It's a great article -- I have one question ...

[xcitedcork]

A federation was on offer in Ukraine back in late 2013. Yanukovich wanted a trilateral deal with the EU and the Russia-Kazakhstan-Belarus customs union. This would have cemented the Ukraine as a non-aligned neutral state between NATO and the Russian Federation; but of course the EU said no, they wanted to run the whole show. Their arrogance knows no bounds.

Yanukovych wanted his cake and eat it too, no one agreed with a trilateral agreement.,neither russia or eu and it wasnt even on the table as an offer from either side so when it came to a descision he went against the Ukranian popular choice:-) the eu association agreement and instead went for the closer ties with russia, which by the way was to be a member of the eurasia group.Also important point was that ukraine had already signed an agreement with Eu and it was the refusal of yanukovych in signing the ratification into law that caused the uprising.

[simon2280]

Irresponsible Comments by people "Lucky" to live far from the Front Line have been Used by War Businesses (WWII) by power crazed individuals to create fear, insecurity and kneejerk reaction. The Russian Federation is under Pressure and come Winter some of the nations that depend on it for Oil and Gas may be caught out. Mention the recent past, Europe finally admitted it's old friend America was monitoring the phone conversations of it's leaders..Some Friend

[xcitedcork]

Irresponsible Comments by people "Lucky" to live far from the Front Line have been Used by War Businesses (WWII) by power crazed individuals to create fear, insecurity and kneejerk reaction. The Russian Federation is under Pressure and come Winter some of the nations that depend on it for Oil and Gas may be caught out. Mention the recent past, Europe finally admitted it's old friend America was monitoring the phone conversations of it's leaders..Some Friend

Well said, its all chess piece moves for big business.....theres nothing better for an economy then war and america have proved time and time again that their only interest is the USA and their interests. Case in point is gadafi, only reason why he was taken out is that he was close to signing a new arab deal to change the currency for oil in the region away from the doller and into a new arabic currency.......no way were they going to let something like international law stand in the way of american interests

[Jericho]

russia and germany are huge trade partners. merkel and putin were at the world cup together. who knows they could have got up to much more.......

Please don't put images like that in my head

[Meursault]

Please don't put images like that in my head

merkel wearing a strapon

[Jericho]

merkel wearing a strapon

Well, I suppose two consenting adults. As long as they don't do it in public and frighten the horses.

[Meursault]

Well, I suppose two consenting adults. As long as they don't do it in public and frighten the horses.

what happens behind closed doors is of no concern, unless the video it and some hacker posts it pornhub

[Stella]

I don't think Merkel was ever going to do anything of use in those negotiations. I'm sure I read a while back, that Germany were not in favour of sanctions because of the impact it would have on the German economy. I believe they depend heavily on the supply of gas from Russia.
Very interesting thread, thank you Steph.
J

They do, but probably Germany will be ok if that's the case but Eastern European countries won't, can't remember the exact year only can recall it was a very cold winter when Russia closed the taps for a while, issues were solved before major problems occurred!

From today's Guardian, great article

http://www.theguardian.com/commentis...ne-middle-east

[EIFII]

From today's Guardian, great article

http://www.theguardian.com/commentis...ne-middle-east

Stella, ever the learned voice of reason. Good to see you back

[willieh]

Many very good points in your post xx

Obama in Estonia today , this time not in a tan suit.

Gave a good speech .

Yeah, I saw the speech on Sky News and I laughed! He seems to be recycling his speeches! He told the Estonians that for a small country with a small population, the punched well above their weight!!!!!!!!! (Now where did we in Ireland hear that before??????)

On a wholly unrelated note, has anyone noted how Obama has aged since he was first elected? It is truly shocking!