German Chancellor Olaf Scholz wants to reset relations with Moscow and is planning a face-to-face meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin later this month.
Senior German officials were already scheduled to get together with Russian counterparts in January in a bid to ease geopolitical tensions amid rising alarm that the Kremlin is planning a further military incursion into Ukraine.
It may just be the ultimate agreement that neither the US or Russia can refuse.
Whether deliberately or not, the Russian government has left the United States and NATO a perfect “golden bridge” out of the trap that is developing in Ukraine. In diplomatic parlance, this means finding the other side a way of abandoning an untenable position without excessive loss of face or sacrifice of truly important interests.
In the present crisis between Russia and the West, the golden bridge is Ukrainian neutrality, along the general lines of the Austrian State Treaty of 1955, by which Western and Soviet occupying troops withdrew from that country, allowing it to develop as a successful free-market democracy. The Biden administration, either directly or through German and French mediation, should seek to “own” the idea of Ukrainian neutrality as its response to Russia’s demands.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the beginning of the Yugoslav wars, Europe’s bloodiest conflict since World War II. Although the Balkan states moved toward democratic governance and integration with NATO and the European Union in the immediate aftermath of the wars, consistent neglect on the part of the West has contributed to a dramatic backsliding in recent years. Now Russian President Vladimir Putin is seizing his opportunity and using the former Yugoslav states as the next battlefield to weaken NATO and the European Union.
Gazprom, Russia’s giant state-owned energy company, is slated to finalize an agreement in 2022 for a second huge natural gas pipeline running from Siberia to China, marking yet another stage in what energy analysts and Western diplomats say is a fast-evolving gas pivot to Asia by Moscow.
They see the pivot as a geopolitical project and one that could mean trouble for Europe.
Known as Power of Siberia 2, the mega-pipeline traversing Mongolia will be able to deliver 50 billion cubic meters of Russian gas to China annually. It was given the go-ahead in March by Russian President Vladimir Putin, and when finished it will complement another massive pipeline, Power of Siberia 1, that transports gas from Russia’s Chayandinskoye field to northern China.
Moscow is pleased with the results of the new phone talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Biden, Putin’s aide has said. Putin has, however, warned the US against escalating Russia sanctions policy.
In a statement released after the phone talks between the Russian leader and his US counterpart, the Kremlin revealed that Biden made a pledge to Putin not to deploy offensive arms to Ukraine.
Russia has used increasingly strict legislation on “foreign agents” (a term which has connotations of spying) and “undesirable organisations” to curtail, complicate, or prohibit the activities of organisations which promote human rights and monitor their violation, including that of freedom of religion and belief. This “indirectly affects the people human rights defenders stand up for”, says Aleksandr Verkhovsky of the SOVA Centre for Information and Analysis (branded a “foreign agent”). The Justice Ministry and prosecutors are seeking through the courts to close down the Memorial Human Rights Centre (also branded a “foreign agent”), partly for its monitoring of criminal prosecutions of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Idei principale:
Tratatul și acordul propuse de Rusia Statelor Unite și NATO sunt mai degrabă ultimatumuri, dar ce prevederi conțin ele?
Cum dorește Putin să arate arena internațională?
Ciclurile din istoria Rusiei și dorința de revanșă
Putin vrea să împartă lumea în sfere de influență după modelul Molotov-Ribbentrop
De ce a acceptat administrația Biden să negocieze cu Kremlinul
De ce este importantă Ucraina pentru Rusia
Care sunt liniile roșii ale Rusiei și la ce sunt ele bune
Situația politică internă din Ucraina
Cât de puternică este astăzi armata ucraineană după șapte ani de modernizare
De ce Putin crede că o Ucraină pro-occidentală nu există, și doar una pro-rusească
Concluziile după video-conferința Biden-Putin
Cum s-ar putea încheia negocierile cu Rusia de la Geneva și Bruxelles?
Va renunța NATO la Deveselu ca să calmeze Rusia?
President Vladimir Putin has said he would ponder various options if the West fails to meet Moscow’s demands for security guarantees, amid heightened tensions involving a massive deployment of Russian troops near Ukraine.
Moscow earlier this month submitted draft security documents demanding an end to NATO’s eastward expansion and military cooperation with countries such as Ukraine and Georgia, among other things.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the beginning of the Yugoslav wars, Europe’s bloodiest conflict since World War II. Although the Balkan states moved toward democratic governance and integration with NATO and the European Union in the immediate aftermath of the wars, consistent neglect on the part of the West has contributed to a dramatic backsliding in recent years. Now Russian President Vladimir Putin is seizing his opportunity and using the former Yugoslav states as the next battlefield to weaken NATO and the European Union.
NATO’s Weakness Invites Russian Aggression
“Democracy is when the indigent, and not the men of property, are the rulers.” -Artistotle
In September, we ran a story about the think tank, RAND, and their war game after an action that essentially proved NATO, like a pearl of wisdom in Congress, is powerless against Russia if they were to take any military action towards Europe.
Without adequate ground forces to slow the attack’s momentum, there was no way for NATO to halt the Russian assault.