[Zardoz]

I don't know, but it seems like the EU folks should be doing everything they can to get along with the Russkies. Instead, they appear to be intent on provoking Putin and company:

EU and Russia risk summit fiasco

Just as it seemed the EU's relations with Russia could not get any worse, they seem to be heading precisely that way.

A month ago, at an EU summit in the Finnish town Lahti, tempers flared as EU leaders tackled President Vladimir Putin on human rights, corruption, Chechnya and Georgia.

The Russian leader reportedly struck back with barbed comments about corruption in Italy and Spain - pointing out that "mafia" is not a Russian word.

To make matters worse, the EU leaders only just presented a united front to Mr Putin on energy policy, their chief goal.

Good luck to all you Europeans in your "negotiations" with our Russian friends. We'll be taking notes. We'll be doing the same, soon enough...

[AWPrime]

"Human rights, corruption, Chechnya and Georgia. "


Thankfully I stopped caring.

[Mesuge]

well, that's too simplistic there's already strong german-russian axis in the making, the poles, czechs and other corrupt pro US interest mini client states within the EU are joke in their effective political impact. Yes the may accomplish to block few initiatives for a while but that's about it, eventually they will get steamrolled by the rest of the continent..

[Kingcoal]

well, that's too simplistic there's already strong german-russian axis in the making, the poles, czechs and other corrupt pro US interest mini client states within the EU are joke in their effective political impact. Yes the may accomplish to block few initiatives for a while but that's about it, eventually they will get steamrolled by the rest of the continent..

Wow, it took a whole three replies to mention the "corrupt US."

[Tuike]

There has been some critisisim toward Russia because one of their human rights and peace activist Anna Politkovskaya was murdered in cold blood and Aleksander Litvinenko, a russian living in exile in Britain was murdered also, when investigating the murder of Politkovskaya.

I don't know do you know Anna Politkovskaya. She was famous in Finland, as she wrote a book about war crimes in Chechnya in Russia and it was translated to Finnish. She appeared many times in Finnish tv. She was not so well known in her own country.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Politkovskaya

[abelardlindsay]

Anyone ever hear of a book called "New Lies For Old" by Jan Sejna. He was a member of the central committee in Czech who defected. He said in 1983 that the soviets were going to stage a fake collapse, in order to catch up with the west and then go right back to being the brutal imperialist they were previously. Kind of looks like it's beginning to come true.

[Mesuge]

well, that's too simplistic there's already strong german-russian axis in the making, the poles, czechs and other corrupt pro US interest mini client states within the EU are joke in their effective political impact. Yes the may accomplish to block few initiatives for a while but that's about it, eventually they will get steamrolled by the rest of the continent..

Wow, it took a whole three replies to mention the "corrupt US."

It was said in a context, I have no illusions about other world powers.

But that being said the US is still apparently the most corrupt one, just go throught the UN security council resolutions and track down whom the US twists hands, usually its client states to deliver on the most contested issues like Cuba, Israel occupation (not responding to 80resolutions), bioweapons, UN reform and what have you..

In this example, the Czechs and Poles are the classic troyan horses for any EU joint policy (in many cases for the UN as well) on those topics, it's not entirely fair to their citizens though, it's just the political climate after 1989, the political pendulum simply went too way to the other - right extreme in those countries..