More Bad News for Russia

[AkMike]

AP, Moscow
 V.Putin announced today that since Russia has been tossed out of the G8, he'll form his own club called the G1. 

And they won't be invited to join!

[AkMike]

‎Putler‬ finally admits use of "Force" in Donbass - Direct quote

"All our actions, including those with the use of force, were aimed not at tearing away this territory from Ukraine but at giving the people living there an opportunity to express their opinion on how they want to live their lives."

http://www.corriere.it/…/vladimir-putin-interview-to-the-it…

[Brasscasing]

Putin Keeps Pope Waiting, Gets Told off by Francis on Ukraine

..."Pope Francis waited for more than an hour to tell Russian President Vladimir Putin to commit to peace and dialogue on Ukraine.

Putin kept the leader of 1.2 billion Catholics waiting for 70 minutes -- a rare occurrence at the Vatican."...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-10/putin-keeps-pope-waiting-gets-told-off-by-francis-on-ukraine

Somebody oughta buy this guy a watch.

Brass

[mendeleyev]

Sadly, this is his trademark. Only in the rarest of circumstances do diplomatic meetings happen on time as scheduled.

It carries the underlying message that "my time is more important than yours, and you will wait on me--not vice versa." Instead of showing power, as imagined, it reveals a jaded and juvenile attitude.

[sleepycat]

Putin Keeps Pope Waiting, Gets Told off by Francis on Ukraine

..."Pope Francis waited for more than an hour to tell Russian President Vladimir Putin to commit to peace and dialogue on Ukraine.

Putin kept the leader of 1.2 billion Catholics waiting for 70 minutes -- a rare occurrence at the Vatican."...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-10/putin-keeps-pope-waiting-gets-told-off-by-francis-on-ukraine

Somebody oughta buy this guy a watch.

Brass

Looking at the photo of this article...

Even with the Pope slightly hunched over, huilo is still the shortest person in the room. 

[JayH]

The joke of RT cameras  being set up behind  the flag waving hirelings of the Kremlin to show how "warm" Putins  "italian" "welcome" was .

[Anotherkiwi]

How come Putin was allowed into Italy?  Is he not on the list of those banned from travelling to the West under the sanctions?

[BdHvA]

Generally heads of state (leaders of nations) do not end up on banned travel lists. It is sen as bad form in the diplomatic world.

But a couple minions of Vladimir can do little more than did there toes in the Black Sea.

[JayH]

More weight is likely to be added to the do something about Russia discussion  during the coming US elections. None of the prospective winners is likely to be softer on Russia than Obama and being more pro-active is likely to be a winner as a campaign plank.


Bipartisan Realism About Russia

22 JUN 14, 2015 11:22 AM EDT
By Albert R. Hunt
It could have been President Barack Obama issuing a firm warning -- measured, devoid of bellicose threats -- to Vladimir Putin that the West would keep the pressure on as long as Russia interfered with Ukraine's sovereignty.

Instead, it was Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor and a leading 2016 Republican presidential aspirant, speaking at a news conference in Berlin on Wednesday.

The political implication is minimal. It's not clear Russia will be a top issue in the presidential race, and Bush has bigger problems than sounding a bit like the president on one foreign policy matter. But the similarity of tone underscores the how difficult and problematic U.S.-Russian relations are.

Obama, his Republican critics notwithstanding, has been pretty resolute since Putin took over Crimea and began assisting separatists in eastern Ukraine last year. In response to the aggression, the U.S. has initiated tough economic sanctions and isolated Russia.
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-06-14/bipartisan-realism-about-russia

[JayH]

The extent of the fall in the Russian economy continues. The much vaunted cash reserves are hardly getting a mention these days.




Nabiullina: Russia's economy has not reached bottom

Central Bank head Elvira Nabiullina said that the Russian economy has not yet found the bottom of the crisis has not yet passed, reports RIA "Novosti" .

She noted that the Russian economy suffers from the second year of the outflow of capital, and this year this negative factor was added decrease in consumption.

"However, in contrast to the peak of inflation, the bottom of the recession, in our opinion, has not yet been completed", - she said.

http://www.gazeta.ru/business/news/2015/06/15/n_7289109.shtml

[JayH]

This link could have been placed in numerous current threads -- the comments reflect some views expressed on this forum over a period of time.
What has become much clearer over the last 18 months are Putins aspirations-- and his overall craziness-- and to the lengths he is prepared to go to achieve his aims.

This quote is of particular significence--

“The time for talks with Russia, unfortunately, has passed,” Felshtinsky concludes. “Russia does not plan to reach agreement with the West, but the West sincerely does not understand how one can reach an agreement with a negotiating partner if he does not plan to agree on anything."

That is exactly why western support action in Ukraine is needed urgently-that is a message Putin will understand-- and getting his military's heads kicked in  will suddenly see Putin wanting to talk . Of course I would always talk--and when all Russian forces have withdrawn from Ukraine and compensation agreed and paid- I might start listening to anything Russia has to say. I would maintain and increase the sanctions and economic isolation untill there is acceptable regime change in Russia  ie treat negotiations with Russia in the same way Putin is now treating Ukraine and the west.

Putin’s unrealizable dream vs. his all too-real nightmare


That Vladimir Putin lives in a different reality than do other world leaders is now more or less common ground. Now, two commentators have described respectively what the Kremlin leader dreams about and what his worst nightmare might turn out to be.

In a commentary of Kyiv’s “Novoye vremya,” Yury Felshtinsky, a Russian historian who now lives in the US, says that Putin’s dream is that the world will treat his Russia as having a status equal to that of the United States, something the writer says is beyond his capacity to achieve.

For Putin, Felshtinsky says, “the US is the main problem. Not Chechnya, not Georgia and not Ukraine.” But he has a problem: “Perhaps America would be glad to recognize Russia as an equal partner but Russia has nothing besides Gazprom, and the earnings of Gazprom are less than those of the American company Apple.”

“America has no ideology regarding Russia. It wants to see Russia as it wants to see everyone else as a peaceful and reliable partner in politics and business,” he continues. However, “there cannot be relations of parity between the two because Russia in the literal sense is not a great power. It exports raw materials and imports everything else.”

“Over the course of the last century,” he writes, Russia “has destroyed its farmers and its own intellectuals, carried out the terror famine in Ukraine, and conducted a global purge of its own Soviet communist nomenklatura and army. And the Soviet Union fought with Hitler only because the latter attacked it.”

In contrast, “Washington dreams only about one thing” – that Russia will stop causing problems. “No one ever expected anything good from Russia, only something bad,” although when periods of a warming of the relationship happen, “all are ready to accept this as a long-term strategic change and look with hope into the eyes of Putin, a KGB guy who, as President Bush said, one could believe.”


http://euromaidanpress.com/2015/06/15/putins-unrealizable-dream-vs-his-all-too-real-nightmare/

[sleepycat]

There goes the midget's hope that EU will lift the sanctions on Putinland... 

http://news.yahoo.com/eu-agrees-extend-economic-sanctions-russia-end-january-120849811.html

[sleepycat]

Not looking promising if the midget is pinning all his hope in getting the Chinese to bail out his third-world economy...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2015/06/17/china-not-so-in-love-with-russia-afterall/

[Brasscasing]

There goes the midget's hope that EU will lift the sanctions on Putinland... 

http://news.yahoo.com/eu-agrees-extend-economic-sanctions-russia-end-january-120849811.html

There was little doubt.

...I think they're in accord.

Brass, as you know I lived in Cyprus for 8 years, so I am pretty certain I know more about the island's politics than you..

There is little doubt what the island's foreign minister says about sanctions in the island's financial press - back in Jan '15

''“Cyprus was always very careful and reluctant of the use of the sanctions. We have never been happy with this policy and we have said it so — it is wrong. ''

http://financialmirror.com/news-details.php?nid=33661

Russia has long been an important player in things Cyprus, but the island voted for Ukraine's resolution over Crimea - Ukraine's integrity being breached by Russia.

I'm certain that Russia regards Cyprus and Greece as the weak links in EU solidarity. Reading the FM's comments one has to wonder at what deal may have had to be done to make Mr Tusk so confident.

I let these comment ride until the EU met to avoid having to respond to what I'm sure would have amounted to edit:two weeks of your continued argumentative BS.

This is now the third time (if memory serves) over the years you've been shown incorrect employing your self inflated knowledge and ill informed conclusions as to how "the island's politics" work .

I've stated this before but I'll reiterate it once again for your edification (not that it'll matter); Even after well over two decades, my six months in Cyprus with UNFICYP MP Coy, attending political/intelligence/incident briefings on a day to day basis concerning matters on both sides of the Green Line gives me an insight into the political/historical machinations of both the Greek and Turk Cyps you will never have.

We've seen the EU ambassadors come to unanimous agreement for extension of the sanctions against Russia. We now await formal adaption of the agreement by the EU foreign ministers sometime in the coming weeks.

I believe the Foreign Ministers will adopt/ratify this sanctions extension with as little fuss as the ambassador's decision to agree to it.

Brass

[AkMike]

Sucks to be them.. 

Europe Deals a Double Blow to Putin’s Russia


A Belgian court goes after Russian assets in the decade-old Yukos case just as Brussels renews economic sanctions on Moscow through the rest of the year.



http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/06/17/europe-deals-a-double-blow-to-putins-russia-sanctions-yukos-rosneft/

[southernX]

nothing surprising here , but interesting reading non the less

SX

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Russia Ranked One of Least Peaceful Countries in World
The Moscow Times
Jun. 17 2015 19:01

Sergei Karpukhin / ReutersRussia has “higher levels of expenditure on the military, internal security and costs associated with violent crime,” the report said. .
Russia was ranked 152 out of 162 countries on the 2015 Global Peace Index.

The Australia-based Institute for Economics and Peace think tank, which compiles the ranking, put Russia between Nigeria (151) and North Korea (153).

The report cited "Russian-backed separatists" in the conflict in Ukraine, "Russia's military takeover of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula" and the "flow of Russian arms" to the Middle East and Africa. Along with China, which was ranked 124th, Russia has "higher levels of expenditure on the military, internal security and costs associated with violent crime," the report said.

The index's authors analyzed 23 different types of data in 162 countries during the last eight years, focusing on the level of security, inbound and outbound conflicts and the degree of militarization in the countries.

Syria took the bottom position due to its ongoing civil war, while Iceland was named the most peaceful country in the world, followed by Denmark, Austria, New Zealand and Switzerland


http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/russia-ranked-one-of-least-peaceful-countries-in-world/523919.html

http://economicsandpeace.org/

http://www.visionofhumanity.org/#/page/indexes/global-peace-index

[Brasscasing]

Looks like the EU is starting to lose a little of it's timidity when it comes to Russia.

A bold move by The Hague, EU, Belgium, France and Austria...

France, Belgium and Austria to Seize Russian Assets Over Yukos Dispute

..."In an effort to repay shareholders of Yukos, a now-defunct Russian oil company, Belgian, French and Austrian courts this week authorized officials to seize Russian government assets in the three countries."...

..."After an unsuccessful appeal by Russia, the ruling came into effect in December 2014, and Moscow had six months to start repaying the money. In March, the European Union demanded that Russia come up with a compensation plan by June 15."...

..."Since Russia failed to do so, on Wednesday, a Belgian court announced it would confiscate all property belonging to the Russian government in the country. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs protested the move, calling it “a major violation of statutes of international law.”...

http://www.newsweek.com/france-belgium-and-austria-seize-russian-assets-over-yukos-dispute-344467

Russia Angered by Freezing of Accounts in Belgium and France

..."The Russian government on Thursday strongly condemned the freezing of Russian accounts in France and Belgium as part of an effort to enforce a $50 billion judgment for the destruction of the Yukos oil company.

An arbitration court in The Hague, Netherlands, ruled last year that Russia must compensate the former shareholders of Yukos, which was destroyed in a politically driven legal onslaught that also sent its chief executive, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, to prison for 10 years."...

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/russian-accounts-frozen-france-belgium-yukos-case-31858294

Of course, Russia has already threatened to start seizing assets of the countries enforcing the ruling...

Two Can Play This Game: Russia Warns Belgium Asset Freeze Works Both Ways

Read more: http://sputniknews.com/russia/20150618/1023540442.html#ixzz3dRZLimN2

My suggestion would be the rest of the EU, as well as the US and Commonwealth countries follow suit, implement the court order and start seizing Russian state assets worldwide.

Brass

[sleepycat]

The most high profile example of Russian assets in the EU gotta be those 2 Mistral warships paid for by huilo but not delivered by France.

But what will the creditors do with 2 seized warships though?

[Brasscasing]

The most high profile example of Russian assets in the EU gotta be those 2 Mistral warships paid for by huilo but not delivered by France.

But what will the creditors do with 2 seized warships though?

Seize and auction to the highest bidder. One or two countries get a great deal on an almost completed advanced warship and France is off the hook for any contractual obligations (the 1.4 billion €) Russia is on about. 

Brass

[AkMike]

 

That ought to chap the Huilomeisters arse!

[JayH]

The most high profile example of Russian assets in the EU gotta be those 2 Mistral warships paid for by huilo but not delivered by France.

But what will the creditors do with 2 seized warships though?

I would give them to Ukraine-- as the start of the compensation owed by the Russian-in this case-- specifically the destruction of Ukrainian ships on the Crimea-- and the current holding of Ukrainian Navy ships ( and the Crimea as a whole)
Ukrainians could do training maneuvers off Sevastopol-- so Russians can see what they paid for !

[Brasscasing]

This in a nutshell is why this arrogant little man will lose his quest for empire...

Putin says Harper will change his mind on Russia in G8 if U.S. tells him to

..."Russia appears to be angling to make it the G-8 once again and President Vladimir Putin suggests it's something Prime Minister Stephen Harper will just have to accept.

"I don't want to offend anyone, but if the United States says Russia should be returned to the G8, the prime minister will change his opinion," Putin told The Canadian Press during a meeting with the heads of world news agencies at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

Russian officials dropped hints all day Friday that a deal might be the works for Putin to attend the next summit after missing two consecutive meetings.

Following the last gathering of leaders in Germany at the beginning of June, Harper made it clear he didn't want Putin back at the table because he doesn't share the values of the group."...

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/putin-says-harper-will-change-his-mind-on-russia-in-g8-if-u-s-tells-him-to-1.3121253

Does he not understand that Canada's relationship with America is not the same as Russia's employing it's strong arm intimidation tactics with neighboring countries?

The criminal despot must actually believe that the rest of the world operates along the same lines as Putinland and that the POTUS can simply tell the PM to let him back in the group....Or what? Obama will invade southern Saskatchewan with little green men? Point missiles at us? Threaten 'consequences' if he don't cooperate?

Does Putin actually think that Obama would just "tell" the neighboring head of state for the US' closest ally, defense partner and largest trading partner to 'change his mind' so he can attend a G7 meeting?

What a maroon. The guy's getting more unstable by the day. Sooner or later this rabid, barking Russian Chihuahua is going to have to be put down.

Brass

[JayH]

This in a nutshell is why this arrogant little man will lose his quest for empire...

Brass

Putin and the Kremlin have consistently misread the western attitude and the degree of seriousness that the situation is viewed.
Overnight Cameron has re-iterated support for Ukraine in the east- AND in Crimea.
Generally speaking-the German softly softly approach is now seen as a failure- but the west is still not anywhere near clear enough in sending the message to Putin that he is not going to get away with his invasion.

All round a fail for Russia in reading Ukrainians attitudes-- and apart from being contemptuous towards the west-- a fail in understanding the resolve of the west.

Putin was hoping to mask the failures of the Russian economic management -but now-- time is working against him.Whether it caches up with Putin or Russia first is the question now.

[sleepycat]

What a maroon. The guy's getting more unstable by the day. Sooner or later this rabid, barking Russian Chihuahua is going to have to be put down.

Brass

It will always be one of history's great 'What if' questions...

What if during his youth huilo had received proper therapy to help him deal with his bitterness issues for being so short, he might actually have turned out to be an okay guy.

But then again therapy methods as used in the West probably do not exist in the USSR then.
Most likely their definition of therapy is to attached some electrodes and then crank up the voltage. 

[jone]

Sleepy Kot,

Whether VV has any size problems probably does not mean he lacks for any sleeping companions.  All the Siloveki are in the same bed.  As goes Putin, so go they.

The largest issue confronting the world right now is ISIS.  To that end, I think there is room for negotiation with Russia to accomplish the demise of such a radical group.  If not, then there will be a much more flagrant and destructive force to deal with than Russia.