Canada Ping!
Posted on 11/15/2014 5:35:41 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Glenn Reynolds refers to this as “smart diplomacy – the real thing,” but it’s based on the very dumb diplomacy rolled out by Vladimir Putin over the past year. Brisbane, Australia hosts the G-20 meeting this week, and Putin decided to make a point by sending a war flotilla of the Russian navy to the waters north of Australia, in order to make the point that, er … he’s a reasonable guy, or something:
But it was clear that Putin’s actions over the past few days were top of mind for the leaders.
Abbott lashed out at the Russian leader for apparently flexing his military muscles by sending four Russian navy ships to stalk Australia’s northern coast in the days leading up to the G20 summit.
“Russia would be so much more attractive if it was aspiring to be a superpower for peace and freedom and prosperity, if it was trying to be a superpower for ideas and for values, instead of trying to recreate the lost glories of tsarism or the old Soviet Union,” he said.
Not surprisingly, Putin found himself snubbed as a result, although maybe not as much as he should have been:
Putin’s isolation was evident with his placing on the outer edge for the formal G20 leaders’ photograph. While Obama and Chinese Premier Xi Jinping were met by Australia’s governor general and attorney general when they arrived in Brisbane, Putin was greeted by the assistant defense minister.
Despite being under intense pressure, Putin was all smiles, shaking hands with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott. The host had threatened to “shirt front”, or physically confront, Putin over the downing of MH17, in which 28 Australians died.
The chilly greeting led to a diplomatic irregularity — having a head of state wandering aimlessly looking for some personal contact. Normally the greetings and handshakes of world leaders get negotiated ahead of time by the diplomats of the nations involved to avoid embarrassment for either party. Putin, however, decided to put Canadian PM Stephen Harper on the spot, and immediately regretted it:
Harper spokesman Jason MacDonald told Canadian reporters Harper had been chatting with a handful of other leaders when Putin entered the room.
Putin approached Harper and stuck out his hand to shake the Canadian prime minister’s, said MacDonald.
After months of public condemnation of Russia’s annexation of Crimea and its military support for separatist rebels in Ukraine, Harper accepted the handshake with a blunt message.
The prime minister said: “Well, I guess I’ll shake your hand, but I only have one thing to say to you: you need to get out of Ukraine,” recounted MacDonald.
“Mr. Putin did not respond positively,” he said, declining to offer any further details about their conversation, or whether there were any other similar comments by other leaders who were there.
The press flack for Putin claimed to be surprised by this version of events, insisting that Putin and Harper “greeted” each other. Perhaps they mean in the same manner that the Russian navy is “greeting” the north coast of Australia.
Putin complained at the G20 about the sanctions imposed on Russia over Ukraine, claiming that they violate international law:
Cameron threatened Russia with further sanctions if it doesn’t resolve the Ukrainian conflict amid reports that Russian troops and tanks are flooding into the eastern reaches of Ukraine.
Harper has been a vehement Putin critic for months, with Canada and Russia trading a number of retaliatory sanctions.
He recently condemned the “continued penetration of Russian presence in eastern Ukraine and obvious actions to extend and provoke additional violence. That’s of great concern to us.”
Russia, meantime, took aim at France on the eve of the summit, threatening “serious” consequences if it fails to deliver a warship whose handover has been delayed by the events in Ukraine.
Putin also assailed his fellow G20 nations for imposing sanctions at all, saying in an interview with Russia’s state media that the measures violated G20 principles.
Coming from a man who amputated Crimea by military force and then tried to do the same in eastern Ukraine, complaints about economic transgressions against international law are almost as comical as his attempt to impress the G20. Without high oil prices to keep him and his cronies afloat, Putin may be too clumsy to survive in the long run. The Western-led effort to bring oil prices low needs to continue until Putin buckles under the strain, or his cronies look for someone more suited to the role of world leader.
Ping.
Y’know, people act like Putin is this “reawakening bear” with inexhaustible strength.
But he’s not. If Putin actually provokes the West into an armed response, he will be on the worse end of it, even if it is just a response from the EU, without the USA being involved.
Let's hope, God knows the man is an erratic idiot.
Already he is having a big effect on NATO budgets, and politics, and is boosting the Reagan forces in the West and the United States.
Why he would be doing all this impotent saber rattling is puzzling, it only weakens him and strengthens us.
After intense discussions on the Ukraine by P.M.s David Cameron, Tony Abbott, Stephen Harper with Pres. Putin, our US Pres. Obama asked Mr. Putin,”please pass the salt shaker.”
Harper. Leader of the free world.
Canada Ping!
“The prime minister said: “Well, I guess I’ll shake your hand, but I only have one thing to say to you: you need to get out of Ukraine,””
Love that Harper!
There were legions of Ukrainian peasants settled on the prairies in an earlier era, too. Parts of Saskatchewan and Alberta were first settled by Ukrainian farmers. There are some very famous people in Canada with Ukrainian roots, including Ramon Hnatyshyn, from a big law firm in Saskatoon, who became Governor General.
Putey is finding himself in the situation of trying to back out of the swamp while up to his A## in alligaotors. He does not have the money to play the Ukraine game and its not the 1970’s anymore. The world has moved on. Putin is learning a hard lesson.
Exactly. And with oil prices tanking, Russia is fast coming up short, revenue-wise. Pretty soon, Putin won’t be able to fly bombers around the Bering Sea because he won’t have enough on his debit card to buy the gas for them.
Yes so true. Or send his warship armada to try to intimidate the Australians. All he got out of that was Tony Abott threatening him with physical confrontation. LOL!
Most Americans have an exaggerated belief in the power and might of Russia. In Fact they are a country with a modest GDP that relies very heavily on gas and oil. They sell some armaments and wheat that’s about it. They have not created a new product since the 70’s. They are stuck in a time warp.
This Ukraine misadventure that Putin has gotten Russia involved in is not going to end well for him. IMO he is looking for a way out but is in too far to get out without losing face. He’s just not ready to accept it yet.
The very people who Putin desparately wants to mingle with ie the EU leaders and US President are mocking, sanctioning and basically shunning him. He’s leaving the G20 early because everyone is basically giving him the finger/cold shoulder and very publically at that. Their message to Putin is “your’e not worthy”
EXACTLY. I just don’t understand why so many people are so afraid of Putin or act like he’s this 10-dimensional chessmaster who is three steps ahead of everyone else. Okay, he’s former KGB. So were most of the guys who presided over the disintegration of the Soviet empire. So what? Being KGB doesn’t give him some reality-warping superpowers or anything.
Putin is actually involved in battling the incursion of Islamofascism into the Ukraine and Crimea. HATO is not involved in preventing Muslim incursions into the demographic
warfare now enveloping Europe via Muslim legal and illegal immigration.
Harper is only partially correct when he says that Putin should get out of Ukraine. But Harper is correct. There are other ways Putin can turn back Islam from the Ukraine and the Crimea.
I could go for asking Putin to leave, but Obama should have been asked to leave too.
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