Beware the day before the Ides of March
EU on the road to nowhere: Mogherini on its 5 guiding principles for dealing with Russia, 14 March 2016
by Gilbert Doctorow, Ph.D.
On 14 March, Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, spoke to the press at the conclusion of a long Foreign Relations Council meeting which inter alia arrived unanimously at 5 guiding principles for further developing relations with Russia. (http://eeas.europa.eu/statements-eeas/2016/160314_02_en.htm )
These principles were evidently very much to her liking, because Mogherini’s facial expression, which has always involuntarily reflected her mood swings from manic depression, when she sat like a muzzled dog at Syria peace negotiations run jointly by the US and Russia, to manic euphoria, when she could announce new sanctions against Russia, was yesterday in ‘elation’ mode, aglow.
It takes only a quick reading of these 5 governing principles to understand that they amount to further destruction of what remains of civilized discourse with Russia. They are premised on Europe’s moral, political, economic superiority over the rude state on its eastern frontier and to its ability, if acting in unified manner, to bully the beast into acknowledging its inferior position and coming to heel.
Coming to heel means, in open text: Russia’s abandoning the Donbas to its fate under rule from Kiev; returning the Crimea to its proper owners in Kiev; accepting sharp loss of market share for its energy supplies to the EU as dictates from the Commission on pipelines and alternative suppliers prevail over the interests of Russia’s business partners in the Union; Russia’s abandoning its positions in the ‘information war’ by shutting down its media and replacing local content by news written in Brussels or Lyon (Euronews); and, for good measure, allowing Europe to finance freely the treasonous Liberal opposition politicians in its midst for the sake of regime change.During the present period of cordon sanitaire, Europe offers to meet with the Kremlin for discussion of those few foreign relations issues and other unnamed issues which Europe currently deems to be in its interest to discuss.
The only remarkable point in yesterday’s exercise was the enduring consensus, the unanimity of which Mogherini boasted. This shows that reports of Italian and Hungarian opposition to further automatic extension of economic sanctions against Russia are just wishful thinking.
(http://www.reuters.com/article/us-ukraine-crisis-eu-idUSKCN0WG1AU )
If these European fighters for common sense cannot even say ‘no’ to the guiding principles, their naysaying is nothing more than giving the EU the finger in the their pockets, as the Russians would put it.
© Gilbert Doctorow, 2016
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G. Doctorow is the European Coordinator, American Committee for East West Accord, Ltd. His latest book Does Russia Have a Future? (August 2015) is available in paperback and e-book from Amazon.com and affiliated websites. For donations to support the European activities of ACEWA, write to eastwestaccord@gmail.com
Gilbert Doctorow 