Summit of Failure: How the EU Lost Russia over Ukraine – part 1

Written on November 26th, 2014 in comment, politics Comments Off

Published on Spiegel Online International, by staff, Nov 24, 2014 (Photo Gallery):

One year ago, negotations over a Ukraine association agreement with the European Union collapsed. The result has been a standoff with Russia and war in the Donbass. It was an historical failure, and one that German Chancellor Angela Merkel contributed to … (a chronology from Feb. 25, 2010 to Nov. 28, 2013).

Only six meters separated German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych as they sat across from each other in the festively adorned knight’s hall of the former Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania. In truth, though, they were worlds apart.  

Yanukovych had just spoken. In meandering sentences, he tried to explain why the European Union’s Eastern Partnership Summit in Vilnius was more useful than it might have appeared at that moment, why it made sense to continue negotiating and how he would remain engaged in efforts towards a common future, just as he had previously been. “We need several billion euros in aid very quickly,” Yanukovych said.

Then the chancellor wanted to have her say. Merkel peered into the circle of the 28 leaders of EU member states who had gathered in Vilnius that evening. What followed was a sentence dripping with disapproval and cool sarcasm aimed directly at the Ukrainian president. “I feel like I’m at a wedding where the groom has suddenly issued new, last minute stipulations.”

The EU and Ukraine had spent years negotiating an association agreement. They had signed letters of intent, obtained agreement from cabinets and parliaments, completed countless diplomatic visits and exchanged objections. But in the end, on the evening of Nov. 28, 2013 in the old palace in Vilnius, it became clear that it had all been a wasted effort. It was an historical earthquake.

Everyone came to realize that efforts to deepen Ukraine’s ties with the EU had failed. But no one at the time was fully aware of the consequences the failure would have: that it would lead to one of the world’s biggest crises since the end of the Cold War; that it would result in the redrawing of European borders; and that it would bring the Continent to the brink of war. It was the moment Europe lost Russia … //

… (full long text).

Part 2: Four Thousand Deaths and an Eastern Ukraine Gripped By War.

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Other Links:

UN: 1 in 3 human trafficking victims a child, crime goes mostly unpunished, on Russia Today RT, Nov 25, 2014: Children forcibly recruited as soldiers / Syrians increasingly vulnerable / One-third of traffickers are female / Impunity prevails – (see also) Big business: Modern slavery sees up to 36mn people subjugated worldwide, on Russia Today RT, Nov 18, 2014;

India, US Trade Policy Forum meets after four years, on Business Standard, by Nayanima Basu New Delhi, Nov 25, 2014: Both sides have set a target of achieving $500 bn worth of trade in goods and services from the present $100 bn;

Malarkey on the Potomac, on Huffington Post, by Andrew Bacevich, Nov 24, 2014: 5 Bedrock Washington Assumptions That Are Hot Air, Cross-posted with TomDispatch.com;

Mumbai is on the verge of imploding, on The Guardian/Cities, by Bachi Karkaria, Nov 24, 2014;

Who Is in Charge of Development, The Elite or the Majorities? Part 1/2, 11.21 min; Part 2/2, 11.55 min; on The Real News, LYNN FRIES and KOZUL-WRIGHT in Geneva, Nov 24, 2014, with Transcript: The conclusion of a conversation with UN economist Richard Kozul-Wright on the far-reaching impact of a lecture given by Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa on the politics of developmen;
also on their YouTube-Channel, Part 1, resp. Part 2;

Universal Basic Income vs. Unemployment Insurance, Which is the Better Safety Net? on Basic Income Earth Network BIEN, Nov 24, 2014;

Guy Standing: The age of rentier capitalism, on Basic Income Earth Network BIEN, Nov 23, 2014;

Small Town America: Racial Apartheid, Cultural Decay and Neoliberalism, on TeleSUR English, by Vincent Emanuele, Nov 23, 2014;

Website: Voices Of The 99 percent – Blog Talk Radio;

SPECIAL GLOBAL ROUND TABLE, INDIA

on IndiaToday.in, November 25/26, 2014:

on Nagpur Today.in, Nov 7, 2014:

… und noch das – von Doku Pool am 21. April 2013 hochgeladen:

… et encore ceci – ce matin, avant de me réveillant pour de bon, j’ai ruminé ce commentaire:

  • Lucifer, c’est la creation d’un groupe d’anges déchus où les forts/les héros ont l’univers à leurs pieds sans limite et où les faibles sont censés être leurs serviteurs. Notre humanité étant une création du monde de Lucifer, voir son armée de travail, nous sommes donc ses serviteurs, ces faibles qui ont l’honneur de pouvoir devenir éventuellement des héros (des saints).
  • Satan c’est la volonté de protéger la création pure du monde des anges déchues, donc aussi l’effort de circonscrire les actions de Lucifer pour limiter ses dégats sur leur existence. Accessoirement, cette humanité en faisant parti, nous devons être réduits à un état de faiblesse, d’humilité, de non-héros pour ne plus pouvoir interférer, voir nuire leur monde céleste.
  • La soi-disante guerre entre Satan et Lucifer c’est la guerre entre blanc-bonnet et bonnet-blanc où notre humanité fait figure de jambon dans ce sandwitch entre ces deux aspects, dont aucun nous peut servir de véritable référence …
  • ok, je sais, les psychanalistes ont tout un outillage pour interpréter ceci. Moi je préfère ma version, la poésie étant bien plus proche de la réalité … Heidi

… and these songs:

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