The Duran

12th August, 2017

Crack in German consensus on sanctions as Christine Lindner head of Germany’s FDP says sanctions policy has failed and time has come to face reality by recognising Crimea as Russian.

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What Mr Mercuris fails to point out here is that this is an existential challenge to Europe. His response to this is a defeatist one insisting on the EU’s subordination as a kind of iron law. Like the rest of the RT crowd Mercuris sees in the “EU’s disintegration…. the possibility of a fresh start.” I sincerely hope the Russian leadership doesn’t actually  share this idiocy. It is noteworthy that Mercuris sees no connection whatever between a largely neocon London government negotiating in bad faith over EU withdrawal and a neocon led Congress targeting Europe with sanctions. Fortunately, there are signs of resistance to the neo-con onslaught within the EU and, quite frankly, it is ridiculous to cite Rasmussen as typifying the European response.

Alexander Mercuris

The Duran

8th August, 2017

The dispute between the US and Germany over the anti-Russian pipeline provisions of the new sanctions law continues to mount, with RT reporting Klaus Schaefer, a German businessman whom it describes as the CEO of German energy major Uniper fiercely denouncing the new sanctions as a ploy to force Europe to buy expensive liquified American natural gas instead of cheap Russian pipeline gas.

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“I think it’s tactics: They are playing for time on purpose,” one attaché from a Western EU country said, “under the pretext of chaos in London.”

“In September they’re going to swamp us with [position] papers on the fault lines — exactly the issues where they know we [the EU27 countries] are divided,” he warned.

Good to see that some European leaders are twigging it. To complete the puzzle  we need to tie this in with the machinations of Congress aimed both at removing Trump and dividing Europe over the anti-Russian sanctions.

Politico

3rd August, 2017

Viewed from Brussels, the U.K. seemed so ill-prepared in the early rounds of Brexit negotiations that some EU countries think it must be a trap.

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Then there was this somewhat surprising objection: The law, Trump said, “hurts the interests of our European allies.” It is not Trump who wishes to challenge Russia or destabilize Europe: it is Congress and their allies in the British government. Here Trump is signaling that quite clearly.

MSN

3rd August, 2017

When President Trump on Wednesday signed into law a bill that will impose new sanctions on Russia, he simultaneously expressed his opposition to the measure. The law aims to punish Moscow for its interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and limit the president’s own ability to unilaterally lift such sanctions. “By limiting the Executive’s flexibility, this bill makes it harder for the United States to strike good deals for the American people, and will drive China, Russia, and North Korea much closer together,” Trump said in a signing statement, adding that the bill was “seriously flawed.”

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“According to the expert, the newly signed sanctions law will also intensify the political struggle in the European Union. However, Smirnov noted that European countries would change their foreign policy agenda only after a reshuffle in their leadership.” There are also constitutional problems since any EU member, for example, Poland could veto any retaliatory measures. There is, thus, considerable play in using the sanctions to divide Europe.

Sputnik

3rd August, 2017

US President Donald Trump signed new anti-Russian sanctions but also criticized the bill as contradicting the Constitution. This criticism signals the ongoing struggle between the US establishment and the Trump team, a political analyst told Radio Sputnik.

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This is Why Russia May be Among Biggest Winners After Brexit

Sputnik

2nd July, 2016

Russia could be the winner after Britain, one of the most avid supporters of anti-Russian sanctions, will leave the European Union, Frank Holmes, managing director of US Global Investors, wrote in an article.

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