German Chancellor Angela Merkel has abandoned Germany's pro-Russian 'Ostpolitik' political course, ultimately shifting the power game in Europe, according to the Guardian.
"One thing we know for sure about Angela Merkel: she takes time to ponder her decisions and she weighs her words carefully. So the speech the German chancellor gave in Australia, a few days after Vladimir Putin stormed out of the G20, may go down as a major shift in European geopolitics," the media outlet reported.
Comment: No, Putin didn't "storm out" of the G20. It's just that sharing a stage with psychopathic a**holes makes you want to leave early.
During her speech in Australia on November 17, the German Chancellor reminded the audience of the beginning of 1914 when the European powers had "no readiness to accept compromises" and arrogantly believed "in military superiority." The reference to the First World War is rather symbolic: in the beginning of the 20th century, Germany and Russia had strong political and economic relations, which were ruined by the decision of the German royal elite to declare war on Russia on August 1, 1914.
On November 26, in Berlin, Angela Merkel blamed Russia for "violating Europe's peaceful order" during a speech in the lower house.
"Russia's course of action is calling into question the European peace order and is breaching international law. The situation in Luhansk and Donetsk continues to be far away from a cease-fire. That's why economic sanctions are and remain unavoidable. We need patience and persistence in our efforts to overcome the crisis," she said as cited by the Wall Street Journal.
The Guardian notes that Moscow still has a strong "network of "Russland Versteher," people who "understand" and side with Russia in Germany." It is worth mentioning that numerous German corporations carried out collaborative projects with Moscow and the sanctions policy evidently hit them hard. "Business weighs heavily" in a German-Russian relationship. The media outlet suggests that Merkel's "new course" will face "domestic obstacles," particularly those "Russland Versteher" who conduct business in Russia. They dismiss the groundless accusations of Russian aggression in Ukraine and point to the fact that sanctions will not help to resolve political crisis in Ukraine.
Reuters reported on November 16, that Sigmar Gabriel, Germany's Vice Chancellor and the leader of the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), who previously supported anti-Russian sanctions, noted that he could not see how tougher sanctions "would help us [Germany] move forward economically," stressing that they "will only make the situation more difficult." The media outlet added that Gabriel, "SPD's likely candidate to challenge Merkel in 2017," also criticized NATO's "sabre-rattling" on Russian borders.
Assessing 15 years of Russo-German relations President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with Hubert Seipel of the German channel ARD, before the Australian G20 summit: "Look at the friendship that has been established between Russia and Germany in the past 10 - 15 years. I don't know if we had ever enjoyed such relations before. I see it as a very good base, a good foundation for the development of relations not only between our two states, but also between Russia and Europe as a whole, for the harmonization of relations in the world. It will be a pity if we let it go to waste," he said as cited by RT.
It seems, however, that despite the domestic pressure German Chancellor Angela Merkel is set on "wasting" the valuable political and economic experience of 10-15 years of Russo-German mutually beneficial relations.
If Germany were the problem that ignited WW1 because they distanced themselves from Russia, what is Merkel doing now? The same thing. For fifteen years Germany and Russia have worked together but I wonder how much of that involved Germany attempting to get Russia further into the IMF/World Bank clutches?
If, as we are taught by main-stream education/media, it were a family dynasty dispute in 1914, what is going on now? Has she contracted some strange, brain eating virus that turns her into a wanna-be western puppet? How can Ms. Merkel, leader of the most powerful European country deny the events of the past year and a half in Ukraine? She knows that Germany has contributed to the rise of National Socialist policies in Kiev, the very policies her predecessor Adolf adopted and which Germany has been trying to live down for sixty years. Has the west promised her the same crap they have promised Erdogan?
From a western perspective, Mr. Putin is isolated, like a wounded animal before a pack of wolves. From a Eurasian perspective Mr. Putin is patiently waiting for the wolves to close in enough that the Eurasian and BRIC countries can pounce.
I don't like war but I like the current western paradigm of lies, underhanded politics, genocide and tyranny even less. I hope that a cure for the brain-eating virus can be found and administered to all European leaders before they collectively make the biggest mistake in recorded history.