Monday - January 02, 2006

Checkmate

What we have here is a classic game of chess. The problem is that the Russians are masters of the game and Russian President Vladimir Putin is proving to be well versed in the strategies involved in a good match. Since the end of the Cold War, countries that used to be part of Russia’s realm of inflluence (the Warsaw Pact countries) have gradually moved out from under Russian influence and into Western Europe’s embrace.

Old Soviet satellites are now part of the European Union thus Russia lost most of its pawns in the opening game. Russia held onto the rebellious countries like Chechnya with brutal charges by knights and rooks in the middle game. Now Russia finds its queen in jeopardy as Ukraine went through its “Orange Revolution” recently and elected a pro-Western government. Putin simply responded with a brilliant counter-move. He decided that if his Ukrainian “queen” was going to defect to the West then the Ukraine would have to pay the same prices for gas that the West does.

Needless to say, Ukraine cannot afford the new prices and so Putin cut off their supply of gas. This puts his opponent’s king in jeopardy as Russia supplies a quarter of Europe’s gas ... through Ukraine. If it weren’t for the fact that this puts Europe in jeopardy of freezing this winter, I would have to congratulate Putin on an absolutely brilliant move. Check and mate!

The only viable solution is for Europe and the West to surrender the game but there is a way to do this with honor. Simply invite Russia to join the European Union and NATO. Bring the Russians into our camp. That’s all Putin and the Russians really want anyway. Why continue to keep them isolated on the continent? It is only going to involve more and more of these back-and-forth political chess matches and that’s what screwed up Europe so badly in the run-up to World War I. Which led to World War II. Which made a mess of everything.

I urge the member countries of NATO and the European Union to get together, admit they’ve been beaten by a wily, cunning opponent and invite him to join the team. After all, one must keep one’s friends close and one’s enemies even closer ... and “Pooty-Poot” is not really an enemy. He’s just a better chess player.

Putin Sends a Shiver Through Europe
(UK NEWS-TELEGRAPH)

Russia took Europe to the brink of a winter energy crisis yesterday when it carried out a Cold War-style threat and halted gas deliveries to Ukraine, the main conduit for exports to the West. With a quarter of its gas supplied by Russia, Europe is facing serious disruption and price rises for as long as the dispute rumbles on.

Moscow turned off the tap at 10am after Ukraine refused to sign a new contract with the Russian state monopoly Gazprom quadrupling prices. Critics of the Kremlin say the rise was punishment for the Orange Revolution in 2004 which brought in a westward-leaning government that promised to remove Ukraine from the Kremlin’s sphere of influence.

The American State Department said that “such an abrupt stop creates insecurity in the energy sector in the region and raises serious questions about the use of energy to exert political pressure”. The European Union has called an emergency meeting of energy ministers on Wednesday.

Britain is less vulnerable than mainland Europe because it does not receive direct supplies from the former Soviet bloc. But as other countries seek to shore up their reserves, less gas is likely to be pumped through the pipeline that links the Continent with Britain. That could mean higher prices and, if there is no quick resolution, possible breaks in supplies.

The European Commission says that most countries have between a week and two months’ emergency reserves. Ukraine has upset Moscow by pushing to join the EU and Nato. However, Russia insists that the price rise merely brings Ukraine in line with the price that most of Europe pays: about $240 per 1,000 cubic metres.

President Vladimir Putin adopted almost warlike terms when he spoke on television as the hours ticked by before the ultimatum expired. “If no clear response [from Kiev] follows, we will conclude that our proposal has been rejected,” he said.

Posted by The Skipper     on 01/02/2006 at 12:46 PM   
Filed Under: • EUro-peons • Politics •  
• Comments (5) • Trackbacks(1)  Permalink •  

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It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

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