Bulgaria’s Attack Party, the nationalist minority in a strongly divided parliament, has promised to topple the government today in the event they back a new round of EU sanctions against Russia.
Though Attack has long been portrayed as strongly pro-Russian and averse to the EU, the move isn’t simply ideological, as Bulgaria gets an overwhelming amount of energy from Russia, and a sanctions war could spell economic ruin for the nation.
Bulgaria’s ruling Socialist coalition has been keen to back Western EU members on the push for sanctions, mostly hoping to curry favor with the EU’s power brokers, but risks splitting its own electorate. As the former Communist Party, Bulgaria’s ruling Socialists also have strong historic ties to Russia, and are facing calls to veto the sanctions, which any single EU nation could do.
Volen Siderov, Attack’s party chairman, says he believes that a veto would do more for Bulgaria’s EU standing than going along with the sanctions anyhow, saying he believes French and German officials would be silently thanking them for saving their own nations billions of euros in lost trade.
One can only hope…
Siderov is correct in his reasoning.
Herr Merkel has gone off the deep end as has Hollande. Cameronberg? He's simply a moron who doesn't realize that the City of London is 70% dependent on Russian money laundering to maintain it's unreal housing bubble.
Meanwhile all Putin needs to do is sit back in his easy chair, sip a little vodka, munch on some Ossetra caviar, and watch the EU implode.
Yes the loss of money laundering will hurt the City of London but that is almost trivial compared to the following scenario. When I compare the recessions/depressions of 1932 and 2008 there is an obvious and huge difference. In 1932 the USSR and China were not trading partners for the world which could buffer the effects of the malaise. That is different today.
Another recession if not depression is as certain to come as sunrise every day. If that happens when there is an economic warfare, even a relatively small one going on between the "west" and Russia, all bets are off. The case of 1932 demonstrates that once the ball rolls down the hill no amount of effort will stop it because the various players do not trust one another.
Another Great Depression may well be the unintended consequence of the potentially dangerous actions of NATO and EU and the sheeples of NATO/EU are ignorantly asleep. They will get what they deserve and all because of a violent coup in Ukraine!
Warning to Bulgaria – oppose Washington and become a member of the "axis of evil"!
The US has every reason to push for sanctions against Russia. It will devastate the EU economy while leaving the US economy nearly untouched. Why are these idiot Europeans so willing to sing Kumbaya with the "international community" when sanctions will give the US a relative advantage in industrial production and make further investment in capital equipment a much more risky prospect for Europe? This is all about summoning the political will in the US to allow NatGas exportation. They want Americans to demand that NatGas be exported to Europe as a result of their patriotic fervor. Clearly the US NatGas could never replace what the Russians supply at even close to a comparable price. All it will do is drive up US Natural Gas prices for our citizens. The shale gas surplus is a myth as it stands, but we certainly won't be able to export it in ten years when demand rises. The people are being played by the oil companies once again, but of course they won't realize it until the deal is done. I guess if Putin cuts off NatGas to the EU, the EU will collapse immediately, so at least one good thing will have come out of their "humanitarianism"
The last paragraph shows just how quickly new Member States integrate into the EU! Siderov is dead right! The big winner in this whole ridiculous mess is, of course, the EU. The "Putin Effect" has already worked in a whole series of ways. The Member States have drawn closer together and have realised that they need a defence structure independent of the US but including (probably post-Putin) Russia. The moderte right wing UMP won a much bigger victory than expected in France's local elections, whereas the far-right Front National got only about half the vote the polls were predicting a few months ago and even that concentrated mainly in a small area of the far south. And of course, the moderate government of Serbia won a thumping 48% of the vote in its election, astonishing in a PR system. Of Nuland and her neocon friends, we could paraphrase Winston Churchill: never has so much been screwed up for so many by so few!