Please sign right here, Mr. Molotov.
Posted on 06/07/2010 11:33:51 AM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Germany and Russia have called on the EU to create a new foreign minister-level security forum to handle issues such as Transnistria.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev made the proposal at a joint press conference following bilateral talks in Meseberg castle, 40km north of the German capital, on Saturday (5 June).
"There is now a committee of ambassadors in Brussels that deals with security issues," Ms Merkel said, referring to EU Council's Political and Security Committee (PSC). "This committee could be further developed, so that there is regular and ongoing contact not only at ambassador level, but between the EU and Russia at the foreign minister level."
She added that Berlin will put forward the idea at the next PSC meeting in Brussels on Tuesday in order to "attack" the creation of "such a mechanism."
Mr Medvedev backed the idea, saying: "We must make a special forum where we can exchange opinions on current issues of international security. We can also prepare advice on various legal issues of co-operation."
Both sides mentioned Transnistria - a strip of land in Moldova which is controlled by pro-Russian rebels and which hosts a Russian military base - as the kind of problem the new body could deal with.
"You could try something like that in concrete cases that we still have to resolve. In our opinion, the situation in Transnistria is a very favorable example," Ms Merkel said.
The Meseberg meeting saw the two leaders and a small "handful" of advisors hold behind-closed-doors talks for 10 hours, according to German press agency DPA.
It comes less than a week after an EU-Russia summit in Rostov-on-Don in which the EU rejected Russian calls for a speedy visa-free travel deal but in which the two sides agreed a brief joint statement on EU help for modernising Russia's economy.
Mr Medvedev pressed the visa issue on Saturday.
"For our citizens, for the citizens of Russia as well as the citizens of the European Union, this is something extraordinarily important. If we go ahead, it will change our lives. It will make us a true strategic partners," he said.
It is unclear if the security committee proposal, which would involve regular meetings between EU foreign relations chief Catherine Ashton and her Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, has been consulted with Ms Ashton's office.
"We hope and we think that this could see a positive response in the entire European Union," Ms Merkel said.
Asked by journalists why the proposal was being floated at a bilateral meeting instead of at the EU level, Mr Medvedev noted that Germany and Russia have a "long-term" partnership.
"All ideas have their founding fathers who enforce these ideas and take them forward. In this sense, I believe that I can call on good ideas first bilaterally," he said. "It doesn't mean that we don't back our work with Brussels or want to replace it with co-operation with other states. It's just to have ideas emerge at a personal level."
Ms Merkel said: "This is not a bilateral agreement. But it serves that purpose. There are always situations where one member state moves ahead a bit on a particular topic."
It’s good to see Russia and Germany getting together to decide the fate of Europe........again................
Will this result in some sort of Non-Aggression pact between Germany and Russia? What could go wrong?
I’m reminded of a song by Tom Lehrer:
Once all the germans were warlike and mean,
But that couldn’t happen again.
We taught them a lesson in nineteen eighteen,
And they’ve hardly bothered us since then.
Please sign right here, Mr. Molotov.
were
This time we can’t afford to help them out of any jams they meander into...............they better start learning German.....................
Now we know why our collective ancestors left Europe in the first place..............that alone explains a lot............
A treaty with Russia to determine the security of Europe. I think that was called the Warsaw Pact. Nice to know that everything old is new again.
I think that the first thing that our new president should do in 2013 is de-couple the United States(of what’s left of it) from the world “economy” and take care of ourselves.
Boy ain’t that the truth.
Putin has been courting the Germans hard for the past decade. If he is successful in his attempt to gain control of the European energy markets (primarily nat gas) and brings the Germans on board it’s game set and match.
Yes, but it probably will not happen................no matter who is elected in 2012..............
Nope
The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, colloquially named after the Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and the German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, was an agreement officially titled the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Soviet Union[1] and signed in Moscow in the early hours of 24 August 1939 (but dated 23 August).[2] It was a non-aggression pact between the two countries and pledged neutrality by either party if the other were attacked by a third party. It remained in effect until 22 June 1941 when Germany implemented Operation Barbarossa, invading the Soviet Union.
In addition to stipulations of non-aggression, the treaty included a secret protocol dividing Northern and Eastern Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence, anticipating potential “territorial and political rearrangements” of these countries. Thereafter, Germany and the Soviet Union invaded their respective sides of Poland, dividing the country between them. Part of eastern Finland was annexed by the Soviet Union after the Winter War. This was followed by Soviet annexations of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Bessarabia.
Germany should know one thing and one thing only...
DON’T TRUST COMMUNISTS. Putin is a communist.
It's not only Putin who courts Germany. It takes two to tango. Germany, being probably the most reasonable and responsible country in Europe, also has a problem. Germany is tied to losers like PIGS, lazies like France and socialists like UK. Those are not markets, those are just sinkholes for money. Germany needs partners, and Russia at this point in time is *less* socialist than most of the Europe. Sure, there is still plenty of government control over certain things, there is corruption - but there are also resources, markets, lots of educated workers, and access to Asia. Russia wouldn't be Germany's first choice in a well functioning EU, but since EU is on its deathbed Russia looks pretty good.
With regard to the prospect of a new war between Russia and Germany, that lesson had been learned well. Russia and Germany are comparable in power, and Hitler's worst mistake is that he went against USSR. If only he joined forces with Stalin, as he was supposed to do, he'd own the world. So it is quite possible that there will be a new axis of power forming within a decade or two, Germany - Russia - China. If that happens, this axis will be ruling the planet unopposed.
Germany will fall apart with the rest of Europe.
The world will look like this:
A new Soviet Union (currently Russia/CIS) being first in power, folled by Red China, and a greater Latin American state, ran from Havana.
Europe will be incapable of acting, with Poland and the rest of the East being reabsorbed into the Russian/neo-Soviet orbit by force.
That had been tried (1950-1990,) and proved to be futile - more hassle than it's worth. In my opinion those countries will be left alone; some of them have self-sufficient economies and sane leaders, so they will do just fine.
The era of conquest of territories is gone. It was practically foolish already by the end of 20th century. Power and influence of a modern state is not directly related to the territory or population it controls. What matters today is availability of resources and ability to use them. Everything else is secondary and can be built on that foundation. Smaller European countries do have some resources, but not so much that other countries would eye them, and they have small population. Latvia's population is only 2.2 million; population of Moscow alone is 10.5 million, that is larger than entire Hungary. And Russia has nearly infinite labor resources that are chomping at the bit at the borders (from Ukraine and from Asian republics.)
I also think that China will be the first to exercise its newfound power - it is larger (people-wise) and has more money (or should I say "debt obligations") than Russia. Likely India will not be far behind. Japan, mired in bureaucracy, traditions and high taxes, will lose a lot of influence.
On the side of Americas, I don't see much of a role that Cuba could play, being tiny and poor. I don't think Cuba wields much of political clout, and though people like Hugo Chavez praise Cuba day and night, words are cheap. But Brazil, on the other hand, with huge territory and large population, may become the end of the axis in the New World. This axis will be built on early capitalist principles, and as such it will be very successful - just like the USA was wildly successful before it succumbed to socialism and got addicted to redistribution of other people's money. The small neo-Communist group of countries (Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia) will never have much of influence. They will go through a rough patch within a decade, become disappointed with socialism and eventually realize that humans are individualists first and foremost, and that the government can't give them anything that they themselves haven't earned.
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