KYIV, December 11 /Ukrinform/. Ukraine is asking the European Union to allocate EUR 20 billion in financial assistance as part of the signing of an Association Agreement. Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said this at a government meeting on Wednesday.
By Conn Hallinan "So far, sanctions have targeted individuals, although Washington and the EU have threatened to up the ante and ban Russia from using the Swift system of international banking. That would make transferring money very difficult. It has certainly crippled Iran’s finances. But Swift, as Gideon Rachman of the Financial Times points out, is a double-edged sword. “Cutting Russia out of Swift would cause chaos in Moscow in the short term,” but in the long term “it might hasten the day when Russia, and more significantly, China, establish alternative systems for moving money between international banks.” According to Rachman, China and Russia have already discussed such a system." "The Swedes and the Poles are fire-breathers, but their stance is as much about trying to offset German power in the EU as for any concern over Ukrainians. In short, the EU looks like one of those combined armies of Austrian-Hungarians, Russians, and Prussians that Napoleon made his reputation beating up on."
We have to look at history and look at what's happening today. We have a country, Ukraine, that is engaged right now in a civil war. You've got the East and the West. The E.U. made a terrible calculation by saying -- the European Union -- that you either side with us or you side with Russia, you can't do both. And that forced a split in a very tenuous country where the president sided with Russia, half the people got angry, and now we're saying with Russia supporting half of the people that we should take a side. It would be a terrible problem. Together with Germany, together with France, with [François] Hollande, the U.S. has to negotiate. That is the answer. War should not be an option. (HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher, July 25, 2014)
Rysslands Röst 24.4.14: Projektet Östligt partnerskap med Sveriges utrikesminister Carl Bildt och hans polske kollega Radek Sikorski som ideologiska inspiratörer firar 5-årsdagen. Precis som år 2009 då projektet godkändes av EU hålls toppmötet 2014 i Prag. I toppmötet deltar ledarna för Tjeckien, Österrike, Polen och Litauen, medan EU representeras av kommissionär med ansvar för EU:s utvidgning och grannskapspolitik Stefan Füle
Paul Craig Roberts via Ria Novosti: "The new sanctions announced by Washington and Europe don’t seem to make much sense. I would be surprised if Russian oil and military industries were dependent on European capital markets in a meaningful way. The Russian companies should be able to secure adequate financing from Russian Banks or from the Russian government. If foreign loans are needed, Russia can borrow from China."
S'exprimant lors d'un débat à l'Alpbach Forum intitulé « UE et Russie : rivaux, adversaires, partenaires ? » le 31 août, l'ambassadeur russe auprès de l'UE, Vladimir Chizhov, a reproché au traité de Lisbonne et à l'élargissement de l'UE d'avoir contribué à l'actuelle paralysie des relations entre l'UE et le plus grand de ses voisins.
Pour l'ambassadeur russe à Bruxelles, le Traité de Lisbonne a contribué à la détérioration des relations entre l'UE et la Russie.
Michael von der Schulenburg was a former Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations and worked for over 34 years in many war zones around the world in a leading role in UN peace missions. He is candidate for the Bündnis Sahrah Wagenknecht at the forthcoming European Elections [9,6,]
This could have been the European Union’s hour to take greater responsibility in showing a peaceful way out of the Ukraine war. After all, it was unresolved conflicts in Europe that caused humanity to descend into the catastrophe of two World Wars. Europe should not again be the source of such a human disaster and therefore accept it historic responsibility by taking a reconciliatory approach to the Ukraine war. After all, this is the first war in human history in which nuclear arms play a strategic role and any miscalculation could bring an apocalypse on humankind that is unimaginably greater than anything we know from the two World Wars.
The National Interest (USA) "Two months ago, we were agreeing that trade and economic partnerships with Ukraine will be negotiated in concert with Russia. The idea was to choose the optimal arrangement with Ukraine so that Russia and Europe could both retain and increase their investments with Ukraine."
By Eoin Drea* – POLITICO
Brave and economically ravaged Ukraine needs a debt deal to win the coming peace — and grants rather than loans
European leaders haven’t been shy about trumpeting their €18 billion in loans to Ukraine in 2023 as a tool for“maintain[ing] the macro-financial stability of the country.”For European Council President Charles Michel, such aid shows that Brussels is “very committed to supporting Ukraine as much as we can.”
However, as the war rages and pressure on Ukraine’s economy mounts, basic economics — and centuries of history — paint a much less optimistic portrait of the real impact of Europe’s financial support.
I en artikel på webbtidningen Meer anklagar Michael von der Schulenburg, f.d. vice generalsekreterare i FN, EU för att driva en ännu mer krigsaktivistisk politik än USA. USA håller ibland tillbaka, men det gör inte EU. Europa kommer att få betala dyrt för den politiken, säger Schulenburg. Artikeln i sin helhet: Kommer kriget i Ukraina… (översatt från https://www.meer.com/en/74782-will-the-ukraine-war-be-the-undoing-for-the-european-union)
Latvian MEP Andrejs Mamikins has sent a letter to the President of the European Comission Mr. José Manuel Durão Barroso concerning the mutual sanctions between EU and Russia. BC publicizes the message uncensored.