Merkel Struggling to Keep Russia Sanctions Intact

[Purveyor]

Public support for the anti-Russian sanctions is slowly eroding in the EU due to lack of prominent developments in the Ukrainian crisis.

20:01 03.12.2014

MOSCOW, December 3 (Sputnik) — German chancellor Angela Merkel may have hard time keeping Russia sanctions in place, as she is facing widespread public discontent, both within her nation and in the EU. The restrictive measures were introduced earlier this year and now their effects on the EU economy, and German in particular, are undermining trade. The EU is facing two possible options at this point, either a gradual revocation of the economic restrictions on Russia or a further tightening of the sanctions regime with the implementation of new restrictions, according to a report by Financial Times.

“Keeping sanctions in place is a challenge for German policy,” says Gernot Erler, an MP of the opposition Social Democratic Party.

The current sanctions will expire one year after they have been imposed, meaning that without further escalation, the sanctions will begin to ease starting March 2015. There are only two possible scenarios for the outcome of the EU sanctions. The first being the case if Russian leader Vladimir Putin initiates yet another wave of military escalation in Eastern Ukraine. The other is if Putin explicitly shows his willingness to reach a negotiated solution, in which case the internal pressure in the EU to abolish the sanctions will be extremely high.

But what happens in case the tensions over the Ukrainian crisis remain at their current level, with neither side undertaking any major action in Eastern Ukraine?

A German ex-diplomat, quoted by FT, suggested that public opinion may change in favour of a more dovish approach. In his opinion, Germans are already asking why traditionally strong relations with Russia must be jeopardized. “They say, ‘For God’s sake let’s forget about Crimea.’?” It will be “increasingly difficult domestically speaking for Angela Merkel,” he concludes.

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http://sputniknews.com/analysis/20141203/1015462855.html

[Igel]

1. Probably.

Although some news sources rather like to exaggerate their opponents' weaknesses and flaws while glorying in their own awesomeness and being blinded by their own splendor.

The same thing happened in other, similar cases of invasion, provocation, de facto annexation or at least frozen conflict to cripple an uppity country or an ethnicity that failed to show the proper respect to their masters. Moldovans, Georgians, Azeris. It's going to happen in this one, too, and will continue to happen until lesser peoples realize that they really are supposed to be glad to be pawns in an imperialist game.

I still figure this is implicit support for another attempt at invading Cuba and trying to control what happens in Venezuela. The US's sphere of influence, after all. (But few seem to agree with me on this. The principle seems to be "spheres of influence are good" unless it helps domestic enemies. Imperialism is bad, but some imperialisms are much better than others, and may even be good. Then the principle of parsimony seems to argue for another rational, one that's easily found and expressed for all its offensiveness. So I can leave that as an exercise for those who want to engage in such a trivial process. As Chomsky pointed out repeatedly, apparent asymmetries are good indicators of underlying structure.)