Thread: Russia on the march - again

WWII the real religion ? You could be right . Recently our ambassador (the same from Moscow siege) in an interview spoke about visiting
Russias regions . She always tried to visit local museums and in each museum the history was basicly represented in following way : 1-2 rooms for prehistory-to- WWII , then several huge displays dedicated to WWII , and from after-war period again almost nothing . Seems it is the one and only thing from Russias past that has still merit to them .

Originally Posted by braindead

Suddenly Russia started pushing their economical interests , activated the work with Russians abroad , energy blockades etc. - would you not be concerned , if you were a local here?

Energy blockades? Where have you seen an energy blockade from Russia? Protection of economic interests and keeping in touch with compatriots abroad is a natural way of any government and any state. I do not understand why some people believed such things shouldn't be allowed for Russia. But anyway, if the "locals there" were concerned, they, at least, have chosen the strange method to remove their concerns, dismantling the monument.

Originally Posted by Berkis

I don’t like vodka and vobla either. Seriously. Do you?

Anyway, if it sounds like an insult to you, then sorry for that.

I don't like vodka and vobla too. As far as I understand, you obviously do not know what exactly your president has said. She said: "Of course we cannot change the opinion of those elderly Russians, who on 9 May will strip vobla on a newspaper, drink vodka and sing chastushki, whilst recalling how they heroically conquered the Baltic countries."
Of course, this is nothing else but the pure insult.
She also added that the Salaspils camp in Latvia, where the Nazis carried out medical experiments on children and 90,000 people were killed, was simply a "corrective labour camp."

Originally Posted by braindead

Seriously , I will take russia as true economic superpower when I see a russian made/designed cars, TV-s , cell phones competing on ALL world markets hunting for ordinary consumers and not goverments .

That's too perfect picture. If you see all that you list, Russia must be not simply economic superpower, but super-super-hyper-power. For the present, China pretty well covers a world requirement in cell-phones.

Poland triumphant after icy EU-Russia summit


21.05.2007 - 09:27 CET | By Andrew Rettman

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Polish politicians and analysts are celebrating EU solidarity after Berlin and Brussels took Warsaw's line at the EU-Russia summit on Friday. But the meeting irked Russian president Vladimir Putin, damaging further the prospects of a new EU-Russia treaty.

"This is a great success for Polish diplomacy, in terms of Russian relations we got what we wanted," the chairman of Poland's ruling Law and Justice party, Marek Kuchcinski, said, Gazeta Wyborcza reports. "Our critics should finally admit this."

Analyst Andrzej Maciejewski of the Sobieski Institute in Warsaw said the EU "taught [Russia] a lesson." Rafal Trzaskowski of the European school in Natolin said the EU showed "it can speak with one voice, that solidarity is not an empty word."

The reactions - yet to be matched at top Polish government level - come after Germany's Angela Merkel and European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso gave backing to Polish, Estonian and Lithuanian concerns at last week's meeting in Samara.

"The problem of Polish meat is a European problem," Ms Merkel said. "I'm concerned about some people having problems in travelling here," she added, on reports that opposition leaders were prevented from attending a small-scale anti-Putin demonstration in the town.

"Poland's problem is a pan-European problem. Just as Lithuanian or Estonian problems are problems for all of Europe," Mr Barroso stated. "The European Union is based on the principle of solidarity."

Publicly, Mr Barroso said "We are very supportive of the process by which Russia becomes a WTO member." But privately, the EU also delivered the message there are "major impediments" to EU approval of Russia's WTO bid.

The toughening line comes after 18 months of Polish frustration over a Russian ban on food imports. Lithuania has been fuming for 11 months about Russia's shut-down of an oil pipeline, while accusing Moscow of political games to divide the union of 27 western and post-Communist states.

It also comes in the context of Russian attacks against Estonia after Tallinn removed a Soviet-era statue. The row has seen cyber-attacks on Estonian websites, riots by ethnic Russians in Tallinn and a siege on Estonia's embassy in Moscow.

Putin visibly irked
According to the BBC, a visibly irked Mr Putin at the post-summit press conference hit back at his guests, saying "We often hear about the need for solidarity. Are there any limits to solidarity? Are there any questions that should be decided internally?"

The Russian president blamed Poland for the ongoing meat ban, adding "since our Polish colleagues have not been on speaking terms with us for over a year...Thank God, there is the German chancellor representing their interests."

He also accused Estonian police of letting an ethnic Russian protester die following a stabbing in the Soviet statue riots in Tallinn. "They killed one demonstrator. We demand that the criminals be brought to account," Mr Putin said.

And he rebuffed Ms Merkel's concerns about curbs on opposition figures. "Any action must stay within the limits of current legislation," the Russian president said. "Police and law enforcement agencies in Europe also take preventive measures."

In the post-summit fallout, Russian economy minister German Gref warned there will be no EU-Russia treaty before the EU's WTO approval, Ria Novosti writes. "After entry into the WTO we'll conclude a new treaty," he said, hoping that remaining obstacles could be resolved in "a few weeks."

No joint declaration
The Samara gathering ended without a joint declaration by the two sides, as was traditional in the past. But the leaders did agree on a number of minor points to save the meeting from being remembered only for its frosty rhetoric.

From 1 June 2007 Europeans and Russians are to benefit from a simplified visa regime. The two sides plan to "consider" pooling work on their Glosnass and Galileo satellite projects and to set up an early warning system on energy supply shocks.

Meanwhile, regular talks will continue at lower official level. German agriculture minister Horst Seehofer on Sunday held out hopes of solving the Polish meat ban in the near future. "Poland already agrees with a phased solution," he said, according to AFP.

EUobserver.com

Hardly any reason to exult over brownie points scored.

The situation in Europe over the relationship with Russia which was doing well after the fall of the USSR is once again backsliding.

It is time to show statesmanship and not settle old scores.

If the situation worsens, then the world will slide back into the Cold War days. Given the growing clout of China, any coalescing of these two 'old friends' will not be very comfortable for the world, let alone Europe.

Already Russia has put the Central Asian Republics in its bag and concessions are to be doled out to China it is believed. If that be true, then things are getting ominous!

If the situation moves from heave to shove, the gloating of Poland will prove to be rather misplaced!

It is time to give way to Realpolitik!

Originally Posted by Ray

If the situation moves from heave to shove, the gloating of Poland will prove to be rather misplaced!

It is time to give way to Realpolitik!

Their reaction once more shows they are obsessed with hate to Russia. They are glad not because of their meat, which ban might be soon cancelled in Russia, but because they think they have triumphed over Russia. The only joy for Polish authorities, perhaps?.. As I've said above, some East European countries have irrational foundations of their policy in respect of Russia.

Originally Posted by Ray

Hardly any reason to exult over brownie points scored.

The situation in Europe over the relationship with Russia which was doing well after the fall of the USSR is once again backsliding.

It is time to show statesmanship and not settle old scores.

If the situation worsens, then the world will slide back into the Cold War days. Given the growing clout of China, any coalescing of these two 'old friends' will not be very comfortable for the world, let alone Europe.

Already Russia has put the Central Asian Republics in its bag and concessions are to be doled out to China it is believed. If that be true, then things are getting ominous!

If the situation moves from heave to shove, the gloating of Poland will prove to be rather misplaced!

It is time to give way to Realpolitik!

OTOH , brownie points or not , it shows that EU as a working solution, as a one union is possible.
Realpolitik - to make it happen , it would take 2 sides to want it . And your assuming Russia IS interested in it .
Well , basicly Russias apology is what East.Eur. wants and Russia nows it very well . And you have Russias leader who laments that ´´collapse of Sov.Union is The Geopolitical Disaster of 20th century´´ . Actually it´s creation fits the description more , but maybe it´s just me .

Originally Posted by MrFirst

Their reaction once more shows they are obsessed with hate to Russia. They are glad not because of their meat, which ban might be soon cancelled in Russia, but because they think they have triumphed over Russia. The only joy for Polish authorities, perhaps?.. As I've said above, some East European countries have irrational foundations of their policy in respect of Russia.

So they have made up their mind that will not take any bull from anybody ? And irrational policy ? As I´ve written before we´ve made 3 attempts to revive foreign relations with Russia, to turn fresh page . One can hit your head against the wall only a certain amount of time . And Poland - you´ve had - I don´t know, maybe 10-13 different goverments in Poland in last 18 years .Leftist , Rightwing , conservatives , moderates , democrats , ex-communists - and Russia still has not found anybody suitable to negotiate? And somehow the food bans appear only after some countrys have some sort of disagreement with Russia . I´m seriously afraid of your health , if your food quality authorities react only on political orders . you´ve been drinking poisonus wine , eaten dioxine-soaked fish and bad meat, oranges etc. for years and only now it is discovered . I hope Russia will have many rows with it´s food providers as it seems to be the only effective quality control over there . And now it is India´s rice .

Meat export from India is banned for many years already, because Indian suppliers do not provide veterinary control.
Don't worry about my health, here we have enough of meat and other products without Polish participation, this is their loss, not ours, as that's easy to leave the market positions but hard to get it back again.
You wrote Estonia have made 3 attempts to revive relations with Russia? What was that? Maybe dismantling of the Bronze Soldier and provocation of riots was one of these attempts? Or that were two attempts at once? If that was so, I can only repeat - your authorities have chosen the very strange way to revive relations. Perhaps, your ambassador has been making one of such attempts, when she called the killed man looter? Or your prime-minister, reflecting about who was buried under the monument - drunken marauders and so on? No, I absolutely can't see these attempts said by you, Braindead.
As for quantity of Poland's governments, I do not understand what you are trying to say. Should Russia to adapt her foreign policy depending on what is the number of their current government there? Must that be important for us - do the Poles have their fifth or twenty fifth government? I do not see the link between quantities of Polish governments and the current state of Russian-Polish relations.