The Eurasian Union is going to isolate itself and it's growth will be very limited. At the rate Putin is now limiting his 'friendly' contacts around the world the NEW EU can't possibly be the focus of Russia. It more or less looks like a military trap. If the Crimean invasion is any evidence of the focus of the "NEW EU" there is no interest in economic growth. Confrontation of any military of any country is about limiting and now growth. Military invasion is about control, not movement.
I don't see how this new venture by Russia is going to produce a growth incentive to any of it's members. If growth is being sacrificed control, then there is a military tilt to this reorganization of post soviet states. The idea Russia has to invade lands in order to capture it's participants is hideous. It won't work.
I don't see more buying at Macy's by order of the government, do you?
Be Leon Neyfakh
Globe Staff
March 9, 2014
...For all its ambition (click here) and the grandeur of its name, the Eurasian Union
hasn’t been discussed much in the West outside of foreign-policy
circles; when asked about it recently, the State Department declined to
comment. This does not mean US officials aren’t worried about its
implications. In December 2012, then-Secretary of State Hillary Rodham
Clinton made a remark that, to date, seems to represent the American
government’s only public position on Putin’s idea: “There is a move to
re-Sovietise the region,” she said. And while of course the new entity
wouldn’t be called the USSR, she said, “Let’s make no mistake about it.
We know what the goal is and we are trying to figure out effective ways
to slow down or prevent it.”...
The best analogy to this Eurasian Union is that of Perestroika. That was Mikhail Gorbachev in the 1980s. It was a brave attempt to reorganize the government and economy of Russia.
And I think this observation by Wes Kyatt is somewhat correct in that Putin is placing himself outside a clear definition of his actions. Chancellor Angela Merkel stated she thought Putin was disoriented to reality.
I don't see that Putin is being very honest to his actions and the outcomes he is expecting by spoofing The West. I sincerely believe he thinks he is pulling the wool over the eyes of The West because of a preferred blind spot to nuclear war, therefore, he can do as he please right up to conventional war with Europe. And will he do that? Did he scuttle a ship to block the movement of Ukrainian ships? Tell me that wasn't planned in a strategy to carry out from the beginning in Crimea.
Now, either Russia is completely incompetent in functioning in the real world including global markets or this is a strategy to bring about the redefinition of it's borders in an expansionist empire. The tilt by China about this is interesting. There is no mention in the headlines of President Obama leveling sanctions, China's propaganda is completely focused on the sanctions by Russia of the USA. Communists.
We are still there. With all the attempts by the former ambassador to China in George H. W. Bush and all the promise of a world in cooperation with each other, we are still 'there' in a world divided into 'Us and Them.' As a matter of fact, "W" and Cheney probably solidified the ideas of "Us and Them" more than any figures in post WWII history.
The entire idea that Russia is going to build a successful economic engine in the Eurasian Union to challenge the productivity of The West is all too obvious a deceitful endeavor. I am sure the Eurasian Union would love it if it succeeded beyond any expectations, but, I don't think they even know what to expect from this new economic alliance. Not only that but with a launch of January 2015, there are more nations looking at Russia and it's affiliates as if it has three heads and sixteen eyes. It is a new monster on the block no one wants to begin to understand yet alone consent to it's aggression to build an economic something or other.
I don't know how much of 'The Soul of Peace' Putin has had to sell to the communists in order to secure the permission to build an economic alliance, but, it obviously involved a military overtone that the global community won't stand to witness as a reality. If this is the new face of the Eurasian Union, it isn't at all about economic competition so much as economic take over. It is unrecognizable in any economic dictionary currently used in classrooms in our universities.
War within countries does not increase economic viability, quite the opposite it is the ultimate oppressor. Where does Russia believe the Crimea is going to succeed in any economic scheme to be prosperous? Inclusion? Diversity? Appreciation of cultural tourism? Engineering genius? Inventive Environments of Think Tanks? It won't happen. The focus is military strength and in a world where economics is suppose to be important to all nations in an aire of cooperation and enlightenment so borders are open to exchange; it doesn't exist with Russia on March 21, 2014.
Did it ever exist?
When The West says they want Iran to stop nuclear enrichment, it means it, otherwise there are economic sanctions as a weapon to relay the seriousness of it's will. When The West states "knock if off to Assad" it means it. When The West states stop the killing, it means it. But, is The West willing to throw down the gauntlet and begin wars and killing to back up it's words of meaning? Dear God I hope not
The world in 2014 is suppose to be built on trust and mutual expectations for people around the world. If Russia doesn't 'get it' because it demands blood to be spilled in order to define it's language of strength; then we haven't gotten anywhere with ignore leaders that are still angry over the abandonment of The Cold War and it's then leaders decisions to live a better quality of life than adhere to Lenin's dictates.
If Russia's present day leaders are still mired in hatred of difference. If Russia doesn't see the peaceful path forward reassured to every nation when participating in economics that work. If Russia doesn't care about improving the lives of the people of their nation there will never be anything on this Earth except a chronic struggle of powers who believe they have some strange idea of winning. Killing is winning? Regrowing hatred and political distance is winning? If that is the case, then the forward movement of humanity has ended and we are mired in stupidity forever.
Enough.
Posted: Wednesday, March 19, 2014 4:14 pm
Wes Kyatt, Contributing Columnist
During the now infamous press conference, (click here) Putin
displayed himself as someone who is at least perceiving reality very
differently from the West, and at worst completely detached from reality
altogether. Russian troops were storming Ukrainian military
installations in Crimea as Putin denied Russia was involved militarily
at all.
“There are many uniforms there that are similar. You can go to a store and buy any kind of uniform,” Putin said.
The squadrons storming Crimea weren’t
Russian units; they were “local defense units.” Two weeks later, Russian
military exercises were being conducted just off Ukraine’s eastern
border. If observers were gullible enough to believe Putin at the time,
Russian actions since then illustrate that scenario as unlikely.
Putin has indicated beyond the shadow
of a doubt that he and the United States are reading from different
playbooks. President Barack Obama has correctly insisted upon a
diplomatic solution, while insisting that the vote in Crimea to join the
Russian federation is illegitimate, resulting in intimidation from
Moscow. U.S. economic sanctions put in place yesterday target specific
officials, including those close to Putin and former Ukrainian President
Viktor Yanukovych. The U.S. did not sanction Putin himself, leaving
room to up the ante if the situation continues to escalate.
Unfortunately, as indicated by the bruising the DOW took last Thursday,
Russian banks have likely already anticipated sanctions. A vast amount
of Russian money was taken out of the U.S. beforehand, and likely placed
in London or Germany, where governments are more reticent to take
action against the Kremlin....
