US set to adopt new Cold War strategy on Russia: Report

[Hasbara Buster]

US set to adopt new Cold War strategy on Russia: Report

US President Barack Obama and his national security team are looking beyond the crisis in Ukraine to adopt an updated version of the Cold War strategy of containment against Russia, a report says.

In an effort to contain Moscow’s rising power, Obama is focused on isolating the Russian Federation by cutting off its economic and political ties to the world, The New York Times reported on Saturday.

The United States and Russia are at loggerheads over the worsening crisis in Ukraine.

The Autonomous Republic of Crimea declared independence from Ukraine on March 17 and formally applied to become part of Russia following a referendum a day earlier, in which nearly 97 percent of the participants voted in favor of the move.

On March 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law the documents officially making Crimea part of the Russian territory. He said the move was carried out based on the international law.

On Thursday, Russia, Ukraine, the US and the European Union agreed over steps to "de-escalate" the crisis in eastern Ukraine, where anti-Kiev protesters seized buildings in several towns and cities.

But, Ukrainian authorities have ordered a military offensive against the protesters, claiming that Russian special forces are fueling unrest in the country.

According to The New York Times report, Obama has concluded that even if there is a resolution to the current confrontation between Washington and Moscow over Crimea and eastern Ukraine, he will never have a constructive relationship with his Russian counterpart.

Consequently, Obama has decided to spend his remaining time in office trying to weaken Putin’s control on power, but will ignore his certain acts in favor of other foreign policy areas where progress remains possible.

“That is the strategy we ought to be pursuing,” said Ivo H. Daalder, former US ambassador to NATO and now president of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. “If you just stand there, be confident and raise the cost gradually and increasingly to Russia, that doesn’t solve your Crimea problem and it probably doesn’t solve your eastern Ukraine problem. But it may solve your Russia problem.”

PressTV - US set to adopt new Cold War strategy on Russia: Report

 

[Pakistanisage]

USA is always itching to start a WAR with anyone.

Be it WARM or COLD WAR, US is always GAME.

That is in the DNA of us COWBOYS..........

 

[Luffy 500]

About time.

 

[senheiser]

what would have happened if our trade would be dependent on china instead of the EU? We wouldnt actually stopped at crimea but would go far beyond.

These idiots think that isolating us will make us less agressive but the reason why russia can afford having beef with America like no other country is because we export more to finland than we do to america.
So if the remaining EU trade will be replaced by China and Asia we can take next time all of Ukraine.

 

[armchairPrivate]

With Odumbo, John (the Chin) Kerry Joe (the Village Idiot) Biden, Susan (blackman in drag) Rice at the helm, plus John (Hanoi Hotel Inmate) McCain and a few others, the US is making the matter worse by the day.

This is a good read

Special Report: How the U.S. made its Putin problem worse| Reuters

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

In an effort to contain Moscow’s rising power, Obama is focused on isolating the Russian Federation by cutting off its economic and political ties to the world, The New York Times reported on Saturday.

The US is dreaming.

Nobody is going to break off ties with Russia.

 

[wolfschanzze]

what would have happened if our trade would be dependent on china instead of the EU? We wouldnt actually stopped at crimea but would go far beyond.

These idiots think that isolating us will make us less agressive but the reason why russia can afford having beef with America like no other country is because we export more to finland than we do to america.
So if the remaining EU trade will be replaced by China and Asia we can take next time all of Ukraine.

About time Russia traded with Asia and South east asia we will prove to be a bigger market than them in coming years .Plus Russia India and perhaps if china is willing should form a Security council on the lines of Nato in coming years and perhaps a common currency for these countries for trade and later common currency of Asia? Im being too optimistic i hope.

 

[gambit]

what would have happened if our trade would be dependent on china instead of the EU? We wouldnt actually stopped at crimea but would go far beyond.

These idiots think that isolating us will make us less agressive but the reason why russia can afford having beef with America like no other country is because we export more to finland than we do to america.
So if the remaining EU trade will be replaced by China and Asia we can take next time all of Ukraine.

I hope Putin take your advice. A new Cold War will be good for global economy. And this time, it will not take decades for Russia to ignobly and spectacularly collapsed like the old Soviet Union did. It will take just a few yrs.

About time Russia traded with Asia and South east asia we will prove to be a bigger market than them in coming years .Plus Russia India and perhaps if china is willing should form a Security council on the lines of Nato in coming years and perhaps a common currency for these countries for trade and later common currency of Asia? Im being too optimistic i hope.

Yes, you are. And that optimism is based upon ignorance of history.

 

[wolfschanzze]

I hope Putin take your advice. A new Cold War will be good for global economy. And this time, it will not take decades for Russia to ignobly and spectacularly collapsed like the old Soviet Union did. It will take just a few yrs.


Yes, you are. And that optimism is based upon ignorance of history.

If Europe despite all their wars can be friends why not we?Leaving aside a single conflict we never had problems with china in all our history.Nato always bullied other nations, its time they had a counterweight.Plus Europe and brits still havent left their colonial hangover of trying to tell us and how to do our daily things although subtly nowadays, The more they tell us the more they drift away.

 

[gambit]

If Europe despite all their wars can be friends why not we?Leaving aside a single conflict we never had problems with china in all our history.Nato always bullied other nations, its time they had a counterweight.Plus Europe and brits still havent left their colonial hangover of trying to tell us and how to do our daily things although subtly nowadays, The more they tell us the more they drift away.

Right...And the Warsaw Pact never bullied anyone. The Soviet bloc consisted of voluntary memberships.

I played tourist in East Germany when it existed. So how old are you, kid ?

 

[gambit]

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303663604579503433988345564#printMode

What Putin Is Costing Russia
Former finance minister Alexi Kudrin projects up to $160 billion in capital will flee this year.

By
ILAN BERMAN
April 20, 2014 5:24 p.m. ET
Just how much is Vladimir Putin's Ukrainian adventure actually costing Russia? Quite a lot, it turns out.

New statistics from the Central Bank of Russia indicate that almost $51 billion in capital exited the country in the first quarter of 2014. The exodus, says financial website Quartz.com, is largely the result of investor jitters over Russia's intervention in Ukraine and subsequent annexation of Crimea.

As Quartz notes, this was the highest quarterly outflow of capital from the Russian Federation since the fourth quarter of 2008. While Russia can mitigate some of the damage because of its extensive foreign-currency reserves—estimated at more than $400 billion—the new Central Bank statistics signal that worse is still to come.

Russia's economic development ministry has downgraded the country's forecast to less than 1% growth this year; an earlier estimate had been 2.5%. The World Bank projects that the Russian economy could shrink nearly 2% in 2014. That would cost Russia in the neighborhood of $30 billion in lost economic output.

Meanwhile, the Russian government's bid to pressure Ukraine could end up backfiring. The state-controlled natural-gas giant, Gazprom, recently jacked up the price of gas to Ukraine by 80% and levied an $11.4 billion bill on Kiev for previously discounted energy sales. But observers say that the price hike could lead to a reduction in purchases as Kiev diversifies away from Russia toward friendlier European suppliers. This may already be happening. On April 9 the Ukrainian government retaliated by temporarily ceasing purchases of Russian gas, pending resolution of the pricing dispute.

Moscow's international standing is becoming increasingly tenuous. Russia has already been ejected from the G-8 and its path to accession in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has been halted, at least temporarily. In the latest development, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe stripped Russia of its voting rights in protest over its interference in Ukraine.

Russia's annexation of Crimea it is turning into a costly boondoggle. The Kremlin has already earmarked nearly $7 billion in economic aid for the peninsula this year, funds that will be spent on everything from infrastructure to beefed-up pensions for local residents. Even when balanced against anticipated gains from Crimea's energy resources and savings on naval basing arrangements, among other factors, that's a cost Russia's sluggish economy can ill afford.

The situation could become even more dire if Western economic pressure, which is still minimal, is ratcheted up. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has threatened additional sanctions against Moscow in response to its instigation of pro-Russian protests in the Ukrainian cities of Kharkiv, Donetsk and Luhansk. Such measures, Mr. Kerry has indicated, could include broad restrictions against Russia's energy, banking and mining. These sanctions could have significant, far-reaching effects on the country's long-term economic fortunes.

President Putin is currently riding a surge of popularity at home, propelled in no small measure by his assertive moves in Ukraine. When tallied in mid-March by state polling group VTsIOM, Mr. Putin's approval stood at nearly 72%, a gain of almost 10 percentage points from earlier in the year.

But the longer the crisis over Ukraine lasts, the higher the economic costs to Russia are likely to be. Former Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, for example, has projected that Moscow's maneuvers in Ukraine could result in up to $160 billion in capital flight this year, and he concluded that the Russian economy will stagnate as a result.

Sometime in the not too distant future, it might become considerably more difficult for the Kremlin to continue to ignore the real-world price that is associated with its policies.

Mr. Berman is vice president of the American Foreign Policy Council in Washington, D.C.

===

Looks like China and the EU had better stepped up quick to cover for those lost billions. Or may Putin should invade a few more EU countries. Much quicker that way to get money.

 

[wolfschanzze]

Right...And the Warsaw Pact never bullied anyone. The Soviet bloc consisted of voluntary memberships.

I played tourist in East Germany when it existed. So how old are you, kid ?

Old enough to be a surgeon so what next granpa?Times change pop.Like it or not the world is slowly coming to realize your bullying or your subterfuge.I remember from history you sent your 7th Fleet against us in 1971 to bully us,Hey we were a democracy then and you were too!so why did you send? eh?
"The Indians are bastards anyway," Kissinger told the president. "They are starting a war there."

Kissinger also told his boss that he had bested Gandhi in their meeting.

"While she was a bitch, we got what we wanted too," Kissinger said"While she was a bitch, we got what we wanted too," Kissinger said. "She will not be able to go home and say that the United States didn't give her a warm reception and therefore in despair she's got to go to war."

Do you think my political affiliations aside we would take up that kind of verbal abuse? against a person from my nation?We will never!

USSR helped us then and for that we are ever grateful to them.They are our all weather friend.While you tucked tail and ran when your ally Pakistan Prime Minister was tearing up papers in UNITED NATIONS!Want the video link?
So why not help our friend Russia?They helped us!

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303663604579503433988345564#printMode

What Putin Is Costing Russia
Former finance minister Alexi Kudrin projects up to $160 billion in capital will flee this year.

By
ILAN BERMAN
April 20, 2014 5:24 p.m. ET
Just how much is Vladimir Putin's Ukrainian adventure actually costing Russia? Quite a lot, it turns out.

New statistics from the Central Bank of Russia indicate that almost $51 billion in capital exited the country in the first quarter of 2014. The exodus, says financial website Quartz.com, is largely the result of investor jitters over Russia's intervention in Ukraine and subsequent annexation of Crimea.

As Quartz notes, this was the highest quarterly outflow of capital from the Russian Federation since the fourth quarter of 2008. While Russia can mitigate some of the damage because of its extensive foreign-currency reserves—estimated at more than $400 billion—the new Central Bank statistics signal that worse is still to come.

Russia's economic development ministry has downgraded the country's forecast to less than 1% growth this year; an earlier estimate had been 2.5%. The World Bank projects that the Russian economy could shrink nearly 2% in 2014. That would cost Russia in the neighborhood of $30 billion in lost economic output.

Meanwhile, the Russian government's bid to pressure Ukraine could end up backfiring. The state-controlled natural-gas giant, Gazprom, recently jacked up the price of gas to Ukraine by 80% and levied an $11.4 billion bill on Kiev for previously discounted energy sales. But observers say that the price hike could lead to a reduction in purchases as Kiev diversifies away from Russia toward friendlier European suppliers. This may already be happening. On April 9 the Ukrainian government retaliated by temporarily ceasing purchases of Russian gas, pending resolution of the pricing dispute.

Moscow's international standing is becoming increasingly tenuous. Russia has already been ejected from the G-8 and its path to accession in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has been halted, at least temporarily. In the latest development, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe stripped Russia of its voting rights in protest over its interference in Ukraine.

Russia's annexation of Crimea it is turning into a costly boondoggle. The Kremlin has already earmarked nearly $7 billion in economic aid for the peninsula this year, funds that will be spent on everything from infrastructure to beefed-up pensions for local residents. Even when balanced against anticipated gains from Crimea's energy resources and savings on naval basing arrangements, among other factors, that's a cost Russia's sluggish economy can ill afford.

The situation could become even more dire if Western economic pressure, which is still minimal, is ratcheted up. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has threatened additional sanctions against Moscow in response to its instigation of pro-Russian protests in the Ukrainian cities of Kharkiv, Donetsk and Luhansk. Such measures, Mr. Kerry has indicated, could include broad restrictions against Russia's energy, banking and mining. These sanctions could have significant, far-reaching effects on the country's long-term economic fortunes.

President Putin is currently riding a surge of popularity at home, propelled in no small measure by his assertive moves in Ukraine. When tallied in mid-March by state polling group VTsIOM, Mr. Putin's approval stood at nearly 72%, a gain of almost 10 percentage points from earlier in the year.

But the longer the crisis over Ukraine lasts, the higher the economic costs to Russia are likely to be. Former Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, for example, has projected that Moscow's maneuvers in Ukraine could result in up to $160 billion in capital flight this year, and he concluded that the Russian economy will stagnate as a result.

Sometime in the not too distant future, it might become considerably more difficult for the Kremlin to continue to ignore the real-world price that is associated with its policies.

Mr. Berman is vice president of the American Foreign Policy Council in Washington, D.C.

===

Looks like China and the EU had better stepped up quick to cover for those lost billions. Or may Putin should invade a few more EU countries. Much quicker that way to get money.

He will get more from trade with China and India!

STOP TEACHING US!Were not 200 yr old civilizations like you! We have thousands of years of history which we are proud of!

 

[DESERT FIGHTER]

Old enough to be a surgeon so what next granpa?Times change pop.Like it or not the world is slowly coming to realize your bullying or your subterfuge.I remember from history you sent your 7th Fleet against us in 1971 to bully us,Hey we were a democracy then and you were too!so why did you send? eh?
"The Indians are bastards anyway," Kissinger told the president. "They are starting a war there."

Kissinger also told his boss that he had bested Gandhi in their meeting.

"While she was a bitch, we got what we wanted too," Kissinger said"While she was a bitch, we got what we wanted too," Kissinger said. "She will not be able to go home and say that the United States didn't give her a warm reception and therefore in despair she's got to go to war."

Do you think my political affiliations aside we would take up that kind of verbal abuse? against a person from my nation?We will never!

USSR helped us then and for that we are ever grateful to them.They are our all weather friend.While you tucked tail and ran when your ally Pakistan Prime Minister was tearing up papers in UNITED NATIONS!Want the video link?
So why not help our friend Russia?They helped us!


He will get more from trade with China and India!

STOP TEACHING US!Were not 200 yr old civilizations like you! We have thousands of years of history which we are proud of!

Great ... story.. although the xold war didnt end very nicely for your soviet pals did it?

 

[wolfschanzze]

Great ... story.. although the xold war didnt end very nicely for your soviet pals did it?

Ahh well, we did the focking and envelopment of 90,000 POW of PAKISTAN ARMY! which we bargained for whole of kashmir .Shimla Agreement? eh? sounds a bell?

 

[Arzamas 16]

I hope Putin take your advice. A new Cold War will be good for global economy. And this time, it will not take decades for Russia to ignobly and spectacularly collapsed like the old Soviet Union did. It will take just a few yrs.

Someone is dreaming