Friday 13 May 2022

Russia only understands force

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That cartoon is from today's Times.

Nobody over dinner on Wednesday thought Biden was to blame for diplomatic ineptitude that led Russia to invade the Ukraine. Very different from a dinner I had a month ago when almost everybody, including two Anglo-Saxons who worked in Ukraine for years, was furious with him.

One of the two or three cleverest men I know said on Wednesday that Russia only understands force. I am sure this is right. It cuts both ways. Putin understood the colour revolutions, from Kiev 2004 onwards, as American force, which to some unknown extent they were.

4 comments:

  1. MOSCOW, May 12. /TASS/. Finland will violate a number of its international obligations if it joins the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

    "Accession to NATO will entail direct violations of international legal obligations on behalf of Finland, first of all of the 1947 Paris Peace Treaty, which stipulates obligations against joining or taking part in alliances aimed at any of the participants, as well as of the 1992 Russia-Finland Treaty on bilateral cooperation," the statement said.

    Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told TASS in mid-April that Moscow would take required security and defense measures if Sweden and Finland joined NATO.

    https://tass.com/politics/1450087

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    1. I thought of the treaty between the USSR and Finland but it lapsed when the USSR ceased upon the midnight with no pain, all those years ago. What a very good thing Finlandisation was, în its time.

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  2. Russia understands economics too:

    Year’s Best-Performing Currency

    The ruble resumed its advance against the dollar on Wednesday as the Moscow Exchange reopened after two days of public holiday. It’s now up more than 11% against the US dollar since the start of the year, surpassing Brazil's real’s 9% advance to become the top gainer among 31 major currencies tracked by Bloomberg. The offshore rate is up even more, about 12%.

    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-05-11/russian-ruble-surpasses-brazilian-real-as-world-s-best-currency

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