politics

G-7 leaders signal united front on Russia sanctions

15 Comments
By DAVID McHUGH and DAVID RISING

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Russia's paranoia about NATO is because the Russians think that the U.S. is always on the verge of invading. It sounds silly to us in the West, but the Russians are fed that propaganda for breakfast every day.

How is it propaganda? The US does invade countries that haven't attacked it, and the US has been speaking ill of Russia for months now. An invasion is by no means unthinkable.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

I know that Putin is a thug, but this whole conflict is being created by the bankers and politicians, with puppet masters like George Soros pulling the strings. It's a complex but isolated regional conflict.

I'm really worried that a war is in the making to "solve" the economic problems around the Western world.

6 ( +8 / -2 )

Russia's paranoia about NATO is because the Russians think that the U.S. is always on the verge of invading. It sounds silly to us in the West, but the Russians are fed that propaganda for breakfast every day.

Really? Vietnam, Serbia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria and etc. Except Serbia and Vietnam, other countries demolished, still in civil war, a lot of refugees. There is also good article in wiki "Timeline of United States military operations", where you can find bunch of small vile operations for "peace, freedom and democracy". Yeah, US missiles contain a lot of democracy, so they will never regret money for war.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

About the Russia-EU quid pro quo: one aftermath of the Berlin Wall's fall was a tacit agreement between the parties that NATO would never come close to the Russia's border. It seems that over the years, the EU has felt confident enough to ignore (or miscalculated) the Russian reaction.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

Back when Romney said Russia was the biggest threat to the US, he was laughed out of the building.

SuperLib@ And what about Obama, describing Russia among the three "dangers to the world"? When the president of the US saying it and he is not "laughed out of the building", Russians should notice such statements and be prepared, just in case.

You demonstrated your sense of humor. OK, how about that: "No, US is a peace-loving country! We didn't invade or bomb anyoneI Yugoslavia, Iraq, Afghanistan? Oh, that was the previous president's decision, he was a bad guy. Lybia? Umm, it was a mistake, but from now we are going to be really nice guys and we'll try not to bomb and kill anyone. Anti-missile defense in Europe? No, it is not against Russia! It's to defend our allies from attacks from, hmmm, oh, yes, North Korea!! North Koreans are so mean and the have such long-range ballistic missiles!! Why all major Russian opposition figures and organizations on US payroll? Mmm, we like these guys, they're so democratic! No, trust us, we don't give them money to foster unrest like in Ukraine, we do not stage coups!"

I can go on for a long time, but I think you got the idea. And please read this article, may be you'll understand why Russians are so suspicious:

http://journal-neo.org/2015/05/15/what-if-putin-is-telling-the-truth/

4 ( +4 / -0 )

@comanteer"I know that Putin is a thug"

Could you elaborate? Has Putin started recent invasion into Iraq or supported coups in countries of Middle East or Ukraine ?

2 ( +5 / -3 )

Yawn... What the point of all these G-7 gatherings? Are they really necessary? Can't all these guys discuss the world problems via modern communication means or by usual diplomatic channels? G-7 gatherings degenerated into empty shows of vanity two decades ago. Presence of Putin at previous summits gave it a new spark, added interest, but without him it's more like re-runs of an old, boring TV show.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

@Commanteer, You are absolutely right in everything you said.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

The EU is putting sanctions on itself! Putin wins again.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

The only possibility to reach a peace agreement in Ukrania relies in the Poroshenko's impeachmente by the Ukranians.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Abe smiling next to grim looking EU president in dandelion field makes really nice picture...

0 ( +0 / -0 )

kungas: Really? Vietnam, Serbia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria and etc. Except Serbia and Vietnam, other countries demolished, still in civil war, a lot of refugees. There is also good article in wiki "Timeline of United States military operations", where you can find bunch of small vile operations for "peace, freedom and democracy". Yeah, US missiles contain a lot of democracy, so they will never regret money for war.

Don't forget that the U.S. nuked Japan, so the average Russia should be prepared for American ICBMs at any moment. It's only reasonable that they think that, especially if they go to Wikipedia to read about Hiroshima.

Russia's position is a relic from the Cold War. The Russians convinced themselves that the US was going to attack, staging war games near the Russian border then ordering everyone to go into Russia. It's crazy. In the other thread about the U.S. and German relations you have Russians talking about past German invasions and saying that they are a threat to Russia. Maybe they read the wiki entry for WWII?

Go to RT.com, the mouthpiece for the Russian government. There you'll see daily articles talking about how NATO wants to invade, and just at about every international organization is just a front for the Americans to attack Russia. It permeates all of Russian culture. Russian opposition killed? Must be the CIA making Putin look bad. Americans adopting Russian kids? Oh, we can't have that, too dangerous. Want to blog? If you get 3,000 hits or more you have to register you site with Putin's government to make sure you are not a danger to Mother Russia. Charitable organizations? Fronts for the CIA to help with color revolutions within Russia so they must be banned. Russia's drop in credit rating? Obama picked up the phone and ordered that...because I guess he can.

Oh, and the FIFA scandal? You guessed it...all a big American plan to hurt Russia.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Go to RT.com, the mouthpiece for the Russian government.

Go to Fox News, CNN, Deutsche Welle, Sankei and etc. You will see variety of articles about horrible Russia(a.k.a. Osoroshia), evil Putin, "look, russians put their country near our military bases, seems like they threaten us" and etc. You think that only Russians have positions, which is relic of Cold War? And all other countries fluffy, their leaders poop rainbows and puke butterflies?

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Russia's paranoia about NATO is because the Russians think that the U.S. is always on the verge of invading. It sounds silly to us in the West, but the Russians are fed that propaganda for breakfast every day. A lot of dictators do that, positioning themselves as the savior standing between the people and the mythical invading American army. It's the same with North Korea, Venezuela, etc.

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

Back when Romney said Russia was the biggest threat to the US, he was laughed out of the building. It was used as an example of how out of touch he was with the world. I think the surveys at the time showed a whopping 2% of Americans thought of Russia as America's top enemy.

If you are to believe the Russian narrative of what happened next, well, it goes something like this: Obama woke up one day and decided to begin hostilities against Russia. He got a couple of dozen nations to sign on, because....well, why not? He ordered the CIA to shoot down a Malaysian Airlines plane, plant a fake Twitter post, then convinced the Dutch to take one for the team and not give up his secret, instead blame Russia. He used Nazis to overthrow Kiev, part of his plan to use the Nazis to inch closer to Russia's border. He controls the AP, Reuters, CNN, the BBC, well, any media company that doesn't follow Putin's rhetoric. The UN? Well he brought them on board, too, including quite a few NGOs.

That forced Russia to invade and redraw the lines on the maps and reluctantly recreate the old Soviet Empire that Putin speaks so fondly of. Must have been tough for him.

So the U.S. Went from laughing at Russia being our enemy to creating a global network of CIA operators in control of, well, everything. Or, maybe the former KGB operative and current 15-year leader of Russia just might have his own issues.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

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