Czar Putin extorts Europe to gain Ukraine

January 14, 2:12 PMPolitical Issues ExaminerJudah Freed

Previous Next

Comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Political Issues Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin speaks during a meeting with counterparts from Slovakia, Bulgaria and Moldova, unseen, at his Novo Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2009. Putin is accusing Ukraine of holding European nations hostage by refusing to deliver Russian natural gas across its territory. Ukraine, in turn, claims Russia failed to pump enough gas into the pipeline for European delivery. (AP Photo/Misha Japaridze)

What's behind all the bickering over Russian's cutoff of natural gas through the Ukraine pipeline to eastern Europe? The Russian bear in the room that no one is talking about is the declared plans of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to recreate the former czarist or Soviet empire.

On January 1, the state-controlled Russian energy monopoly, Gazprom, shut off the flow of natural gas for Ukraine 's domestic consumption after Russia on the previous day effectively sabotaged negotiations over prices and transit fees. Russia then escalated the stakes by ensuring that no natural gas reaches Europe. 

Western Europe imports a quarter of its natural gas from Russia through Ukraine's pipelines. Eastern Europe, in contrast, is almost totally dependant on Russian gas for winter heating.

By cutting off the flow of natural gas through Ukraine and perpetually coming up with excuses not to resume that flow under full pipeline pressure, despite signed agreements with Europe, Putin is punishing the European Union for offering to welcome Ukraine into its fold.

By allowing hundreds of thousands in Europe to freeze this winter while blaming Kiev for the natural gas interruption, Putin hopes to drive a wedge between Europe and Ukraine. Putin further seeks to alienate Ukraine from NATO.

Through the "Big Lie" propaganda technique of oversimplifying and distorting the facts while telling that big lie loud enough and long enough, Putin hopes to cast the leaders in Kiev as criminals while the real criminals in Moscow disregard mounting European deaths from the cold.

Through such tactics, Putin aims to quash Ukranian independence from the Russian sphere. His goal is to regain control of Ukraine the same as he aims to regain control of Georgia and other former Soviet states.

Don't take my word for this, however. Do your homework on Google from news and opinion sources on the left and right.  For instance...

Mother Jones - "Putin to Ukraine: We'll Sell You Natural Gas, But Might Nuke You, Too"
Like any member of the old Soviet elite, [Putin's] gripped the reigns of power with an iron fist and has demonstrated his nostalgia for the once-powerful Motherland by emulating its approach to politics—the political assassinations, the press intimidation, and the corrupt, old-boy political style. Now add military gamesmanship, nuclear sabre-rattling, and economic extortion to the list.

Hoover Institution - "The Lingering Dream of Empire"
Hoover fellow John B. Dunlop on Vladimir Putin’s expansionist dreams. Russia’s partially state-owned Gazprom gas company charges Ukraine slightly higher rates than those it charges Western European customers and more than three times what it charges Belarus.

American Economic Alert - "Russia Cuts Off Ukraine's Gas: Great Power Politics As Usual"
When Russia cut the flow of natural gas to Ukraine, it was more than just a pricing dispute. It was the use of a dominant economic position to make a political statement.  In Paris, Le Monde called Moscow’s action, “The first declaration of war in the 21st century.”

Russia Profile - "The Winter Gas War: Putin's latest power play"
Atop a new Russia determined to rebuild its old empire, Mr. Putin decided to go for the jugular with Ukraine -- cutting off the gas, in the middle of winter.

HillBuzz - "Putin’s gas trap enters second phase: Europe starts to feel pinch"
New Russian Empire Targets Ukraine Next · Putin voiced the amount of Ukrainian debt for gas · How Ukraine beat Russia’s latest imperialist gambit.

RELATED ARTICLES ON EXAMINER.COM:

• Power, politics fuels Russia-Ukraine war
• Gas-starved EU nations seek end to energy crisis
• Putin to meet leaders of gas-starved Balkans
• Russia, Ukraine trade blame in Europe gas crisis
• EU's Barroso complains to Putin over gas shortage
• Russia's Medvedev opens his blog to comments
• Gazprom: Ukraine signs gas monitoring deal
• Analysis: EU now has chance to curb gas corruption

FYI: January is the anniversary for the 1776 publication of Common Sense by Thomas Paine. Please click for my columns on Paine's life and work.
 

A REQUEST: Please keep your comments relevant to the topic of the
posting above. And please practice civility. Thanks.