In These New Times

Another dark cloud arrived courtesy of a ridiculous interview from Britain’s state-controlled BBC last week where Putin was accused of corruption by a US Treasury official. No actual evidence was presented and the Kremlin labelled it “pure fiction.” Of course, this programme was filmed long before the recent improvement in dialogue between Russia and the West.

Despite these concerns, due to the seniority of the European officials publicly discussing a reversal in policy, feelings of hope seem well founded. Germany’s vice-chancellor Sigmar Gabriel also called for detente in early January. He admitted that some “forces” in Europe and the US wanted sanctions to cripple Russia, which would “risk a conflagration.”

Bryan MacDonald

RT

30th January, 2016

When there’s a natural rapport between leaders, relationships are easy. In such an atmosphere, negotiating is a doddle. Of course, when the opposite is the case, the reverse often happens. Small disagreements can explode into furious arguments.

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