Stephen Harper says Russia can't rejoin G-7 with Putin in power

[Little Tich]

Source: CBC News / AP

'Canada would very, very strongly oppose Putin ever sitting around that table again,' Harper says

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Thursday that Russia should never be allowed back in the Group of 7 as long as Vladimir Putin is president.

Harper said in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press that he expects the group won't ever let Putin back in. He made the remarks ahead of his trip to Ukraine and the Group of 7 meeting in Germany this week.

Harper said even long before the Ukraine crisis, Russia has eroded any basis for belonging to the group of wealthy nations. He also noted that Russia has ramped up long range bomber patrols near North American airspace. The G-7 suspended Russia last year but hasn't ruled out welcoming him back.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/stephen-harper-says-russia-can-t-rejoin-g-7-with-putin-in-power-1.3101040

[okojo]

1. What really needs to change is some of Russia’s cartel like antics..

Putin is part of the problem. As much as he acts as a cartel boss, there are plenty of his cronies who are just as corrupt and venal as Putin. Much like some of Russia’s oligarchs antics with off shore accounts, and how the Russian Military acts with near abroad semi Russia vassal states.

What needs to happened is that the west still has to engage and invest in Russia. No matter the crimes that the Russian Government has done in the Ukraine, the two neighbors have to come to terms with some form of working relationship. They can’t separate, and the large Russian minority in the Ukraine, (ditto with the large Ukrainian population in cities like Moscow) have to find some sort of peace..

Personally, the G-7/8/9, should include, China and Brazil, given their economic and regional power/superpower statuses. Russia still has so many serious endemic problems with their economy, (mainly corruption) that I am not that really upset that Russia is no longer part of the G-8. However, whether the OECD nations like or not, we have to engage and make nice with the Russian Government, even though they act like gangsters or not..

[salib]

2. Well, there is one point in favor of Putin.

Harper is an ass.

Why did Canada not say the same about Dubya?

[geek tragedy]

6. Because W was term-limited and has contested

elections.

[roamer65]

3. I don't think Putin gives a rat's rear end about what Harpo thinks.

I'm not defending Putin. I just don't think he sees Harpo as significant in any way, nor the G-7.

[rationalcalgarian]

4. Keep yapping, Harper

October is coming fast, asshole!

[bemildred]

5. Russia Rebuffs German Minister's Suggestion to Revive G8

Harper needs to work harder to keep up.

Hours after Germany's foreign minster on Thursday suggested that Russia could be readmitted to the G8, a senior Russian official appeared to rebuff the notion, saying Moscow would rather work with emerging economies than the rich nation's club, from which it was suspended last year following the annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Thursday that Russia was not seeking reentry to the G8, news agency RIA Novosti reported.

"The G8 format was not always that productive, working in the BRICS and G20 is much more interesting for us," RIA quoted him as saying.

The G8 was formed when Russia was invited into the G7 by members Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States in 1998. In recent years the broader G20, which includes developing economies such as Brazil, India, China and South Africa — which, with Russia, are referred to as the BRICS — has risen in importance to rival the older G7 club.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/russia-rebuffs-german-suggestion-to-revive-g8/523106.html

[geek tragedy]

7. I would say the German FM wrong footed themselves.

Getting a proposal slapped down from both sides indicates a boo boo.

[bemildred]

8. You can't threaten people with things they are not afraid of.

Yeah, you do have to wonder what prompted the minister to speak up like that, although we should not discount the sour grapes aspect of the Russian response. But really, why stick your head up?

[geek tragedy]

9. Why talk about Russia rejoining at all?

Clearly not in the cards now or the foreseeable future, about as likely as Turkey joining the EU is.

[bemildred]

11. Yeah, I'm wondering do we really want Turkey in NATO?

Erdogan seems to have ideas of his own, big ideas, and he is playing heavy footsie with the takfiris if not more.

[geek tragedy]

12. Depends what purpose NATO is to serve.

Best justification is to prevent Erdrogan from taking Assad's place in Putin's stable.

And, of course, (warning: cynicism ahead) to keep the Greeks in line.

The debate over whether Turkey is a European or Middle Eastern country is over--authoritarian Islamism isn't exactly a good fit with Sweden and France. But I guess people have enough invested in the process that they refuse to admit either failure or futility.

[bemildred]

13. About right.

The debate over what Turkey is to be has only begun though, I think. And I don't think Ergodan sees himself as belonging to anybodies stable. But he has issues, this next election could rain on his parade.

[geek tragedy]

14. Erdrogan is converting the country's secular school

system into madrassas. He's turning out to be an Islamist Attaturk. Secularism has traditionally been imposed at the expense of democracy there, so things have come full circle.

On the bright side, it's the most secular and advanced middle eastern country unless one counts Israel.

We'll see how legitimate those elections are. Given the press crackdowns, some pessimism is probably warranted.