Posted on 03/30/2018 4:16:28 PM PDT by Navy Patriot
A parade of European ambassadors passed through Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Friday to receive formal protests and details about Moscow’s plans to expel more diplomats in a deepening crisis with the West.
The series of meetings — an astonishing display of European envoys arriving one after the other — marked the latest twist in tit-for-tat moves following the March 4 nerve agent poisoning of a former Russian double agent and his daughter in Britain.
In the past week, 27 nations joined Britain in ousting Russian diplomats believed to be working as intelligence officers. NATO and Georgia also announced expulsions later in the week. On Friday, Moscow answered in kind, ordering the expulsion of 59 diplomats from 23 countries.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
If Pootie Poot keeps going, he could end up with no diplomatic relations with anyone. Maybe he could invite Kim Jong Un to take his 40 mph train and trek on over to Moscow for a couple of hits of vodka.
Russia does not really need anything Europe has, because Russia can buy what Europe sells them elsewhere. But Europeans would freeze their butts in winter without Russian gas & oil.
The Chinese Defense Minister is due to visit
That probably matters more to Russia than most of those EU diplomat lemmings following Theresa May off the cliff
That’s the idea. No diplomatic relations means increased tensions and poor or inaccurate communications between the Ruskies and the West.
And a closer relationship with China and stepped up plans to dethrone the US Dollar, by chipping away at King Dollar’s reserve status. And with Iran as well. Possibly Burma and some others.
History shows that threatening Dollar hegemony often leads to real war.
track the demise of SWIFT
A very real and potentially dangerous situation would be if the EU decided to wean itself off of Russian oil. With stability in the Middle East and increased production in the U.S. there are more options for European energy. I doubt the Euros have the backbone to do it, but this would be the most crippling blow to Russia imaginable. They live paycheck to paycheck on energy exports to Europe. Their desire to protect their energy monopoly to Europe is likely the main reason they jumped into the Syrian mess.
Surely they didn’t expect any weaker reaction???
“But Europeans would freeze their butts in winter without Russian gas & oil.”
Europe needs a dose of reality. They have shut down nuclear plants even though there were no problems with them and they had decades of service left...because, liberalism. They have practically done away with coal, because liberalism. This may help the various governments move back to sanity. Having people freeze to death has a way of doing that.
As another point, the US is taking over from Russia as an energy supplier. This will be good for the US economy.
If you want your economy to grow like a weed, lower the cost of energy. There is a one to one relationship between growth and energy cost.
This game is very dangerous a lot of over reacting here.
Russians know all about pretexts laid to justify Western aggression from Napoleon to Hitler. The West has a way of laying blame at Russia’s feet for its wars.
So this is to cut it off at the root. Any further deterioration of relations will be the West’s fault. All Russia can do is exact a high price for the current Russophobic mood gripping the West.
I would say with the current round of expulsions, the message delivered is also a deterrent to further anti-Russian measures. If the West chooses to pursue them, then the low state of relations will hardly get worse.
So-called “Navy Patriot”, forever loyal to Moscow.
Oh come on, its not like the US or any of the European countries has ever killed someone extra-judicially in another country. Oh wait, I think we do that too sometimes.
“If you want your economy to grow like a weed, lower the cost of energy. There is a one to one relationship between growth and energy cost.”
Exactly right.
Which is why adopting Thorium energy should be the preferred primary energy source for the USA. Abundant, extremely cheap, very safe (using LSFR, clean and very efficient.
Problem is it doesn’t give the Pentagon weapons grade plutonium, so it’s been a no-go all along.
Sad, because a few other countries are getting serious about it - not the least of which is China. Nothing against hydrocarbons, but that will never be as cheap and abundant as Thorium.
28 Mar: The Nation: Unproven Allegations Against Trump and Putin Are Risking Nuclear War
“Russiagate” and the Skirpal affair have escalated dangers inherent in the new Cold War beyond those of the preceding one.
By Stephen F. Cohen on the John Batchelor Show
People who learn of Cohen’s views from the John Batchelor Show or elsewhere often ask him, “What can we do?” ...
People could also demand that mainstream print, broadcast, and cable media, which are licensed to serve the public interest, stop boycotting dozens of authoritative experts (not political partisans) who can counter the arguments of the near monopoly of pro–Cold War, anti-Trump Russia-policy voices. Media could start by replacing on-air, in-print former US intelligence chiefs, such as former CIA director John Brennan, who have their own agendas and some complicity in creating today’s dire relations with Russia, with alternative, even opposing opinions.
https://www.thenation.com/article/unproven-allegations-against-trump-and-putin-are-risking-nuclear-war/
It’s far better to be expelled than to be poisoned, considering who we’re talking about.
The Powers That Be have been preparing us for the new rallying cry, Blame it all on the Russkies, for a number of years, for instance with films like Denzel Washington’s The Equalizer where the lead character sneaks into Moscow and assassinates the Russian President, called Pushkin in the film not Putin. The nonstop anti-Russia campaign repainting the Russians as psychopathic criminals has made it almost impossible to say anything positive about Russia. We shall see where this all will lead. The hatred against Russia has become so bad that I suspect the motives of the people and forces who are trying to bring Russia down.
And practice banging his shoe on the table while he rants....
>>The hatred against Russia has become so bad that
>>I suspect the motives of the people and forces who
>>are trying to bring Russia down.
Mar 13, 2014
Eun Kyung Kim: TODAY SHOW (NBC)
Donald Trump: ‘Putin has eaten Obama’s lunch, therefore our lunch, for a long period of time’
Donald Trump slammed President Obama Thursday on TODAY for failing to take a stronger line against President Vladimir Putin in dealing with Ukraine, saying he feared Obama would now make up for lost time with imprudent moves to “show his manhood.”
The real estate mogul and reality-TV star, who has criticized Putin for sending military troops into Crimea, said Obama must now take fierce steps to prevent the situation from escalating further.
“We should definitely do sanctions and we have to show some strengths. I mean, Putin has eaten Obama’s lunch, therefore our lunch, for a long period of time,” Trump said. ...”
http://www.today.com/news/donald-trump-putin-has-eaten-obamas-lunch-ukraine-2D79372098
_______________________________________________
Here’s the interview w/ Matt Lauer on YouTube...
Donald Trump (2014): ‘Vladimir Putin Has Eaten Obama’s Lunch’:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzURUENf1ns
___________________________________________________
JULY 2017...
Trump, in Warsaw Speech, Criticizes Russia’s ‘Destabilizing’ Role in Ukraine, Syria
The president also reaffirmed his commitment to NATO’s mutual-defense pact
Jul 6, 2017
President Trump called Russia a “destabilizing” influence in Europe and the Middle East, and urged it to “join the community of responsible nations,” in his strongest remarks yet against the regime of Vladimir Putin, whom he is scheduled to meet Friday in Hamburg for the first time.
His remarks in Warsaw’s Krasinski Square, which marks the 1944 Warsaw uprising against the Nazis, came after the U.S. agreed to sell Patriot missiles to Poland. The president also used the opportunity to reiterate the NATO commitment to mutual defense, a declaration he did not make during the NATO summit in May, prompting consternation among U.S. allies wary of Russia’s ambitions.
“To those who would criticize our tough stance, I would point out that the United States has demonstrated—not merely with its words but with its actions—that we stand firmly behind Article 5, the mutual-defense commitment,” Trump said Thursday. “Words are easy, but actions are what matters. And for its own protection, Europe, and you know this, everybody knows this, everybody has to know this, Europe must do more.”
Trump has repeatedly said NATO members must spend more on defense—a position in line with past U.S. administrations. But he has been criticized because he appeared to suggest U.S. commitment to mutual defense was predicated on its allies’ defense spending. ...”
https://www.theatlantic.com/news/archive/2017/07/trump-russia/532761/
Trump’s U.N. Envoy, Nikki Haley, Condemns Russia’s ‘Aggressive Actions’ in Ukraine
By SOMINI SENGUPTA
Feb 2, 2017
UNITED NATIONS — Nikki R. Haley, the new American ambassador to the United Nations, condemned Russia on Thursday for its recent “aggressive actions” in eastern Ukraine.
“We do want to better our relations with Russia,” Ms. Haley said during her first remarks to an open briefing of the United Nations Security Council. “However, the dire situation in eastern Ukraine is one that demands clear and strong condemnation of Russian actions.”
She made it clear that American sanctions imposed after Russia’s annexation of Crimea would remain in place.
During her Senate confirmation hearing last month, Ms. Haley also expressed support for continuing the sanctions and accused Russia of committing war crimes in the Syrian conflict. But her strong criticism of the government of President Vladimir V. Putin put her at odds with President Trump, who has expressed a desire for warmer relations with the Kremlin. ...’
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/02/world/europe/nikki-haley-trump-ukraine-russia-putin.html?_r=0
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