Frau Merkel cuts Ukraine's umblical cord to Russia - Politics Forum.org | PoFo

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#15182176
You would think for that achievement Ukraine, and Ukrainians would forever owe gratitude to the German Bundeskanzler. But no, Ukraine is irate! Go Figure!

Ukraine, and Ukrainian nationalists are adamant that they want out of the Russian yoke. Yet an umblical cord in the form of gas pipelines carrying Russian gas to Europe hitches Ukraine to Russia. How can Ukraine ever be truly independent as long as that umblical cord ties it to Putin? This where Frau Merkel steps in. Between the German Bundeskanzler and Russia's dictator a solution was hit on that will allow the disconnection of Ukraine from Russia by severing the pipelines. Give Putin another pipeline to Germany that bypasses Ukraine. This is the Nord Stream 2. It is almost complete. And the Kremlin is itching to start pumping as early as in months. There is no reason why Ukraine should suffer the indignity of noxious Russian gas coursing through its veins beyond this year.

So why is Ukraine not happy?

That is actually an understatement. It is more like Ukraine is incandescent! Apoplectic! Dark mutterings from Kiev about betrayals by Frau Bundeskanzler and senile Joe. From the shrieks coming from Kiev one is left with this image of Putin licking his chops in the darkened halls of the Kremlin, ready to pounce upon Ukraina. My impression is that Russia's stern, taciturn dictator wants nothing better than to be shackled to Kiev. It is a win win for both Russia and Ukraine, or it should be. Why should Ukraine want to continue doing business with the dictator in Moscow? Wasnt that what the Maidan was all about? A rejection of Putin and his Roubles in favour of EU and her Euros? Putin made a big offer pre Maidan which Kiev rejected. Why should Putin not pick up his noxious gas and contemptible Roubles and invest in Nord Stream 2?

Hardly had the ink dried on the seal on Nord Stream 2 by Frau Merkel and Putin, and Ukraine's gas chief Yuriy Vitrenko is in Washington DC protesting vociferously:





VOA Interview: Nord Stream 2 'Should Never Become Operational,' Ukraine Energy Company Says



VOA: Construction of Nord Stream 2 is almost finished. Do you think it is still possible to prevent its completion?

Vitrenko: Completion is a technical issue. The real question is for this pipeline to never become operational so that it does not transport gas to Europe.


VOA: Do you think it is possible to compensate Ukraine for the negative outcomes from Nord Stream 2?

Vitrenko: Can a country be compensated for facing critical threats to its security? Ukraine is the target of Russia's military aggression. We also say that the project is the symbol of Western corruption — it goes against Western values, so it discourages Ukraine from market reforms.

VOA: What is the primary threat that Nord Stream 2 poses to Ukraine?

Vitrenko: If physical flow of [Russian] gas through Ukraine stops, the risk of full-scale military aggression by Russia would go up substantially. Russia will expect nothing much from Europe beyond expressions of deep concern if the military actions do not have an impact on European consumers.


https://www.voanews.com/europe/voa-inte ... mpany-says
#15182258
Juin wrote:Gas sales to Europe is also a necessary component for any transformation



Jeltsin era was devastating for Russia. Medvedev had a good economical agenda "Space and weapons". Why came the best leaders of this country from Secret Services? Best Sowiet leader was Andropow but he could rule just one year.
#15182261
Sandzak wrote:Jeltsin era was devastating for Russia. Medvedev had a good economical agenda "Space and weapons". Why came the best leaders of this country from Secret Services? Best Sowiet leader was Andropow but he could rule just one year.


@Sandzak ,

Intelligence is, well, necessarily intelligent by definition. It's a blessing.
#15182268
Sandzak wrote:@annatar1914 What do you think about "samodostojanstvo".

I mean after 2050 in Europe or 2060 in China


@Sandzak

Self-worth, dignity? I had to check I do not know Serbo-Croat very well. Please explain?

If you mean a plan for reduction of carbon emissions by those dates, I have my doubts. As a believer in ''Peak Oil'', there will be a reduction in any case...
#15182274
Sandzak wrote:@annatar1914 I think it is a Russian term (but i can not spell it) , for being self enough or so. It means isolationism and protectionism no globalisation.

To produce all goods in the country, no foreign trade. After the decarbonisation of major economies it could be an option.


@Sandzak , the word ''Samodostoinstvo'' means 'self worth, dignity' in English, I was not aware of a particularly political connotation. Russian is very expressive language to be sure. The nearest political word expressing the idea in the English world would be ''Autarky'', from the Greek, lol;

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autarky

I think all nations that can should strive for self-sufficiency, especially in the Age that is coming soon, the Age of the collapse of Modernity.

So yes, I believe in it.
#15182275
Sandzak wrote:Jeltsin era was devastating for Russia. Medvedev had a good economical agenda "Space and weapons". Why came the best leaders of this country from Secret Services? Best Sowiet leader was Andropow but he could rule just one year.



Even though I am not from that part of the world, nevertheless I find the history fascinating.

Why, in your estimation, was Yuri Andropov the best of the Soviet leaders? Unless a good Soviet is a dead Soviet, meaning the next good Soviet is a near death Soviet. But wont that make Konstantin Chernenko the best Soviet leader? ooops I looked it up, Andropov actually had a shorter stay at the helm.

But who was the worst Russian leader.

For a long time I toggled between Yeltsin and Gorbachev. In the end I have to settle for Yeltsin as the leader who damaged Russia the most.

Gorbachev appeared to have been in over his head. He was naive, idyllic, placid. He would have had an excellent career as Patriach of the Russian Orthodox Church. That was where he truly belonged. My suspicion is that he wound up in the Communist Party because Bolsheviks discouraged superstitions. Politics is a contact sport, as Bill Clinton once observed. Politics demands of its players nerves of steel, cold blood, brutality. Gorbachev had none of that. By some luck he managed to float up to the Supreme Soviet.

Yeltsin! Now, I have to conclude that that is the true villain. He busted up the Soviet Union. And for the most cynical of reasons. He was head of Russian Soviet Federative Republic. If he could not be head of the Soviet Union then he would bust it up and settle for Rump Russia.

Now this is not to say busting up the Soviet Union was necessarily a bad thing. But like anyother divorce the separations should have been carefully and tediously negotiated. The Russians of the Soviet Union should have had the opportunity to raise up with the other departing Soviet Republics the fate of ethnic Russians they were departing with. That places blame for the present problems in Ukraine directly on Boris Yeltsin.

Boris gets an F for his management of the transition from communism to capitalism as well. The Chinese leadership did a far better job. With the benefit of hindsight I will say the transition from communism is best done under a dictatorship. The transition from communism to capitalism is difficult enough without adding to it the chaos of rapid democratisation.

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