Why Putin Cannot Confess, Deny, Or Allow A Credible Investigation of MH17

A Google search for “Who Shot Down Malaysian Airlines 17?” elicits a plethora of innocuous-sounding Kremlin sites (Globalnews, Express, Storyleak) claiming that either a Ukrainian fighter or a Ukrainian missile shot down MH17 to cast blame on Russia. Western media, in contrast, still write in cautious tones. After all, they say, the matter is under investigation.  BBC cautions that getting to the truth is a “Herculean task” and that “alternative scenarios” must be disproved. The New York Times leads with the headline “Little Certainty 1 Year after Airliner Shot Down in Ukraine.” Such hemming and hawing raises the doubts for which Russian propaganda strives.

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The Madeleine Albright Declaration: Origins Of A Kremlin Lie

The Kremlin uses a venerable explanation for American perfidy: The U.S. covets the natural wealth of Siberia and believes the world’s natural resources should be distributed more evenly under its supervision. How does the Kremlin know America’s evil intentions? It can look inside the mind of its No. 1 enemy. The Protocols of the Elders of Zion forgery, which circulated in imperial Russia, blamed a world Zionist conspiracy for mounting troubles and unleashed pogroms. Putin’s regime has its equivalent—the Madeleine Albright Declaration.

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Europe's Harsh Deal Puts Greece Into Receivership And Avoids Contagion

The EU has wisely made the Greece deal so unpalatable that other countries with tottering public finances in similar need of reform are not tempted by contagion to follow in Greece’s footsteps. After seeing Greece’s terms, it is doubtful that Cyprus, Portugal or Spain will wish to do what Greece did.

By my count, Greece’s outstanding debt will soon rise to more than $350 billion. The EU meanwhile resists making available, by comparison, tiny funds for embattled Ukraine to survive economically despite its fighting a hot war on Europe’s behalf.

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Pro-Russian Lobbyists Penetrate Washington To Enact Anti-Ukraine Legislation: Conyers Spouts Putin Propaganda On The Floor

Ukraine is fighting an uphill war against Russia on many fronts, including simmering hot war in east Ukraine, its uneven battle against Putin’s propaganda machine, and its attempts to neutralize hostile Yanukovich oligarchs who are still on the loose. Add a new one to the list: Ukraine’s impotence against Russia’s all-star roster of lobbyists that include a former German chancellor and former US Senate minority leader. I had thought Ukraine was outgunned in Europe by a coterie of German and French Putin-Versteher, but I now learn that Ukraine is outgunned on Washington’s K Street as well. If you need convincing, just read John Conyers anti-Ukraine and pro-Russian remarks made on the House floor.

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Greece Has Chosen to Become a Banana Republic With its No Vote

It was an in-your-face message to the country’s creditors (largely the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund) that Greece won’t be lectured on repaying debts or pension reform anymore. And it leaves the Troika with few options at tomorrow’s emergency summit—either cut Greece loose and accept the consequences, or give in to the country’s demands.

Not much of a choice, given that if the EU caves, it reads like an open invitation to countries like Cyprus, Portugal, Spain and Italy to do exactly what Greece has done. Since when is the Eurozone a transfer union? It cannot be expected to shift funds from high-productivity countries that keep their public finance in order to poorer ones that don’t. There’s a lesson to be learned here, lest the EU blows its chance.


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Greece Got Only Promises, No Money, from its Friend Mr. Putin

A victim of Putin’s typical negotiating tactics, Tsipras left St. Petersburg with an offer of money from a project that might never be completed. Yet Putin got what he wanted: Tsipras was on record as opposing the extension of EU sanctions against Russia.

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