Eastern/Western Politics Vladimir Putin Joe Biden Allies EASTERN Vladimir Putin invades Ukraine... Russia has $ trillion ties with west... Russia no longer fears US economic sanctions/ trade restrictions/ frozen assets... Russia/ Spain/ Italy/ Greece/ Portugal trade... All this has made Putin confident... very confident... confident that European elites are more concerned about making money than standing up to him... the evidence is there... after Russian strike forces reached the outskirts of Tbilisi... the Georgian capital... in 2008 there were statements/ bluster... but not a squeak about Russia’s billions... Russian opposition was thrown into show trials... there were concerned letters from European Union... again silence about Russia’s billions... Kremlin thinks it knows Europe’s dirty secret now... Kremlin thinks it has European establishment down to a tee... men who run Putin Russia see them like latter-day Soviet politicians... 1980s USSR talked about international Marxism... no longer believed it... Brussels... Russia believes... talks about human rights... but no longer believes in it... Europe is run by an elite with morality of hedge fund... make money at all costs... move it offshore... WESTERN France/ Europe/ US stunned... US could restrict Europe/ Russia trade... US/ China/ Israeli-Palestinian/ Afghanistan/ Syria/ Iran US depends on Russian for industrial materials/ peace conference host/ sanction enforcement.... Russia elites own European properties/ bank accounts... EU could investigate money-laundering... ban visas... freeze funds... EU has never passed anything like Magnitsky Act, which bars a handful of criminal officials from entering the United States. Ben Judah is author of Fragile Empire: How Russia Fell In And Out Of Love With Vladimir Putin. Read more: politico/magazine/story/2014/03/russia-vladimir-putin-the-west-104134.html#ixzz2v0kSGLPI
Posted on: Mon, 24 Mar 2014 07:08:52 +0000
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