As Ive noted, Ukraine had a third alternative, rejecting the EU and Russia and unilaterally removing all trade barriers. What is at stake is simply this—Putin is trying to reestablish the Soviet empire by bringing six republics into a Eurasian Economic Union that would turn them into satellites. Two of them, Belarus and Kazakhstan, have already caved in by forming a customs union with Moscow that will automatically turn them into members of Putin’s system in 2015. The other four have been under major economic and political blackmail to do the same, including the imposition of high tariffs on their exports to Russia, drastic border controls, limited supplies of natural gas to those countries that depend on them and open interference with their domestic politics.
Posted on: Thu, 05 Dec 2013 02:04:31 +0000
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