EU Foreign Ministers Seek New Russia Strategy -- Deutsche Welle
The EU isn't interested in tougher sanctions against Moscow, but in fresh talks - while Kyiv is expected to launch reforms to move the country closer to the European Union.
Whoever imagined that, following the heated words directed at Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit, the EU foreign ministers would strike a harsher tone on Ukraine were mistaken.
On the contrary - at the start of the meeting in Brussels, Europe's new chief diplomat Federica Mogherini was content to signal a multi-pronged approach. A debate on sanctions is on the agenda, but so is the question of how to revive the dialogue with the government in Moscow. The EU gathering is the first ministers' meeting headed by the Italian foreign affairs chief.
Expectations of Mogherini are high in the wake of her predecessor Catherine Ashton, widely regarded as weak.
Read more ....
Update #1: European leaders fear growth of Russian influence abroad -- The Guardian
Update #2: Angela Merkel warns Russia could seek to destabilise 'whole of the European peaceful order' -- The Telegraph
My Comment: The EU has little if any options to confront Russia .... and on top of all of that ... they are deeply divided on what to do next amongst themselves. Dependent on Russian energy .... and faced with a government in Moscow that has made it very clear that it will protect Ukraine separatists from defeat .... there is no political will within the EU to bring this conflict to the next level. It is also revealing that the U.S. has been left out of these discussions .... from my vantage point it looks like the EU has decided to refrain from following Washington's demand for more tougher action .... as far as they are concerned .... this U.S. plan is a non-starter. So what we have left are talks and a need for a new strategy .... and my prediction is that a few months from now .... we will still be hearing from the EU the need for new talks and a new strategy.
4 comments:
Very good analyses of the different aspects in the Ukrainian conflict. Also thank you for links to newspapers writing about the humanitarian situration in Donetsk, none of the Norwegian onces are mentioning it the only thing they are doing with the conflict are mocking Russia, and putting the whole blame on Putin, also they are glad in Putin charicaturs here are some of them and also the news artciles some of them are old but they show how Norway covers the crisis: http://www.vg.no/nyheter/meninger/ukraina/vg-mener-putins-farlige-spill/a/10137578/
http://www.vg.no/nyheter/meninger/kronikk-putins-europeiske-treenighet/a/23280089/
http://www.vg.no/nyheter/meninger/nato/mot-hard-vinter-i-europa/a/23335416/ The articles are in Norwegian. If some of you translate the artciles to English, then you will see this type of coverage of the Ukrainian crisis is typical to almost every Norwegian newspaper, the state owned one NRK are a bit more neutral. Also some of the other newspapers dosen't use drawings like these. Just some mudane info about my countryes coverage of the crisis if someone is interested.
Also back on topic, I think as you wrote in your analasys that if Russia intervenes there will be strong reactions from both Ukraine and EU/US. This could Pernhaps to them escalting this further with more sanctions and taking the whole crisis to a new level, but I hope I am wrong since that is somthing that will lead Europe and Russia into reseccion and pernhaps trigger a new finance crisis.
WNU,
"there is no political will within the EU to bring this conflict to the next level. It is also revealing that the U.S. has been left out of these discussions"
The EU has made rumblings along these lines before, but this fairly explicit, and immediately after G20. Makes you wonder what if any discussion was made on this subject there.
I was sure that some momentum was going to come out of the G20 summit on the Ukraine crisis .... unfortunately .... the EU has a long history of making announcements and then failing to follow through on the hard choices. The Yugoslav civil war always come to my mind .... a lot of talk from European governments .... but they stood on the sidelines and were more concerned on creating safe corridors and safe zones that were never respected.
WNU,
Since Ukraine seems to have decided to get super serious I've decided to brush up on my Ukrainian history. General history first "Borderland" by Anna Reid, any comments would be welcome.
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