” Putin said that the Ukrainian military would be a better negotiating partner than “a bunch of drug addicts and neo-Nazis” who have “entrenched themselves in Kiev,” and have been holding the people hostage.
https://www.rt.com/russia/550628-putin-address-ukraine-military-power/
Russia’s strategic weakness is not her military. Her weakness is her respect for international rules of war and her desire not to harm the Ukrainian population in the interest of good relations once the Nazi elements are removed. The Kremlin actually cares about what people think. This is a frustration and a weakness for Russia, because she has no way of controlling the narrative. Whatever Russia does will be painted black, so she might as well do whatever is necessary to clear out the Nazis before she is faced with a self-imposed stalemate. The Kremlin does not seem to understand that if only Russia abides by international law, there is no international law. Indeed, the Western countries do not even abide by their own domestic laws.
The problem did not start with the Russian intervention yesterday. It began with Washington’s overthrow of a democratically elected government and installation of a puppet regime powerless to prevent the Nazis from developing an independent military force. The Kremlin should have nipped this in the bud, but naively believing in diplomacy failed to do so.
Russia is in trouble because she is forever imposing limits on her use of power. This works only if your opponents have the same mentality. Unfortunately, Russia’s opponents do not.
We see the same Russian unwillingness to act in her response to the latest round of sanctions. True, the sanctions do seem to be more damaging for Europe and the US than for Russia. But humiliation remains in a powerful country accepting sanctions from two-bit punk countries that she could destroy completely in two minutes.
To stop sanctions and all talk of sanctions, all the Kremlin needs to do is to stop the gas flows to Europe. As the president of one of the large EU energy grid companies said, if this happened German industry would have to be taken off the energy grid. In other words, a complete shutdown of German industry–the same as if it were bombed into oblivion. As it is still winter, a lot of Germans would have cold weather inside their homes.
But what do we see? We see this: The head of the Russian Senate, Valentina Matviyenko said that Russia will remain a reliable gas supplier for Europe despite measures taken by the US and Germany against the Russian-backed Nord Stream 2 pipeline project. Berlin decided to put an immediate halt to the certification of the project even before Russia launched its operation in Ukraine. The decision was taken following the official recognition by Moscow of the two breakaway Donetsk and Lugansk Republics earlier this week.
The EU sanctions on Russian banks were altered in order to take advantage of Russian stupidity: Germany’s finance minister said on Friday that EU sanctions over Russia’s military operation in Ukraine had led to Russian banks being nearly completely blocked in his country. The only transactions still allowed were those by German companies to pay for Russian gas, Christian Lindner said. https://www.rt.com/business/550619-germany-blocks-russian-banks/
We can say it is not stupidity, that Russia is simply complying with contractual agreements, showing herself to be a good and reliable business partner. Or we can say that Russia’s incompetent economists and central bank have convinced the Kremlin, whose specialty is not economics, that Russia needs the foreign exchange from gas sales. But it is stupid. Russia will get no credit for being a reliable business partner. Certainly Germany has no interest in being a reliable partner for Russia as demonstrated by cancelling the Nord 2 pipeline. As for foreign exchange, Russia has no need of it and it will only be confiscated by sanctions if it is held in instruments denominated in US or EU currency.
https://www.rt.com/russia/550628-putin-address-ukraine-military-power/
Russia’s strategic weakness is not her military. Her weakness is her respect for international rules of war and her desire not to harm the Ukrainian population in the interest of good relations once the Nazi elements are removed. The Kremlin actually cares about what people think. This is a frustration and a weakness for Russia, because she has no way of controlling the narrative. Whatever Russia does will be painted black, so she might as well do whatever is necessary to clear out the Nazis before she is faced with a self-imposed stalemate. The Kremlin does not seem to understand that if only Russia abides by international law, there is no international law. Indeed, the Western countries do not even abide by their own domestic laws.
The problem did not start with the Russian intervention yesterday. It began with Washington’s overthrow of a democratically elected government and installation of a puppet regime powerless to prevent the Nazis from developing an independent military force. The Kremlin should have nipped this in the bud, but naively believing in diplomacy failed to do so.
Russia is in trouble because she is forever imposing limits on her use of power. This works only if your opponents have the same mentality. Unfortunately, Russia’s opponents do not.
We see the same Russian unwillingness to act in her response to the latest round of sanctions. True, the sanctions do seem to be more damaging for Europe and the US than for Russia. But humiliation remains in a powerful country accepting sanctions from two-bit punk countries that she could destroy completely in two minutes.
To stop sanctions and all talk of sanctions, all the Kremlin needs to do is to stop the gas flows to Europe. As the president of one of the large EU energy grid companies said, if this happened German industry would have to be taken off the energy grid. In other words, a complete shutdown of German industry–the same as if it were bombed into oblivion. As it is still winter, a lot of Germans would have cold weather inside their homes.
But what do we see? We see this: The head of the Russian Senate, Valentina Matviyenko said that Russia will remain a reliable gas supplier for Europe despite measures taken by the US and Germany against the Russian-backed Nord Stream 2 pipeline project. Berlin decided to put an immediate halt to the certification of the project even before Russia launched its operation in Ukraine. The decision was taken following the official recognition by Moscow of the two breakaway Donetsk and Lugansk Republics earlier this week.
The EU sanctions on Russian banks were altered in order to take advantage of Russian stupidity: Germany’s finance minister said on Friday that EU sanctions over Russia’s military operation in Ukraine had led to Russian banks being nearly completely blocked in his country. The only transactions still allowed were those by German companies to pay for Russian gas, Christian Lindner said. https://www.rt.com/business/550619-germany-blocks-russian-banks/
We can say it is not stupidity, that Russia is simply complying with contractual agreements, showing herself to be a good and reliable business partner. Or we can say that Russia’s incompetent economists and central bank have convinced the Kremlin, whose specialty is not economics, that Russia needs the foreign exchange from gas sales. But it is stupid. Russia will get no credit for being a reliable business partner. Certainly Germany has no interest in being a reliable partner for Russia as demonstrated by cancelling the Nord 2 pipeline. As for foreign exchange, Russia has no need of it and it will only be confiscated by sanctions if it is held in instruments denominated in US or EU currency.
RT
Putin tells Ukrainian military to ‘take power into their hands’
Russian President Vladimir Putin has called on the Ukrainian Army to seize power and negotiate with Moscow in place of the officials in Kiev
The Russian central bank does not need foreign currency to finance Russian economic development. If Russia is content for Europe to deplete her energy resources, she should bill in rubles in order to strengthen her currency rather than the currency of her enemies.
So, despite her military predominance, Russia’s position is weak. It is weakened further by Putin’s commitment to globalism. Here is an amazing inconsistency in Putin’s position. Putin is committed to Russia’s sovereignty, but the sovereignty of countries is inconsistent with globalism. Putin can have one or the other but not both.
I suspect that if the West is able to bring Russia down, it will be because of Russia’s commitment to globalism
So, despite her military predominance, Russia’s position is weak. It is weakened further by Putin’s commitment to globalism. Here is an amazing inconsistency in Putin’s position. Putin is committed to Russia’s sovereignty, but the sovereignty of countries is inconsistent with globalism. Putin can have one or the other but not both.
I suspect that if the West is able to bring Russia down, it will be because of Russia’s commitment to globalism
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