weapons, it holds veto power
on the U.N. Security Council and is led by a man with imperial pretensions.
Victory Day 2015: Hollande, Cameron and Obama won't be Missed! (Izvestia, Russia)
One must include Russia, yet its abuses cannot go unanswered.
That should be especially clear in the case of Ukraine, where the Kremlin has
violated and continues to violate the rules of the game almost on a daily basis.
It did so with the annexation of Crimea; then with its arrogant support for pro-Russian
militias that have become entrenched in the Donbas basin; and it may do it
again this spring with an offensive to open a land corridor to Crimea - as the
Ukrainians fear.
We should not wait for the third aggression to intensify sanctions
against Putin. This time the European Commission wanted to trip over Russia: Brussels
charged
Gazprom with abusing its dominant position.
Brussels did so quite reasonably, with ample justification and within its
proper domain and prerogatives, i.e.: that of the common market, where the E.U.
demonstrated that when it wants to it can demonstrate power and is capable of
confronting anyone, be it Google or Gazprom . Europe cannot supply the weapons to Ukraine that Kiev seeks
as that is the exclusive prerogative of each of its 28 member states, but it
can do other things.
Russia has forced Brussels - and Washington - into the contortions
of simultaneously seeking to make deals with it and punish it for its abuses.
We’ll see if they manage to maintain this.
