It is regrettable that the law on sanctions against Russia has come into effect in the United States. Its very title – “Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act” – speaks for itself. Its initiators are trying to impress on the US public a certain image of our country. This is a very short-sighted and even dangerous policy fraught with undermining stability for which Moscow and Washington bear special responsibility.
The Russian Foreign Ministry expressed the Russian position on US actions, including this bill, in its statement on July 28. We have also already demonstrated that we are not going to leave unanswered hostile actions, including the expulsion of our diplomats by the US authorities and the seizure of diplomatic property. Naturally, we also reserve the right to other countermeasures.
It is high time the American fans of sanctions, which have plunged the United States into Russophobic hysteria, got rid of their illusions and realised that no threats or attempts to exert pressure will compel Russia to change its course or sacrifice its national interests.
Trading barbs is not our choice. We are open for cooperation with the United States in the spheres where we consider it useful for ourselves and international security, including settlement of regional conflicts. However, productive cooperation is only possible if Washington politicians overcome their delusions and stop perceiving the world around them through the prism of “American exceptionalism” that is distorting reality.
source: http://www.mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/news/-/asset_publisher/cKNonkJE02Bw/content/id/2831724
Remember when certain people told us that the first round of sanctions against Russia would be lifted within a year, and the sanction strategy was nothing to worry about? Of course these same people also insisted that Russia must never enter East Ukraine and help arrange the ***peaceful*** partition of Ukraine to end the fighting there. They told us that if Putin made a strong, bold, moral move in East Ukraine, it would be falling into the ‘trap’ of the West?
So Putin did everything the ‘fainthearts’ told him to, and the net result is an anti-Russian movement worse than anything from the Cold War, and the entire US Congress (with less than a handul of refuseniks) voting as a single bloc to attack Russia, and conflate Russia with Iran and N Korea.
By refusing to ‘lance the boil’ in Ukraine, by supporting NATO with the Russian vote in the UN that authorised the invasion of Libya, and by constantly describing the illegal American invaders in Syria as “allies”, Putin allows the West to feel safe in treating Russia as a punching bag.
Russian government statements about the new sanctions show just how serious and difficult they are for Russia, despite some people here and elsewhere who claim to know better than Russian ministers. Two more Russia citizens have just been kidnapped by the USA for ‘crimes’ the supposedly carried out in non-US territory. The USA regularly ***fines*** and ***imprisons*** business people from the UK and Far East for breaking US sanction regulations. And I’m talking about people whose employment was always outside the USA.
So despite the fake reassurances some give, Russia knows the sanctions will have a terrible effect as Asian and European companies choose to obey American Law rather than the laws of the nations in which they operate- for fear of prosecution of their senior managers, readily shipped off to the USA by one-sided ‘extradition’ treaties.
Look at the German emissions ‘scandal’ when German car companies were coerced to sell the lie that diesel engines were ‘cleaner’ than petrol ones by the American and British governments. The Germans did as they were told, as always, and now they’re sending senior German execs to America for punishment in US courts.
This means that even ***if*** West Europe tells America to get lost over the latest sanctions, the European companies will act as if American law is paramount- and they will refuse to do business with the Russians. The American trick of kidnapping people from almost anywhere on the planet- for trial in their courts- makes almost every business person terrified of the USA government.
Want to know how bad it is? Putin tells Russians to act like scared rabbits, and never stray outside the Russian federation. What Putin should do is arrest ***ten*** Americans everytime America arrests one Russian. Instead Putin advises Russians to ‘hide’ at home, and the Deep State knows therefore by targeting Russians it can make Russia look both criminal and helpless in the mainstream media- a propaganda coup Putin hands the West on a plate.
Russia has got to start acting like a World Class Empire power- the ***equal*** of the Empire of the West. This means it permits no-one to treat its people like garbage. It starts to properly protect its allies- and defend them properly against all aggression by the West (like NATO does with its allies). And most importantly Russia states it will trade with whomsoever it wishes, with ***zero*** interference from the USA. To this end, Russia should publicly state that extra-territorial interference by the USA in the business relationships of Russia will be considered an act of war.
Expect the usual suspects to say “oh, no- Putin must continue to be fainthearted and give way to every bad act by America”. By now you surely understand the real purpose of such ‘advice’.
Even if Putin said tomorrow “as the powerful ally of the legal goverment of Syria, will are enforcing their will and expelling the illegal US forces from Syrian territory immediately”, the US Congress would be fatally humiliated, and Russia’s standing in the world would rocket in the eyes of ordinary people. And this would be an utterly ***legal*** act under the UN laws that the USA itself claims to recognise.
Russia has the future in its pocket. Arable land, mineral resources, people with character, and a climate that won’t kill mammals are its future. The nation could house twice as many as it has comfortably.
The US is screwed, and it screwed itself.
Russia need to continue to develop Russia. Those of us in the Us need to figure out how we’re going to live, and whether we should teach our grandchildren to speak Russian.
“people with character”…interesting point. You are talking about russians(who definitely can be described as a people with character), but sometimes I feel that Russia is uniting every people with the character, in the whole world. Russia is in a way a combining force, very attractive to many in the dying west.
Your interpretation of events and Putin’s actions are hilarious and sad.
Russia is the equal of the West only in nuclear weapons.
It cannot compare in financial power, information warfare, population or massive military.
So stop picking wars for Russia to fight.
The goal is to not fight wars, yet win.
Ever get into a fight against ten guys at once?
I suggest you go out and look for a gang to beat up and come back and tell us how it went.
The state of things at the moment are “challenged” by sanctions. However, the EU understands that they will lose total control of their energy supply and trade potential under these sanctions.
even the dumbest of the morons in Brussels know they have to resist the Congressional action to punish Russia.
On the old sanctions Italy, France and Germany have done work arounds, acting in their own self-interest. These new sanctions will be rendered mostly toothless. Give it a few months.
European corporations are not going to surrender their power and interests to American competition.
These sanctions are great for uncompetitive American shale gas and Ukraine nazis and other stakeholders in Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. Everyone else loses. The odds are that these sanctions are dead on arrival.
Very well said, my friend, very well said. I yield the floor to you as this tired old man considers a last glass of wine and then pleasant slumbers.
I wonder what would be good for Ukraine, moreover so in the energy sector. Ukraine profited very much from the pipelines built in Soviet times between the Soviet Union and Eastern-Europe. These pipelines are now still active, the gas and oil being pumped by Russia. If there will be a still stand, the consequences for Ukraine will be not rosy. The coal – as we know – will be imported by Ukraine from Pennsylvania at a double price. The Eu will be put again in a difficult position, pressured by the US to finance Ukraine and give them the needed energy. If the Eu will resist on that pressure is another thing, I am skeptical at this stage. It is funny however, that what Trump said during and after his inauguration “we will make america great again”, now it seems to be in action by his “opponents” in the Congress with the adoption of worldwide economic blackmail, openly, at state level, in the name of the American people, in the name of Freedom and Democracy. Russia can now see clearly, in all the beauty of hard-realty, how the mask has fallen from the face of the Empire.
At this rate, if gas flow is shut off, ukies will cut up the pipes and sell them for scrap.
Gotta make a buck somehow.
It is ironic that you want Russia to behave like America and invade countries
I will not pick your post apart sentence by sentence but I respectfully disagree with just about all of it.
Case in point, sanctions. The sanctions are not aimed at Russia per se, they are aimed at the ordinary Russians to a great extent, especially those who are ‘new’ Russians on paper but never forgot that they are Russian once and forever. I think the idea of most of the sanctions is to make the ‘ordinary’ Russians angry at the government and revolt. To coin a famous phrase, ‘in your dreams’. VVP has a popularity rating that is the envy of every politician worldwide and whilst there is plenty of those who don’t support him 100% there is a healthy majority who do understand what he is doing and why. You are talking about a country that has not recovered from the Great War and the interim civil war. Russia was flattened from the outskirts of Moskau west to the borders with Poland, there was hardly anything left standing. This catastrophe is etched in the minds of most Russians and the vow is ‘never again’.
To an extent that is the driving force behind VVP’s diplomacy and he has stated more than once that there will never again be a war on Russian lands. When he makes that statement he is not doing so out of cowardice or subservience to our enemies and surrendering to them, he is sending a very clear message that in the event of threatening hostilities the battle will be carried to those who plan to invade Russia and the consequences will be severe for them, plus the destruction will be on their lands, not Russian land. That is what is known as ‘not a threat but a promise’.
As for the current round of illegal, by US law, sanctions promulgated against Russia, Iran and NK, I have zero doubts that squeaking aside Europe, Japan, Australia and SK will join in lock step as they are ordered to do and enact the required sanctions against Russia.
Europe in particular is being abysmally stupid. The Siberian stream pipeline to Katai is over 60% complete and a second stream is at 30%. 2019 is the completion date for both projects and there are more in the planning stages and will start construction next year. What this means is by 2020 Russian will not need the income from Europe for the gas and POL. Yes, the monies will be great to have but if Europe continues the path down which they are taking methinks one fine January many in Europe are going to wake to a very cold morning. And what will a cold winter from Danemark to south Italy bring to Brussels?
Bottom line is none of us know what President Putin is thinking or will do but so far he has tied Europe and SeSha in knots with his quiet diplomacy and I can only imagine the screams emanating from Foggy Bottom at VVP’s continuous string of frustrating the Foggy Bottomers fondest wishes and desires.
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You would rather have WWIII than the status quo it seems -your knee-jerk advice that seems devoid of any thought of the escalating consequences?
Your comment is sensationalist and has loaded and inflammatory sentences as in “expect the usual suspects..”
“Russia knows the sanctions will have a terrible effect”. Really? Sanctions don’t seem to have had a major effect so far and these latest ones are mostly about US LNG shale gas, LNG tankers and pipelines. Time will tell but the US business strategy here is quite flawed.
Perhaps Russia has no ambition of being a “World Class Empire power” -the novelty wore off a long time ago?
Few would label Putin as “faint-hearted” and gunslingers have a tendency not to endure.
Putin and his capable colleagues would do well to avoid your advice and I have no doubt they will..
From local sources, the main effect sanctions have had is Russians are beyond pissed off at us.
Excellent comment. I totally agree with you.
The gentleman has a point. As follows: Appeasement will only embolden the aggressor. I fear that Anglo-zionist provocations will intensify to the point where Russia will have to make a more decisive stand. It might be a choice between doing this now or later. But this moment will surely come and it’s no good kidding ourselves that it won’t. Diplomacy will work up to a point but that won’t cut any ice when faced with a rabid dog.
When the Romans left England in the 4th century the country was plagued with rampaging invasions by the Vikings and Danes. One way to rid them was to pay a ransom. It was called the Danegeld. But that only encouraged them. The famous poem by Rudyard Kipling encapsulated the dilemma.
”It is always a temptation to an armed and agile nation
To call upon a neighbour and to say:–
“We invaded you last night–we are quite prepared to fight,
Unless you pay us cash to go away.”
And that is called asking for Dane-geld,
And the people who ask it explain
That you’ve only to pay ’em the Dane-geld
And then you’ll get rid of the Dane!
It is always a temptation for a reach and lazy nation,
To puff and look important and to say:–
“Though we know we should defeat you, we have not the
time to meet you.
We will therefore pay you cash to go away.”
And that is called paying the Dane-geld;
But we’ve proved it again and again,
That if once you have paid him the Dane-geld
You never get rid of the Dane.
It is wrong to put temptation in the path of any nation,
For fear they should succumb and go astray;
So when you are requested to pay up or be molested,
You will find it better policy to say:–
“We never pay any-one Dane-geld,
No matter how trifling the cost;
For the end of that game is oppression and shame,
And the nation that plays it is lost!”
Rudyard Kipling
In 1938 Winston Churchill commented in this respect after Chamberlains deal with Hitler ‘Peace in our time’
”You were given the choice of war or dishonour. You chose dishonour, and you will get war.”
“/…/defend them properly against all aggression by the West (like NATO does with its allies).”
twilight is a firm believer not only in Western invincibility. The above quote reveals an equally strong faith in Western benign protection “at home” as well. Might have looked convincing in the past, but today’s raw Elite contempt, accelerating lawlessness, and ever more pervasive surveillance plus the open border regime — in short, the entire Western neoliberal rot — isn’t exactly in synch with the romantic notion of “benign protection”, but in perfect lock-step with the true meaning of the concept: Unrestrained deception and coercion. It becomes even more obvious when looking at the filth and squalor NATO brings to the countries turned allies by means of overwhelming brutal violence.
Putin’s popularity in Russia should be compared to that enjoyed by the You’re_a_peon Union and its ruling caste. The Russians do feel secure, despite their allegedly incompetent government.
United Sanctionistan of America. What else can we expect?
Everybody knows it now. The US must die.
Can anyone here with half decent knowledge of how and why the US acts the way it does (Petro-debt), tell me an alternative route out of global mess that the US is dependent on?
How does a nation wean itself of being a vampire? Can it?
Can anyone see in the offing an American Gandhi who can steer the population against the status quo without starting internal strife?
“Trading barbs is not our choice.” You silly, small thing.
The issue of the sanctions and the vote in Congress seem rather revealing. Several points seem clearer in my mind. The first is that the sanctions are themselves Important. They are not simply a strategy to provoke or isolate Russia. Secondly, that much of the reason for the opposition to Trump is the belief that Trump will end the sanctions. If the sanctions are that important it might be reasonable to suppose that big money is at stake here.
I am led to conclude that much of the narrative regarding Trump is over-simplified. In my opinion then, it’s inaccurate to pose Trump as an American patriot fighting to prevent a war with Russia. From statements by hawks such as Lindsey Graham and McCain, it seems unlikely to me that the goal is war. Notwithstanding the fact that the US would not seem to have the military manpower to fight a war with Russia. Not that Trump’s opposition has benign attitudes towards Russia, far from it.
Traditionally, the Republican Party has always had strong backing from the extraction industries. Trump certainly seems to follow this tradition with his quick moves to approve the Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines as well as the withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement. And of course, appointing a former CEO of Exxon as Secretary of State. Tillerson was also past President of Exxon Neftegas dealing with investments in the Caspian Sea.
Exxon no doubt serves to make much money from normalizing relations with Russia and resuming joint ventures. If Trump’s portfolio also stands to benefit that would account for his interest in normalizing relations. None of this means Trump is necessarily a bad person simply that his motives are more financial than ideological.
U Imposes More Sanctions Against Russia, Blacklists Deputy Minister
The European Union has expanded sanctions against Russian individuals and companies that were allegedly involved in the transportation of at least four Siemens turbines to Russian-controlled Crimea in violation of an international ban.
Moscow reserves the right to respond/retaliate….says MFA ….EU and Germany will be fully responsible for costs etc