TOWSON, Maryland March 26, 2014 - In Germany, they just assume that the Russian Strong Man wants to pull European solidarity apart, little by little, one country at a time. It's not a hard plan to analyze. Putin believes Russia is stronger than any European nation. It's only when the Europeans stick together that the playing field is level.
Editorials and opinion pieces from one side of the continent to the other say the same thing: if Europe sticks together, if the EU doesn't splinter, Putin cannot emerge from the current crisis unscathed. If the EU acts in concert, if they move decisively, Russia cannot possibly prevail. That line of thinking, of course, has a downside: Putin knows it, too. Thus, his strategy is to deal with one opponent at a time. If he can isolate Germany and its great need for Russian energy products: oil and natural gas, he can avoid Germany at the forefront or vanguard of an EU column. If Putin can dangle oil money - lots of oil money - in front of some of the cash-strapped nations that used to live behind the awful Iron Curtain, he can peel them off. Each nation has their weakness. Putin isn't stupid; he didn't get to the position he had with the KGB if he was "low information" as they slyly call that condition west of the Atlantic.
At the German web site called "The Local," sources were quoted which allege the EU nations are already bickering. "Leading EU nations such as a Britain and Germany - their financial and energy sectors intertwined with Russia's - have particularly questioned why they should be the ones to suffer most in case of an all-out trade war." The implications are clear, If Putin pushes forward in Ukraine, in Moldova, or any of the Baltic States, or if he turns off the pipelines carrying energy west, the EU and the USA can fight back, they can invoke their sanctions, but it is a real question as to who will blink first. How long can German Chancellor Angela Merkel sit still while her constituent businesses take it on the nose? How long will France sit still if the price of solidarity gets higher and higher.
The saddest thing is, everybody might get the chance to find out.
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