By Rostislav Ishchenko
Translated by Ollie Richardson and Angelina Siard
cross posted with http://www.stalkerzone.org/rostislav-ishchenko-how-putin-solved-the-problems-of-europe-and-the-us-in-passing-with-merkel/
source: https://ukraina.ru/exclusive/20180820/1020869901.html
Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin wasn’t the first Russian poet. Before him there was Zhukovsky, Derzhavin, and even Lomonosov. Beautiful, melodious verses were composed by many also after Pushkin. Nevertheless, he is “our everything”. Without him, without Pushkin’s language, not just Russian poetry, but the Russian language itself is incomplete…
Pushkin is exact and extremely laconic. He knows how to pack many meanings into only a few words. And he doesn’t use excess words. Do you remember: “Up there a prince in passing captures a fearsome tsar”. Just one word – “in passing” [two words in English – ed]. But how it characterises both people and process! Solving more important problems, in between times, a certain prince at the same time captured a fearsome (i.e., mighty, strong, dangerous) tsar (and it means he conquered him, his army, and his state).
I don’t know whether it was Peskov’s idea or it arrived by itself, but the Russian media, highlighting the visit of the president Putin to Germany, concentrated on the Austrian wedding, the Tula samovar, an ancient milkchurn, the Kuban choir, and the painting of an unknown (to us, so far) artist [all four are the gifts that Putin brought to the wedding – ed]. The meeting with Merkel and the solving of difficult global (including European) problems happened in passing. So, he went to wedding and at the same time attended to some affairs.
Meanwhile, the visit to Germany isn’t only symbolic – it is critical. For the third time in 100 years, the Reich finds itself in a condition of a rigid standoff with the same Anglo-Saxons who raised and nurtured it for the fight against Russia. Only this time the grown wiser Germany tries to keep France as an ally (instead of crushing it, like the two previous times) and isn’t eager for a Moscow campaign at all. It is rather on the contrary – it tries to reach an agreement with Russia concerning a joint standoff with Anglo-American aggression.
It is a very difficult process. It’s not only about history and “values”, but a consciousness most dear to bürgers — markets providing a multi-billion income, connecting Berlin and Washington. It is almost impossible to escape from “brotherly” embraces without suffering considerable damage. For a long time Germany didn’t even try to do this, obediently joining the sanctions regime. At first the introduction of sanctions was still shaped by more or less worthy pretexts, for example: “Russia is to blame for the fact that the West organised a coup in Ukraine, and now Ukrainians kill each other with ecstasy during civil war”. Four years have passed and sanctions are imposed even for the fact that the Brits out of fear killed the cat of the Skripals, and also for the fact that the Americans elected Trump as president, and not Clinton.
The “gloomy German genius” would reconcile even with this. Losses because of sanctions have already been incurred, and bypassing routes have been found. Those who can enter the Russian market with an exclusive offer remain there. The others calculate their losses. Russia, under the name of import substitution, radically reorganises its economy. The sector focused on national production rejoices. The sector focused on import weeps.
But here it became clear that the Americans want to take away from the Germans their “cow” – the European Union, and to milk it themselves. But Germany in exchange is granted the “honourable” right to increase military expenses fourfold and switch from Russian gas to the three times more expensive American gas.
At this moment something skipped a beat inside the Germans. It isn’t excluded that they even remembered that Hitler, in the last five years of his life, blamed Anglo-Saxon “plutocracy” (his expression) with even more bad words than the Jews and Slavs hated by him. In general it entered the bürgers’ mind that Germany has two paths: to perish once again, or to make friends with Russia and smoothly but quickly – since the time for reflections passed already five years ago – reorientate its economy from the American to the Eurasian market.
This is a very difficult and painful process, and the Germans up to the very end tried to change nothing, hoping that somehow they will come out unscathed. But they didn’t. The weakened America, in the inverse proportion, became so impudent that it tried to decide on Germany’s behalf what gas pipelines it should build and which ones “harm European security”.
If the current crisis doesn’t transform into a global catastrophic military conflict, and all the history of mankind will remain, then the future generations of historians will undoubtedly pinpoint the discussion about “Nord Stream-2” as one of the main reasons for the disintegration of NATO and the reformed European Union’s reorientation from the US towards Russia. On the eve of the Austrian wedding Putin pinpointed topics of future discussions in Berlin, as well as a discussion about global questions, including economic and security, and he also placed an accent on the question of “Nord Stream-2”. In turn, the Germans on the eve of the meeting once again stressed that “Nord Stream-2” is a solved question and that it won’t be discussed with the Americans in any form.
Actually, this is everything that should be known about this meeting. Putin flied to Berlin not to reach an agreement or to synchronise watches. In fact, agreements had been reached before the visit. It was the ways in which the American problem can be solved that was discussed in Berlin. How to appease a bull the most without there being serious consequences for the china shop. In Berlin the most general forms of technical solutions to the problem that is the post-American world were worked out. Moreover, judging by the contented faces of the participants and a minimum of information, mutual understanding was full and comprehensive.
We will be able to see the main results of this meeting over the next 12 months, and they will be expressed in the careful, but quick rapprochement between Germany and Russia, against the background of the contradictory and twitchy policy of the US. By the way, the question of recognising Crimea as Russian again arose in Washington just because the US cannot offer anything to counter this careful but quick rapprochement. And within the framework of this rapprochement, Europe will sooner or later recognise the actual status of Crimea anyway.
Putin also spoke in passing, but quite concretely about the prospects of solving this problem, as well as settling the entire Ukrainian crisis. When he was asked a question by a journalist, he answered by saying that we will also discuss Ukraine.
This “also” for Kiev is worse than Russian tanks on the Khreshchatyk. The West solves the Ukrainian problem with Russia without Ukraine among other questions. Ukraine is not only not the main subject of a meeting, it is simply one of many: about nature, about the weather, about Papuans, and at the same time about Ukraine. In the media the Ukrainian topic is far less relevant than the Austrian wedding and the Kuban Cossack choir being 10 minutes late to it.
It is not just an effective policy. It is also a beautiful performance. Putin went to a wedding, and at the same time solved European problems in a global context, and also spoke about Ukraine.
I find it delightful how this writer shows how well the Russians have a window into the German soul. Thank you for a most civilized post.
I agree! Absolutely fantastic article! Thank you, Rostislav Ishchenko!
Oh, bravo – splendid writing!
I was reading elsewhere about the puzzlement concerning the ‘silence’ of Russia in view of Washingtonian events resembling the bull run in Pamplona. (My comment on said events is that Trump is going to be re-elected overwhelmingly as a consequence of all of that malarkey, and then we’ll see who is boss.)
But yes, this is beautiful! Putin went to a wedding. Beautiful.
The next American elections are the mid-terms for Congress. All of the House of Representatives is up for election, as well as 1/3rd of the Senate.
Of course, little can change in Congressional elections. Most seats are held by entrenched incumbents in a gerrymandered district. In most Congressional election years, something like 95% of the Congress returns after the elections, with most of those who leave doing so voluntarily to take a promotion to the better paying job of lobbyist.
On the other hand, the majorities held by the Republicans are so very narrow, that even a few seats changing hands can change it up at least a little bit. The Republicans hold a 1 seat margin in the Senate, and IIRC 17 seats in the House. Thus, even in the small slice of the Congress that can actually change hands via democracy, it might be enough to change who’s in power.
But even then, the policies do not change. If the Democrats do get a majority, they won’t impeach Trump. At least not over anything revealed so far. In American politics, both parties make a lot of noise about some issues when they are out of power, only to go along with those same issues quite happily after they gain power. The world saw this with the Democrats who were fanatically anti-war and anti-Bush when not in the majority of Congress, but who then did nothing to oppose Bush and strongly supported the wars after gaining majorities in 2006. Expect the same with this election.
Normally there would be a swing against a President during the mid-terms. This time its hard to tell. The Democrats have doubled-down on all of their losing campaign strategies of the last few years, and usually when someone makes that mistake it comes back to hurt them. Democrats could have been campaigning on Trump’s cabinet of billionaires and his tax cuts for the rich and how the working-class Trump voters get the short end of the deal, but they aren’t. Probably because todays Democrats would have their own billionaire cabinets and their own tax cuts for the rich. Thus, its hard to tell how this election will turn out.
But either way, don’t expect much to change. The same lobbyists will own the next Congress that owned this last one. A few faces will change, as new Congresspeople replace those who become the new lobbyists. But that’s about it. The new boss will be exactly the same as the old boss.
I tend to assume that Europeans know a bit more about European history than Americans. That may not always be correct, but still seems a useful approximation.
An American congresswoman (Waters) got Crimea confused with Korea. Its hard to imagine a European making that elementary of a mistake. And even if they don’t know Russian history per se, an Englishman who knows a bit of his own history and literature would know that it was not Ukrainians that they were fighting during the Charge of the Light Brigade outside Sevastapol.
Thus, while the media and the government can pull the wool over American’s eyes with their claims that Russia ‘annexed’ Crimea, its more likely that a European might ask “wait, wasn’t Crimea Russian long ago?”
I expect Europe to see and accept reality over Crimea before most Americans wake up and realize that it was all fake news. Especially when German bankers and German industrialists all complain about the money they are losing in Russia.
”An American congresswoman (Waters) got Crimea confused with Korea. It’s hard to imagine a European making that elementary of a mistake.”
Maybe with the exception of the silly fellow who has been dropping clangers of this magnitude for 40+ years — the King of Sweden. Case in point: The erstwhile chancellor Helmut Kohl paid a visit to His Highness who greeted the fatso as Herr Reichskanzler, totally oblivious to the connotations of the title. I mean, the Swedish queen is of German descent and should have made clear to her intellectually challenged husband that ”Kohl is the Bundeskanzler of Germany, understood?”.
In the mid-1990s, Stockholm was greeted with its newest (sic) metropolitan station, only a few kilometres to the south of the city centre. The King held a speech and concluded: ”Pleasant journey to Greater Stockholm”. His world is quite small, evidently.
Maybe his Royal Highness is expecting “Herr Reichskanzler” to do what Bismarck did? On the other hand, what’s the difference. Bundes vs Reich. Reich sounds so much more, no more. Seriously now, does he suffer from Alzheimer’s?
The King of Sweden might be intellectually challenged but he is still “His Majesty”. His/Her Highness is a formal style used to address or refer to certain members of a reigning or formerly reigning dynasty.
Hmm, this sounds like what Habsburgs suffered from, in their days. Inbreeding caused many “developmental deficiencies”.
They already accept Crimea by act. They accept Russia and Crimea is part of Russia. Want to go to Crimea, get a Russian Visa. Seeking validation and acceptance through “recognition” is a weakness that I doubt Russian government seeks from the West. I think this is injected constantly in the press.
Ollie and Angelina, a splendid translation, again. Many thanks, for in this essay, our “guide”, Ishchenko, used a deft style, as if he was a butterfly, skywriting in the garden.
Oh, the truth Rostislav I. illuminates in this one.
We will see the results in the coming year, as Putin and a few sensible Europeans get the bull out of the china shop before all is turned to ruins.
Trump’s response: Putin has to help me! or more “highly likely” sanctions.
And Bolton? In search of ‘action’, wanders around Europe looking for help from Patrushev and the Federal Security Council, while he declares Russia (beloved in Syria, with 50 year leases for its naval and airpower) is “stuck” there, like it’s a tar baby* (*see US in Iraq and Afghanistan for examples of tar baby).
And then pathetic little Walker in Kiev and elsewhere indicating there is no solution for the US in Kiev, Donbass, Crimea, the Black Sea, the Baltics, wherever the US has trampled and planted bases, without Russia. Abject helplessness for this wannabe operative of Khazarian dreams.
Next up? Pompeo will state his case. Of course, he’s in charge of the Iran pulldown, so he has no time for Europe. He’s busy taking Hebrew lessons so he knows what his master wants him to do next.
Beautifully written – I can’t read Russian, but I imagine its even better in original form.
Yes, Putin is a master of the art as well as the science of diplomacy.
”At this moment something skipped a beat inside the Germans. It isn’t excluded that they even remembered that Hitler, in the last five years of his life, blamed Anglo-Saxon ’plutocracy’ (his expression) with even more bad words than the Jews and Slavs hated by him.”
Maybe, maybe not. But what is indisputable here is that Nazi Germany — firmly modelled on the US Settler Reich and Mussolini’s Italy — had absolutely no genocidal intents whatsoever in store for the Anglo-Americans. Sure, Nazi psychobabble and paranoia were quite ”flexible”, but actions speak louder than words. Indeed, it gets even more convincing when, as in Hitler’s case, he did live up to his words on the subject of Russia.
Today, Germany is firmly tied to a pair of rotting political cadavers: NATO and Merkel. The sad thing about Germany is that her politicians and media — with a few scattered exceptions — even as Germany faces outright violence, oppression, and extortion (the Holocaust racket) on the part of FUKUS do their utmost to conform to ’European values’. Russia has this problem too, but there the resolve is a very different one, appreciably reinforced by the sheer competence and national self-respect of her Government.
Merkel especially is a weak, anemic ”leader” who cannot even be troubled to make a bold, angry statement against US spying and eavesdropping targeting herself! As long as she is in charge, however unconvincing, Germany remains a NATO puppet.
Nussiminen
Well, it remains to be seen if Germany will continue being a puppet of NATO and the US. Times change. After all, Germany refused to cancel the building of the Nord Stream – 2 gas pipeline.
B.F.
Yes, that’s a start. The most promising sign is the disintegration of the EU, due to its incompetence, rampant corruption, and neoliberal greed. When the EU — especially the Euro — goes belly up, Germany will have less revenue coming from financial plundering of southern Europe and, consequently, she will then have to switch focus to her industrial prospects.
To remind people cheering on the downfall of the €- Putin wants to use the Euro for mutual europe-russia trade instead of Dollar. There is nothing anti EU about Russian policy.
Anonymous
Putin is flexible. He has stated that he has nothing against the EU, knowing perfectly well it cannot last. Yes, he will use the euro for the time being. However, he is also using the Chinese yuan, and is conducting business with a number of countries using local currencies.
It won’t happen next week or next year, but by 2035 I expect the EU to be completely subsumed into the EAEU/BRI combo that will issue a brand new currency for the entirety of Eurasia–that is if a major war’s avoided.
I see a major war far before these pipe dreams are realised…..America is a wounded animal, far more dangerous than a healthy one, it is loosing its turf, it is loosing its wealth and above all it is loosing its clout……the ruling geriatrics in foggy bottom are suffering from Alzheimer’s and their decaying old bodies are in pain…….war and arrogance is in their blood stream and war it will be; Soon if not sooner.
Nussi, well you must admit that there are many Saxon descendants in GB. So, I do not think that Hitler was wrong on that subject.
Germany, is not allowed any freedom of movement as it’s still enslaved territory.
In the near future of Europe there can be a problem . The central bank is finishing the Quantitative easing program at the year end and the bonds of the south of Europe will see their interest rise substantially if the BCE will not guarantee the spread (difference of interest) among their bonds and the German ones .
Italian prof Borghi ( important person of the government ) has written that if the BCE will not guarantee the “spread” Europe can easily be dismantled .
There are other items (agricultural policies, immigration, etc. ) on which there will be heavy discussions, so it is clear that Europe will have a tough period from here to the year end .
Where does this come from, the Economist or Wall Street Journal toilet rag? This is anti Eurozone fearmongering is pure Anglo Saxon slander. When you live in anglo country the ingrained Puritanical, supremacist anti-European sentiment is in front view all the time. They have been saying the Eurozone will collapse since day 1. They said the Greek crisis would cause the end of whole EU. Instead € is on the way to becoming the global trade currency of choice, and will eventually replace the Petro$.
Dollar will become toxic thanks to USA extremism and sanctions obsession. Fascist UK Pound will be worthless, Yen will collapse from internal debt. Chinese Renimbi is too manipulated for global trade. Only the € can take the place as a reliable, rational trade currency. Iran has made that clear, European trade is its key market. Russia too will take German gas payments in €, many years ago Putin wished for a common Eurasian trade space from Lisbon to Vladivostok.
It does not come from any newspaper it comes from prof Borghi and the economists of the Lega party , one of the two partners of the Italian government .
The spread is vital for the Italian economy – I am Italian and I live in Italy , I do not base my knowledge from foreign sources.
Greece was regularly receiving money ( subsidies ) from the EC ( so at the end they has to do what the others said ) , Italy is not.
There will be heavy bargain with Germany and we shall see how all this matter ends.
”This is anti Eurozone fearmongering is pure Anglo Saxon slander. When you live in anglo country the ingrained Puritanical, supremacist anti-European sentiment is in front view all the time.”
Seriously, what are you talking about? The liberal Anglo-American media under the firm guidance of Soros and Murdoch plus the BBC and what-have-you are blaming Putin for stirring up trouble to their revered You’re_a_peon Union. Does that reek of ”anti-European sentiment” to an EU apologist such as yourself?
”They have been saying the Eurozone will collapse since day 1. They said the Greek crisis would cause the end of whole EU. Instead € is on the way to becoming the global trade currency of choice, and will eventually replace the Petro$.”
It matters very little in fact if the Euro overtakes / replaces the Petro$ — it’s the same parasitic misappropriation racket through money backed solely by imperialist intimidation and coercion. I have a sneaky feeling that you’re deliberately avoiding the delicate subject of NATO since the EU does collapse without war, threats of war, and most importantly the good old business of looting other countries, a.k.a. ’European values’. Faggot parades and colour revolutions don’t put food on the table, mind you.
If Putin envisages the continued existence of the Euro, it will either have to be accompanied by a re-industrialization of Western Europe, or the power over the issuance of the currency should be moved to really productive economies.
The video is in english:
https://twitter.com/i/status/1032242407272796160
Off topic, but on topic just the same.
sweet thread/lead article. what is this..I am falling in love with Russia/Russian? I love Pushkin already….Aleksander, and a most important Russian.
but I also appreciate the vid with Imran Khan on the Afghan question. I knew the Khazars would have their hands full with Khan.
I knew Imran Khan since he was a young man emerging as a Pakistani cricketing giant. I am originally from a cricketing giant of a nation myself and we could see how good Khan was from the start.
but that is not all we noticed about Khan..and what in addition we noticed would not make the Khazars happy, despite the fact that Khan married a Khazarian princess. Khan himself is a real blue blood prince, beholden to no one. he has a mind of his own which mind is on display in that video. if Khan has his way the Pakistani role in the american effort in Afghanistan will change into its opposite
Please stay on topic – or move to the MFC to discuss Pakistan. Mod
Wow! Fantastic Tweet/video of new Pak boss (can’t recall name).
Articulate.
Katherine
Elegant powerful manoeuvres indeed on the part of Vladimir Putin!
Regarding Nord Stream 2, I find it puzzling that US gov has not mentioned by name the European financial partners in the context of “sanctions” threats. Shell in particular has huge US exposure. Too big to threaten, maybe?
Okay, this must be the best article Rostislav wrote. At least the one I liked the most. Lots of sarcasm and humor, and excellent reporting on the events. In summary, it was a great event for Putin, and possibly the other two parties.
Going back to multi billion $ business for Germany in the US, I think the any loss of that would make the Chinese who moved to the American continent extremely unhappy, as the German cars are probably the most purchased cars by the Chinese.
Last Saturday Putin went to the wedding of the Austrian Foreign Minister, and in the course of the same day flew to Germany to meet with Angela Merkel. This double visit received a cool response in the Western media, which is not surprising. However, both visits are important, and both were obviously coordinated, subtle diplomacy at work. I wonder how many people grasped the importance of these two visits.
In Austria Putin did not just attend a wedding. He spoke with the Austrian Foreign Minister, as well as with Sebastian Kurz, the Chancellor. What is indicative here is that Putin was the only foreign head of state invited by the Austrians. No American representatives. Little Austria dared affront the mighty US, setting a “bad” example to other countries. Washington must be furious.
After attending the wedding, Putin flew to Germany, where no doubt all the major political topics were covered, not just Nord Stream – 2.
In the 19th century Otto von Bismarck advocated a German-Russian alliance, pointing out that Russia cannot be made an enemy of, because if it was, then Germany would face Russia in the East and Britain and France in the West, being crushed like a walnut in a nutcracker. The Kaiser, under banker influence, had him removed. After that we had two world wars, Germany was indeed crushed, as Bismarck warned it would be. One can argue that two world wars were fought in order to prevent a German-Russian economic and political alliance.
The article is correct. The Germans have indeed learned their lesson. They are now looking towards Russia. The US, taking over from Britain, but in conjunction with Britain, will try to prevent this. The chief “weapon” will be economics, bearing in mind the volume of German exports to the US, who can always introduce tariffs. Even so, Germany will in the end move towards Russia and China. The article is correct. This move might be financially painful in the beginning.
The US will have to accept reality, bearing in mind it cannot function any more without imports, European and Chinese. Yes, there is the military option, but I don’t think even the US would dare do something so outrageous.
I think at one point Trump may have hoped to split Russia and China but instead Russia is wooing Germany and Turkey from America. I don’t think the Russians are that eager to mend relations with the U.S. because they see too many opportunities in opposition. Russia has found itself, accidentally, carrying the banner of opposition to American imperialism, which grates on most of the world; it gives voice, cautiously, to this sentiment and makes gains diplomatically from it.
Edward
That is true. The Chinese have, indirectly, using the media, stated that they will not fall for the old divide and conquer tactic. They will not go against Russia. As for Russia, EU countries are more important to it than the US. All the US has done with sanctions is to drive the EU towards Russia. This will not happen overnight, as it is a process.
Trump, keeps on dangling the carrot in front of Russian noses by saying that he is willing to end the sanctions. This has two meanings:
1. The idiotic sanctions are not working and Trump is looking for the way out, but not before Russian concessions.
2. Of course, China is the prize, which I do not think Russians are going to fall for, as you said. Putin has been working with China since the 2000, or sooner.
“Wooing Germany and Turkey from America”?
Russia’s diplomatic aims are more subtle than “wooing” anyone away from anyone else:
“Elegant powerful maneuvres indeed”, says Jon above
“Putin is a master of the art as well as the science of diplomacy”, cdvision observes.
Mere wooing away is beginner stuff, not “scientific” diplomacy. Getting countries to see where their true good lies, is what Putin does:
– He encourages Germany to reduce its dependence and act as sovereign countries, but carefully – in quick but prudent steps as RI says – doing nothing that might induce the US to take some precipitate and dangerous action.
– With Turkey, which, while in NATO and knocking (now half-heartedly) at the door of the EU, is not a poodle by any means, Putin’s effort would be to get Erdogan to avoid rushing into some ill-advised retaliation which might precipitate a serious conflict. Calming Erdogan down is surely not easy, but Putin tries to diver his attention towards Eurasian goodies, to take his mind off a war with Trump…
– “I don’t think the Russians are that eager to mend relations with the U.S. because they see too many opportunities in opposition.”
I’d disagree – and so does this article: mending relations with the US is what Putin wants, as it provides opportunities for luring the bull out of the china shop… Putin can’t do much on this front if he cannot talk to the Americans.
For further reflection, a good supplement to this article is Orlov’s recent piece on “The Suicidal Empire” – on the urgent need for “at least the scaffolding of a functional imperial replacement” before the US collapses, sending the world into “a new post-imperial dark age.”
There are no opportunities in pushing the US over the brink at this stage: the dangers of a US untimely collapse are serious.
http://cluborlov.blogspot.com/2018/08/the-suicidal-empire.html#more
I find this article, highly entertaining, amusing, and so “accurate”, “on the ball”, that I wish I could understand, the Russian? or Ukrainian? language it was written in. To any objective observer, who understands all these languages – Is the original even better than the translation?
Thank you to the author Rostislav Ishchenko and the translation by Ollie Richardson and Angelina Siard. Whilst many people in England will be able to understand some of the main “bullet points”, and underlying meanings, the entire article will probably be incomprehensible to most Americans, who at best will look at the words with a weird gaze.
This American might get it. In fact he has just written an article covering some of the same points. However, he is 85 years old, and does have some history of interest in the subjects under discussion.
“The Mind of The Mass Media: Email Exchange With a leading Washington Post Foreign Policy Reporter”
William Blum
The Anti-Empire Report
Sat, 18 Aug 2018 20:27 UTC
https://www.sott.net/article/393818-The-Mind-of-The-Mass-Media-Email-Exchange-With-a-leading-Washington-Post-Foreign-Policy-Reporter
Tony
As a rule, the original (in Russian) is always better, however these sort of texts can only really be appreciated by native speakers. But nevertheless we sweat buckets trying to translate it not just into digestible modern English, but into something that resembles the original (within reason, of course), retaining the emotional embellishments. But as you alluded to, as long as the main points are understood, then it’s a success all the same :)
Ollie Richardson,
I thought you did a fantastic job. I was not being critical of your translation, that most Americans will not understand it. They are victims too. They have been brainwashed, dumbed down, impoverished, and have had most of their moral values, energy, spirit, determination, and basic education, totally corrupted.
It’s not their fault. I thought the Americans I worked with in the 1970’s and 80’s were brilliant.
Now, I feel sorry for them. It’s as if they are having a national nervous breakdown. I hope they get better. Some of my family, who had moved to America, and have American born children, have returned to the UK and Germany.
They couldn’t stand the USA any more.
Tony
“the future generations of historians will undoubtedly pinpoint the discussion about “Nord Stream-2” as one of the main reasons for the disintegration of NATO and the reformed European Union’s reorientation from the US towards Russia.”
“future / undoubtedly / one of the main reasons”. this whole piece is long on snark, lacking detail, and fakes perspective. only missing “to be sure” – so it’s inevitable as “the sun will rise again”. sheer poetry acc to the commentariat here.
what about the OTHER main reasons: like counter-party costs in the Western plus Japan financial system?
that is one huge co-dependency of risk; even before considering the uncontrolled inverted derivatives pyramid. Deutsch Bank is as octipal, over-leveraged and corrupt as Citi or JPM or the worst the Brits – for example.
what about the escalating global climate change disasters? when the Himalayas lose
1/3 of their snowmelt and flooding’s routine throughout S Asia?
what about insured and uninsured disasters? how do you face them without a global
reserve currency deep enough to absorb the damage and spread the costs?
to borrow a movie line – “what was that middle part?”. you people are in love with what you want to believe.
Interesting questions. The “Western plus Japan financial system” is a rotten, doomed ponzi scheme and it is imploding. No amount of ‘exotic financial instruments’ (e.g. derivatives, credit default swaps, etc.) can save it. What only matters to the various human populations is real industrial capacity. This is the necessity of humanity – not the ‘financialization’ of the Wall Street and London criminals.
Russia and China have in practical terms become one nation with respect to many sectors: trade, industrial development, technology, defense, agriculture, transportation, infrastructure and energy. This is all largely thanks to the maniacal movements of the dying American empire. It has forced Russia and China (and now Turkey, Iran, India, Pakistan and soon others) to quickly resolve differences and unite against the existential threat of the new Roman empire. All the “financialized” considerations of the West plus Japan have no bearing in the physical world.
Mathew,
you’ve misread the post. the Western plus Japan financial system is a known risk of unknown proportions depth and severity. it’s not a “China Shop”; nor as you seem to believe just a massive, parasitic imposition on the real economy. it’s unlikely that “real industrial capacity” can be detached from finance to any functional extent even tho “finance” no longer means “capital”. our needs and our world have moved into another order
of complexity.
to sum up this point: global risk is why the world fears a dollar crash and will sacrifice a lot to avoid it.
to your second argument, assessment of the quality of the Russia-China alliance is beyond my competence, but i suggest you test your views against coverage of China’s banking sector. Andy Xie is my go-to source,
and it’s not good.
I don’t think many Western countries will soon recognize Crimea as a part of Russia. I think that mainly depends on whether Ukraine recognizes this (if it does and therefore not only a clear majority of the inhabitants of Crimea want the peninsula to belong to Russia, but the country to which it belonged some time after the arbitrary decision of Khrushchev for some time, agrees, as well, who can disagree). Rationally, hardly any Ukrainian seriously thinks that Crimeans could and should be forced to return under Ukrainian rule. Especially people who are interested in strengthening Ukrainian culture are hardly interested in two million people on Crimea who are mostly completely alien to Ukrainian culture, linguistically, politically, historically. While many people in the East and South of Ukraine also prefer to speak Russian in everyday life, most of them understand Ukranian and can even speak it if they have to, but in Crimea, it is a completely foreign language for most. In 2012, I heard people in Lviv complain that they felt like going to a foreign country when they visited Crimea. A rational future government of Ukraine would be interested in recognizing the new borders and improving relations with Russia, but it can take some time until rationality prevails. Until then I suppose most Western country will hardly recognize Crimea as a part of Russia.
But will that really matter? For decades, the US and other Western countries never recognized the Baltic Soviet republics as a part of the Soviet Union, but it hardly mattered very much in practice. European countries can improve economic and political relations with Russia and just leave the topic of Crimea aside for some time. I suppose Russia does not insist on the recognition of Crimea as a part of Russia, either, as a precondition for improved relations as long as the non-recognition is not used as a pretext for constant accusations and sanctions. Probably, hardly anyone really believes that Crimeans can and will be forced under Ukrainian rule, so this topic becomes less and less relevant although it may linger around for some time.
A large share of German business representatives are in favor of improved relationships with Russia, and many people (and especially business people) in other EU countries think the same way. Polls show that a vast majority of the German population favors better relations with Russia, very few are for stronger sanctions, and a majority if in favor of lifting the sanctions, at least step by step. Donald Trump is seen as a bigger threat than Vladimir Putin with a wide margin. In the political and media elite in Germany, the idea of improved relations does not clearly dominate, yet. But it seems that the Italian government intends to go forward with its plan to refuse agreeing to an extension of anti-Russian sanctions in the beginning of next year. Then, the Merkel government has the choice of putting up a difficult fight for keeping the sanctions – a fight that clearly goes against what a majority of the German population and of German businesses want. Therefore, it is probably the better option for the German government to prepare the population for an end of anti-Russian sanctions, even if that means walking back on some things it said earlier. The US government will not like that, but it is not very popular in Germany and most EU countries, anyway.
Yes clearly the german Administration (or maybe the camp ‘Deutschland’ Administration) has the wrong people as their folk – they know it for some time now – and thus are working hard day and night to curb that little shortcoming within the next 20 years (cultural sterilization, group think, self hate), the same is happening in Great Britain, Switzerland and France atleast.
‘At first the introduction of sanctions was still shaped by more or less worthy pretexts, for example: “Russia is to blame for the fact that the West organised a coup in Ukraine”’ – oh come on, that is utter rubbish! ‘worthy’ [sic] pretexts – for murdering Donbass people??? When it was about PNAC – or doesn’t he even know about it? – and the original wolfowitz doctrine about containing Russia, and causing problems for it, especially on its Western border, not to mention the American ‘color revolutions’??? ‘Pretexts’ were simply lies.
Sarcasm and dark humor are essential for many russian literature works
Putin’s way of solving the problems are “in passing” , that is smoothly and almost
casually , but not superficially .USA ( West) is trying to solve problems forcefully , hastily and dramatically . Not only question of Taste and Style.
Beautiful analysis and post. Thank you.
No doubt, the true agreements between Russia and Germany will preserve the ‘natural order’ in which Germany and perhaps France are allowed to milk EU cow. Meanwhile, Russia and China will utilize this moment of rapprochement to fully organize and develop Eurasia under the belt-and-road framework. This will include Iran, Turkey, Pakistan and eventually India as first class citizens. Washington has nothing left to offer these states except empty threats and even more empty dollars.
Ischenko features the poetry, but the geo-politics is simpler.
Namely, Putin & Merkel had to have an important, perhaps critical meeting. Germany (and by extension, the EU) is changing course, driven by Trump’s clear rejection of the Atlantic Consensus. Germany should’ve seen it coming, probably some of it did, but the hour has come ’round at last. It needs to put some details on the map before charting the new course. Germany needs to know where the shoals and safe harbours are. They met tete-a-tete, one on one without staff.
How to have such a meeting without raising countless flags and warnings, unleashing an avalanche of speculation, and worse? Put up a smokescreen, and promote it. Attend a not particularly important, but serendipitously timed wedding, in a friendly, closely related country. Turn on some showmanship, thrill some friendly faces and the chattering classes, give the media something distracting to talk about, and the critical meeting will merge into the noise. And so it did.
AFAIK, no German media or personality is calling Merkel a traitor. Yet.
The support for the conservative alliance of German Chancellor Angela Merkel has reached a new record low level, according to an INSA poll for Bild newspaper. Both parties of the ‘big coalition’ each lost one percentage point in the survey compared to last week. Support for the CDU/CSU bloc, or Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union and its Bavarian allies, the Christian Social Union, fell to 28 percent. Support for the Social Democratic Party (SPD) dropped to 16.5 percent, RIA Novosti reports. If an election were held next Sunday, 16 percent of the voters would vote for the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD), 12 percent for the Left party, and 13.5 percent for the Greens, the poll shows. The business-friendly Free Democrats (FDP) would receive 10 percent of the votes. The poll was conducted from August 16 to 20, and 3,129 people were surveyed, with a statistical error of 1.8 percent.
war is coming
Merkel must know all of this. She has no choice but to accept reality. This means backing down on her current policies.
Right. And immediately.
It is about time for Putin to wake up from his profound sleep and to change his wrong strategy:
Swiss Bank Freezes $5 Billion In Russian Money.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-08-22/credit-suisse-freezes-5-billion-russian-money
Here we go again:Assad must go
Bolton Again Warns Assad “We Will Respond” If Chemical Weapons Used In Idlib Offensive
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-08-22/john-bolton-warns-assad-we-will-respond-if-chemical-weapons-used-idlib
Putin gave everything Bibi wanted,but it will NEVER be enough.
Not to forget the shame for the russian people to see this criminal at the Victory parade on the 9th of May in Moscow.
Neocons double down,for them the NON retaliation of Russia since the Maidan is a big sign of weakness.If you think it is not the case it is not important as the neocons are convinced of the opposite.
Trump i s about to fall(finally it will perhaps be a good news),Pence president it can not be worse as we are just at -1 minute before an hot war.
More sanctions and even more sanctions in sight as the midterms are approaching.
The US is asking Russia to surrender to the humiliation if wanting to avoid the Nov sanctions.
The ruble is again collapsing.The necons will go for the fight even if they must desappear in ashes.
Two possiblities:or Russia is secretly preparing for war and gaining some time to be ready?
Or they are naive enough not to understand that the neocons only want a TOTAL capitulation and destruction of Russia(being economic or real war or both).
This thursday there is a meeting in Geneva US/RF which reminds several last chance meeting before both Gulf wars.
The US will only ask the Russian side,once again capitulation nothing less.
“Russia to explain what is wrong in US policy towards Russia at Geneva talks – diplomat”
“Sanctions are imposed and thus we get evidence that the cause of the sanction policy and its meaning is to take Russia down a peg, so to say”, Sergey Ryabkov said
“Probably they will once again tell us that Russia was allegedly meddling in the US elections and there are grounds to expect this will continue,” the high-ranking diplomat said. “But the deficiency, absolute senselessness and irrationality of this presentation of the problem is certainly manifest for all,” he said.
“Apart from the Americans, who have convinced themselves that it is exactly this way through repeatedly saying one and the same thing,” he said. Ryabkov pointed to a big role “of American mass media outlets that have been enthusiastically entertaining fibs about Russia over the recent time,” he added.
Patrushev and Bolton will meet in Geneva on Thursday, August 23, in the first half of the day.
More:
http://tass.com/politics/1018273
It is about time for RF to give an ultimatum to the US,a credible one.
If Putin believes that Merkel will switch side just because he met her last saturday or because he has been invited at a private wedding of an Austrian minister(Austria just wanted to show to the US that they are and will remain neutral in the coming war,nothing else).
The US will now sanction ALL the russian economy(state debts,probably swift,total embargo of russian products import/export,prohibition to use gold and USD,assets freezing,end of diplomatic relations reduced to a single ‘chargé d’affaire’,no more aeroflot flights etc etc..)
It means total WAR.As against Japan in WWII(Russia has more chance to survive because of the energy it owns,energy that Japan did not have).
People don’t seem to realize that the situation is VERY serious,this is not a joke.
I would not be surprised to see a Coup(as very big money of the Oligarchs is now seized almost everywhere in the World).
Expect a major fake chem attack during of just before the assault in Idlib.
Maybe some kind of 9/11 before the midterms in the US or in the EU?
The neocons can not save face,Obama was more ready to negociate(remember the first fake chem attack and what Putin obtained).
Untill today Trump has been 50 times worse than Obama(even lethal weapons to Ukraine).Obama did not like Bibi too much,now with Trump the US is 100 %zio occupied.(I’m not a fan of Obama as well,this is just a fact)
According to Stephen Cohen we are approaching the apocalypse.It is almost too late.
https://audioboom.com/posts/6980093-tales-of-the-new-cold-war-1-of-2-john-brennan-and-the-criminalizing-of-trump-and-putin-stephen-f-cohen-nyu-princeton-eastwestaccord-com
https://audioboom.com/posts/6980097-tales-of-the-new-cold-war-2-of-2-john-brennan-and-the-criminalizing-of-trump-and-putin-stephen-f-cohen-nyu-princeton-eastwestaccord-com?playlist_direction=forward
They are now asking not only for Trump impeachment but to send him in jail as well(what about Hillary,dnc etc??)
Trump is betrayed by almost everybody,even his former lawyer Cohen,Manafor..Bolton is in charge.We have in power a 100% neocons presidency and State Dept,as it never happened before.
BREAKING: Putin Gives Order: Prepare Secret S-500 System For Mass Production!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vgtfsi45_TA&feature=share
Russia forced to respond to US missile defenses near its borders, Putin emphasizes
More:
http://tass.com/politics/1018222
Congress will soon vote a ‘counter OPEC law’ with the aim to attack opec countries and once again to collapse the price of oil.
Russian citizens are sent to jail in the US/UK without any charge against them.The Skripal(at least Yulia who still is russian and used to live in Russia)are probably or in jail,or in gitmo,or in a secret prison somewhere in the US/EU/UK?
Russian money(billions is stolen or seized in banks in Switzerland and Cyprus,soon in the US.Embassies are closed,diplomats expelled(even by Greece under G Pyat pressure on the traitor Tsipras).The Donbass is still bombed on a daily basis,and Porky declares that he will NEVER respect the Minsk agreement.
Some russian are even insulted in London on the street or loose their job for the fact of only being ‘russian’ as jew during Nazi Germany.
The US does not respect any international law or agreement,treaty anymore bringing the UK and France on the same path.
One can sense that deep state has been trying out various scenarios using every underhand and immoral tool and means possible( and creating more if possible) in their pretend hubris to see which works best and gives themselves a pretence of their own perverted moral highground of their own making……and are even now refining and focusing these ready for the full final assault. As Russia has said that the world would not be worth living in if there were no Russians….usa is saying that without total surrender to the usa….they are willing to bring to naught all non american civilisation.
Well, good, let’s go for it, but REALLY THOROUGH and to absolutly ensure that those at the helm will get their REWARD IN THE FULLEST OF THE FULL FULLFILLED, else it will be senseless and the curse will continue, though not infinitly under any circumstance imaginable, but for this planet and age it could. There will be enough initial survivors to finish the job and cleanse the planet square meter for square meter of those responsible, THIS IT MUST BE MADE KNOWN by name WHO beforehand but unseen, meaning covered, but to be uncovered during and after the event ! We also know that they long for this to happen – themselves being supposedly safe and spared to greet their dark Messiah afterwards – which means they are in the shadow of the events preceding the calamity – obviously ! I myself only a have a vague idea who they are and where they will hide – professionals can easily find this out IF they search for it.
Our hope can only be that those in Moscow and Bejing thought this thing through in all details necessary, if not, well then they are believing in Santa Claus and get what they deserve…Defeat more devastating then anything beforehand – almost eternal.
Never before has been more at stake than now in this time !
Don’t listen to idiots who refuse to think the unthinkable, because that’s exactly what they are supposed to believe.
I have focused whole Ukraine thing as operation targeting not only but also and perhaps for most Germany. Anglo Saxon powers have always seen Germany-Russia co-operation their worst nightmare. Only Germany-Russia-China holy trinity and and it’s game over for Anglo-American clan.
Wondrous on multiple levels!
“We will be able to see the main results of this meeting over the next 12 months, and they will be expressed in the careful, but quick rapprochement between Germany and Russia,”
Grand words by Rostislav Ishchenko. Unfortunately, pure fantasy.
Really? Nord Stream 2 is almost finished. The ramifications of this fact are enormous.
EU is a French and German kingdom and a Global Power financial and cultural colony not too far from Orwell 1984. So how these scenes between the German and Russian royal courts can change something in the poor lives of their euro slaves?
Although the wedding took place in Graz, the image of the ‘Dancing Congress’ cannot fail to spring to mind. The Congress of Vienna 1815, which was the first of a series of international meetings that came to be known as the “Concert of Europe”, which was an attempt to forge a peaceful balance of power in Europe. It served as a model for later organizations such as the League of Nations in 1919 and the United Nations in 1945, took place in the atmosphere of galas, dances, and dinners, hence its nickname. It was dominated by Tsar Alexander I who considered himself as the guarantor of European security.
Three women are said to have had a significant influence on the main negotiators: the Russian Princess Catherine Bagration, the Austrian duchess Wilhelmine of Sagan, and Dorothea Talleyrand-Périgord, the niece of French delegate Charles-Maurice of Talleyrand-Périgord.
Both Princess Bagration and the Austrian duchess are said to have had affairs with Austrian state chancellor Metternich and Russian Tsar Alexander I while in Vienna, and both lobbied for their respective countries.
The Congress created the ‘Holy Alliance’ which ensured the peace and stability of Europe for thirty years under the supervision of ‘Europe’s gendarme’. England embarked in a long action to roll back the ‘gendarme’.
I’m not sure Merkel has ever had the interests of the German people in mind, at any time. I suspect she has quite the opposite intentions and hugs her Kalergi prize ever closer to her barren breasts.
attacking moderation … herb
snarky comments about moderation removed … mod “the disintegration of NATO and the reformed European U nion’s reorientation from the US towards Russia”. If that is not a huge load of wishful thinking or a rather deliberate mispresentation I’d rather somebody tell me what is!
As a non-european I always ask myself what the stupid typical european ‘man of the street’ and the more stupid european ‘person of the bureacracies’ is waiting for?
1-German business men and politicians are starting to tip the balance towards the russian reality
2-France has never been totally pro american – they got a centuries long culture of PSYCHO independence. it is much easier to turn into real, it just takes a spark!
3- every single one of them knows that a)sanctions vs Moscow are a stupid void thing b) Putin is ten times more intelligent than a dozen forefront US big bosses c) Beijing will be the capital of the
political, technological and economic world in maximum 15 years from now…
So what are those loonies from Lisbon to Warsaw waiting for?
One thing to remember: to keep oneself in the ”confort zone” can turn to be costly in just a few years!
Ukraine threatened so much. I feared that during the World Cup they would launch a major assault on the breakaway regions. So humiliating for Putin and Russia it was the obvious thing to do. There would never be such an opportunity for Ukraine again, it was what they would do, to think otherwise would be delusional, to believe that the problems of the world really do take a back seat during the World Cup and Olympics. I wished that the World Cup wasn’t going to happen in Russia.
There was no doubt, in my mind, that Ukraine, would engage in a major escalation. And I am sure that would have, if they could have. But they weren’t able to. Ukraine is exhausted and finished as a real threat. The country is just disintegrating and being plundered of its last remaining assets. The only thing keeping Ukraine going is fear, fear of being found out and investigated, fear of sponsors, erst-while allies and the streets. The only thing left is internal recriminatory violence.
No one wants Ukraine, not the US, not the EU. The special interests are just there for plunder (nearly all gone) and war (Ukraine not able). The only viable future for Ukraine is rebuilding relationships with Russia. But why on earth should Russia re-engage with Ukraine? …..Because they are brothers, and brothers forgive.
”But why on earth should Russia re-engage with Ukraine? Because they are brothers, and brothers forgive.”
Beg to differ. Russia shouldn’t go down to the garbage room to pick up the smelly, rotting trash. That’s the dustman’s responsibility — to wit, the West’s.
Wonderful, thanks.
But I have to point out that it does not account for the under-handed efforts the empire will use to scuttle G/R’s best efforts. So – while the big picture is clear – we should expect a lot more damaging steps from across the Atlantic. Prepare for a (very) bumpy ride.
”At first the introduction of sanctions was still shaped by more or less worthy pretexts, for example: ’Russia is to blame for the fact that the West organised a coup in Ukraine /…/ ’ ”
Haha, sounds plausible given the intelligence level of the Zionazis. Ergo: Our coup was plain rotten, but it was Russia’s/Putin’s/The Kremlin’s fault. Well, at least half the assessment is absolutely correct. The sods are learning; slowly but surely.
Thank you Rostislav and translators for a superb piece of writing.
The author is right on basis of historical facts. WWI was a mistake, and WWII had a madman instigating it, but apart from those anomalies Germany has always been oriented towards Russia and Russia has been oriented towards Germany, Germany being the gateway to Europe. The Denmark – Sweden has had huge trade with Russia, the Baltic is our common inland sea and St. Petersburg the trading port of choice. Swedish vikings DNA is easily tracked in Russians.
So President V. Putin of course had no problem speaking with Chancellor A. Merkel, well they also have some commonality, Merkel being an Oster and Putin have been stationed there as an agent.
I think the problem we Europeans have with our eastern neighbor, is security and trust, we would gladly scrap Nato if we had the assurances, however our history has been marred by wars and we hardly trust ourselves!
The French- German detente via EU has been extremely important and is cruicial for Europe, and is in reality the reason for European wealth. A trading partnership with Russia and in the end China and the far east, will benefit all enormously, The US becoming more and more a third world country and with declining buying and producing potential.
I am sure both Mr. Putin and Frau Merkel know their history, both are intelligent people seeking way for their countries to prosper in a peaceful way.
I will vote for that any day.
(Another good writeup by Rostislav Ishchenko, thank you!)
> Merkel being an Oster
…and graduating in Donbass, that her puppets are bombing since 2014
As is usual with german russian meetings at the very top level – in the press conference – the russian side puts emphasize on the achieved results always very detailed and specific,while the german side in the person of Merkel is putting out mostly requests in a very general form, regarding this time FOREMOST Ukraine, second Syria and only as very last and as a concillatory side note the bilateral relations, all of it in the most general terms possible.
With Merkel there will be no real political/economical reorientation towards Eurasia, she insteads hopes to sit out Trump and then return to the satus quo ante they had with the previous US Administrations. Economically this seems to be viable, because the US is Germany largest trading partner even before China.
Germany now nods any sanctions ordered against Russia through even without any explanations whatsoever, and more are to come most likely, what else could they do to weaken Russia ?
Even now Germany hopes that Georgia will soon join the EU and NATO !
As I read a few paragraphs, I’m moved to say that the English trans seems fairly problematic; it not, then the Russian itself lacks stability. I’ll continue reading.
I’ll wait until the number of complainants exceeds 1 before worrying about our translations…
Poor translation
“Losses because of sanctions have already been incurred, and bypassing routes have been found.”
This is better:
Loss due to sanctions is already kicking in, but bypass routes are being worked out.
Has it dawned on the bürgers that there’s only two choices: to fall once again to Atlanticist manoeuvre or go all in with the Slavic world quick – since very little stoppage time remains – indeed, to transit away from Marlboro Country and enter the sphere of Aleksandr Gelyevich?