A Vile Policy
The EU recently decided to shoot itself into the foot some more, by extending economic sanctions against Russia by another six months. The pretext offered for this utterly idiotic decision was that Russia had failed to fulfill the Minsk agreement because Ukraine’s eastern borders are not yet back under Kiev’s control.
As Bavarian politician Horst Seehofer pointed out, the EU neglected to mention the fact that Ukraine’s government has actually failed to fulfill the Minsk agreement as well – in fact, it has yet to implement its by far most important demand. This in turn is the very reason why the Eastern Ukrainian separatists are refusing to relinquish control of the border. The core of the Minsk agreement – the necessary precondition for a political solution – is that the Eastern Ukrainian regions are to be given a large degree of political autonomy. This is precisely the part of the agreement Kiev has so far failed to implement.
In other words, the EU expects the separatists to play dumb and simply hand over control of their most important supply routes in spite of having been left twisting in the wind with respect to the political promises they have been given. Right.
What EU bureaucrats and politicians apparently believe other people to be like.
Photo via artezblai.com
Germany’s bilateral trade with Russia has plunged by €17 billion in 2015 – compared to 2012, that is (we suspect the y/y data are even worse). Representatives of industry in Europe have manned the barricades against the senseless sanctions, complaining that they are “hostages of an anti-Russia policy”, alas to no avail. In order to fully understand how vile this policy is, one only has to consider who is actually paying for it – and who isn’t.
The high-ranking members of the EU’s bureaucratic and political class responsible for these decisions are making more money than 99% of the people who are earning their income by economic means. The latter are however creating the wealth that is confiscated by governments to pay the salaries of the former. The sanctions meanwhile are hitting specific groups of people – namely those working in the industries that are targeted by the EU sanctions and/or Russia’s counter-sanctions.
They have not been asked if they are consenting to this policy – they are just expected to swallow the bitter pill without demur. The bureaucrats and politicians will make just as much money as before, but they callously inflict this plight on other people, in unequal measure to boot (to add insult to injury, the same taxpayers are also stumping up for the countless billions thrown down the Ukrainian black hole by the EU and the IMF). Meanwhile, in Russia itself, it is not Mr. Putin or his colleagues and friends who are suffering due to the sanctions – the suffering is strictly reserved for poor and middle class citizens, who have been hit hard by the large decline in the ruble’s external value.
Vassals of the Empire
When US military-industrial complex shill John McCain first showed up in Ukraine, it was crystal clear to us that the country would soon wade knee-deep in blood and guts (we tend to think of him as the angel of death). The US foreign policy establishment remains riddled with Bush-era neocons and assorted Deep State representatives – people who regard Russia as their favored enemy, as a guarantee to keep the war racket in full swing. They love to hate Russia even more than Islam (after all, these are the same people who are openly shilling for an alliance between the US and Al Qaeda in Syria against Assad, another one of their big bugaboos).
