With a big push from the Obama Administration, the European Union has finalized a new round of sanctions against Russia, aimed at punishing the nation for its involvement in the east Ukrainian war.
The sanctions were scheduled to cap off the latest NATO summit, but a ceasefire signed earlier today has effectively ended the war which was the pretext for the conflict.
NATO officials made it clear they weren’t supportive of the ceasefire, believing it to be a Russian trick, but Ukraine’s military’s recent losses to rebel forces seem to have tipped the scale in favor of the ceasefire, at least for now.
EU officials suggested some of the sanctions could have to be suspended if the Ukraine ceasefire holds, though the US continues to talk up imposing more and more sanctions on Russia, irrespective of what happens in Ukraine or anywhere else.
Sanctions appear to be working. The sanctions themselves are merely annoying and are intended to be no more than that but Putin is a European populist nationalist and they tend to strut and thumb their nosees. EU pinprick sanctions have provoked Putin into countersanctions which are much more damaging to Russia. If Putin won't sell oil and gas to the EU, he can't sell them to anyone else, not because no one wants to buy them but because, in practical terms, he can't transport them to anywhere else but the EU. If he won't buy fruit and vegetables from the EU, he can't buy them from anywhere else because the types of fruit and veg in question don't grow anywhere else!. Having successfully provoked Putin into blunder after blunder, the EU is hardly likely to loosen its grip until Putin comes fully back into line. No Soviet leader ever did anything so stupid!
"If Putin won't sell oil and gas to the EU, he can't sell them to anyone else, not because no one wants to buy them but because, in practical terms, he can't transport them to anywhere else but the EU"
Er …
"On January 14, the top managers of Russian oil firm Rosneft met with representatives of the China National Petroleum Corporation in what was billed as a routine continuation of longstanding bilateral consultations on energy cooperation. The talks proved far from routine, however — Russian media reported that the two sides reached a preliminary agreement to increase Rosneft shipments to China from 300,000 barrels per day (b/d) to 500,000." — Washington Institute, January 28, 2014
"President Vladimir Putin on Monday oversaw the start of construction on a giant pipeline that is due to ship $400 billion (240.78 billion pounds) worth of Russian gas to China in the three decades after flows begin in 2019." — Reuters, September 1, 2014
"China and Russia officials last month celebrated an oil pipeline agreement that will boost trade between the two sides by billions of dollars in the coming years." — Forbes, September 2, 2014
You were saying …?
damned inconvenient facts…
The rebels have routed the current Kiev government and taken the strategic port city of
Maripol in their latest offensive. In response the Ukraine government has wisely agreed to the cease fire. So which war are you writing about where Putin comes fully back in line?
The people/nations have lost control on their leaders.They should answer of their acts.We must write to EU for asking which deputy voted for sanctions and which did not.I have the right to know for who I will not vote next elections.
PS We did not make russians angry yet.But if we do it now he will regret it.
This really has nothing to do with Ukraine. This is all about the new development fund being constructed by the BRICS. The US hegemony of the world financials is breaking down and the logical next move would be to liberalize the use of the US dollar as the world reserve currency. And that is something the US is going to fight tooth and nail to stop.
This is so true. All the dead in Ukraine on both sides are just pawns in a so-called great game, to be stomped on like bugs as far as TPTB are concerned. Russia is the real target and Putin knows this. He knows how far the US is prepared to go following MH-17.
This nothing new : hate of Russia and russians.We can reread "The wolf and the lamb" : If it is not you,it is one of yours…
We'll see how Europe likes going cold in the winter when they don't get any gas from Russia.
If Putin keeps stopping profit-making wars, the neocons will drone him out of existence..
The hatred of Putin in the media has to have some reason beyond "stealing" the Crimea; a place just about nobody can find on the map and that they care even less about. Perhaps its because he is actually a leader with wide popular support (>80%) who can't be shoved around by the "elite".
Amusing to watch Canada and the UK compete for leading sock puppet. Hey Harper, remember you have a ethnic and linguistic minority (French Canadian), a bilingual country, and a federal arrangement with Quebec. Don't see any parallel in the Ukraine?
How many young Germans will be lining up to die in the same patch of dirt as their grandfathers? No Germany, no NATO.
In a year or two we'll see the results of the World Bank and IMF help. The Ukraine's valuable assets sold at fire sale prices to "investors" and the people left to fend for themselves. Greece on the Black Sea.
"…No Germany, no NATO…"
I wonder if the USG would go so far as to lay some of those economic sanctions on Germany in order to keep them in line and a participating member of NATO when NATO decides to take the conflict up a notch or two?