Ahead of his two-day visit to Germany, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has projected a vision of a 'harmonious economic community stretching from Lisbon to Vladivostok' in reaction to the economic crisis. Chancellor Angela Merkel, however, said she will "pour some cold water" on the idea.
Writing in German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung on Thursday (25 November), Mr Putin argued that more integration between Russia and the EU and even a "common contintental market" would allow them to overcome the effects of the crisis and prevent a new one from emerging.
Russia is still too dependent on its oil and gas exports, he argued, while the EU has lost its competitive edge in the world through its de-industrialisation policy.
A "harmonious economic community stretching from Lisbon to Vladivostok" would imply strategic alliances in key industries, such as shipbuilding, car manufacturing, space exploration and the pharmaceutical industry.
"In my view, we need to address the question as to how we can trigger a new wave of industrialisation across the European continent," he wrote.
In the field of oil and gas, Russia's main exports to the EU, Mr Putin argued that the co-operation needs to be de-politicised and have European and Russian firms working together "from exploration and exploitation of energy resources all the way to the delivery to consumers."
"Politicisation" of Russia's energy exports has however so far been the trademark of Mr Putin's leadership, first as president and now as premier of his country. The former KGB officer famously wrote his PhD on how a state should make best use of its natural resources, although the paper was later on proved to have partly plagiarised US academics. He has been constantly criticised for sanctioning pro-democratic changes in countries such as Georgia and Ukraine with pricing disputes and even cut offs, while awarding more favourable regimes with lucrative gas deals.
In one such incident, back in January 2009, EU member states Bulgaria and Slovakia were left in the cold after Gazprom turned the tap off to Ukraine, then led by the "Orange Revolution" leader Viktor Yushchenko. A more Russia-friendly regime change in Kiev has since sealed a 20-year gas deal at favourable prices in return for an extension of Russia's naval presence in a Ukrainian port.
Speaking at a press conference in Berlin on Thursday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she had to "pour some cold water" on the ideas floated by Mr Putin.
"Of course we support the idea of a free trade zone between the EU and Russia but I have to pour a bit of cold water on it," she said.
"The steps that Russia has taken recently do not point in that direction," Ms Merkel added, in reference to plans championed by Mr Putin on withdrawing Russia's bid to join the World Trade Organisation and establish a customs union with Kazakhstan and Belarus instead.
The customs union came into force in July, but later on, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said it is not really working and has re-energised the WTO bid.
On Wednesday in Brussels, for instance, Russian negotiators agreed to phase out its tarriffs on raw materials such as timber, thus allowing the EU to lift its objections to the WTO bid. The move followed a similar endorsement from Washington, in September this year.
November 29th, 2010, 18:54
American Patriot
Re: Putin proposes Russia-EU Union
Russia is gonna give up their autonomy to go to the "Euro"?
Russia is gonna give up their autonomy to go to the "Euro"?
Hmmmmm
This is Putin we're talking about. He'll reap whatever benefits he can and still play his own self interested game on the side. Obligations will mean nothing to him. He'll smile and say all the right words then do what he wants to do.
November 29th, 2010, 19:21
American Patriot
Re: Putin proposes Russia-EU Union
My thoughts exactly.
November 29th, 2010, 20:06
American Patriot
Re: Putin proposes Russia-EU Union
I've never been to Russia.
I've been all over Europe though - and China. China, for it's backwaterness isn't actually a "third world" country.
On the other hand Jamaica (a place I've visited many times recently) IS a third world country.
Getting from town to another town is a taxi cab run by some local guy trying to make money, who might stop for two more people on the way, and do a drug deal on the side. Or ask for more money NOT to stop somewhere. Or stop for his "beer break" on the way to dropping you off.
I never had that happen in China, Europe (anywhere) but honestly I can't say about Russia. What I KNOW of it comes from folks who have been there, and television, movies and books. So, I think we can safely say that it's really NOT a third world country with nukes.
But Afghanistan however, THAT is another story altogether. Egypt too, is a third world country. God what a horrible place.
November 29th, 2010, 21:08
American Patriot
Re: Putin proposes Russia-EU Union
I agree. China... in the "big city" (I'm familiar with Beijing and Chindu only) were just that, big cities. The hotels had bathrooms in the rooms. Mine had a bathroom, four cameras and multiple recording devices. /chuckles
That "Hotel" was turned over to the US State Department as a Consulate while I was present. The whole thing was surreal.
On the other hand, my travels outside of the "big city" were chaperoned for the most part by someone who worked for the Chicoms and watched me like a hawk.
Back during the Cold War, one of the great fears was that the Soviet Union would invade western Europe and absorb it into their socialist empire. But now could essentially that exact same thing happen in the name of free trade? Over the past couple of decades, the European Union has gone from being just a "free trade area" to a highly repressive socialist regime run by a bunch of control freaks. As many in Europe have correctly noted, the European Union is highly centralized, deeply corrupt and almost entirely undemocratic - just like the former Soviet Union. Now Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is publicly proposing that all of Europe should join with Russia to create an absolutely gigantic "free trade zone" that would stretch from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
Of course nothing like this will happen any time soon, but the fact that someone as prominent as Putin would propose this is going to give life to the idea. In fact, Putin is not just tossing this proposal around casually. On Thursday, Putin actually presented his vision in a guest editorial that he authored for the German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung. In that piece, Putin was very clear about what he is proposing....
"We propose the creation of a harmonious economic community stretching from Lisbon to Vladivostok."
But Putin doesn't just envision an "economic community". In fact, Putin spoke in his piece about "more advanced forms of economic integration" that could be possible in the future....
"In the future, we could even consider a free trade zone or even more advanced forms of economic integration. The result would be a unified continental market with a capacity worth trillions of euros."
Anyone who follows European politics realizes how absolutely stunning that statement is.
Could one day Russia and the European Union merge to form one massive socialist empire from sea to shining sea?
It would have been unthinkable just a decade or two ago, but now the EU has become so much like the old Soviet Union that a merger between the EU and Russia is not unimaginable.
Last year, Czech President Vaclav Klaus actually publicly accused the EU of becoming just as repressive as the former Soviet Union....
"Not so long ago, in our part of Europe, we lived in a political system that permitted no alternatives and therefore also no parliamentary opposition. We learned the bitter lesson that with no opposition, there is no freedom."
And Klaus is not alone in his evaluation of the EU. Last year former Latvian president Vaira Vike-Freiberga raised eyebrows when he declared that the EU should "stop working like the former Soviet Union."
But there are very few European politicians that are as critical of the EU as Godfrey Bloom is. For example, just check out the video below where Bloom openly compares the EU to the former Soviet Union on the floor of the European parliament....
So could what Putin is proposing happen any time soon?
Of course not.
But obviously Putin has been thinking a lot about it. An article on the website of RIA Novosti described the five key points in the plan that Putin is now proposing....
These blueprints contain five major points: 1. Forming a harmonious economic community stretching from Lisbon to Vladivostok; 2. A common industrial policy based on the integration of Russia's and the EU's technological and resource potentials; 3. Developing equitable and balanced relations between energy suppliers, consumers and transit countries. This is in fact the gist of the new energy treaty that Russia proposed; 4. Putting European science and education in a leading position through close partnership; 5. Eliminating visa requirements as the first step towards the real integration of Russia and the EU, rather than leaving it till last.
It is a very ambitious plan. Unfortunately for Putin, the rest of the world has been hesitant to embrace Russia. In fact, Russia has been trying without success to get into the WTO for the past 17 years.
However, there are whispers that Russia is closer than ever to getting into the WTO. Once that happens, many doors may start to open for Putin and for Russia. Russia has a ton of natural resources, and in the years ahead Europe is going to need a lot of those resources. It is not difficult to imagine a much closer relationship between Russia and the EU in the years ahead.
But it is not just the EU and Russia that are moving towards integration. All over the world, governments are becoming more socialist and more totalitarian. There are very few nations left on the face of the earth that do not have very powerful central governments that are increasingly watching, tracking and attempting to tightly control everything that their citizens do. Not only that, but a dizzying array of free trade agreements, military alliances and international treaties are increasingly integrating large segments of these socialist nations into a unified global system.
In fact, the United Nations itself is a socialist organization that promotes centralized economic planning and centralized control of the earth's population.
So it may not even matter whether or not Putin's plan for economic integration with the EU ever comes to fruition. The truth is that there are forces all over the globe that are pushing us all toward a one world economy and ultimately a one world government. We may have to go through World War 3 before we get there, but it seems almost inevitable that at some point the forces behind globalism are going to try to merge us all into a totalitarian one-world system.
Hopefully that day will not arrive any time soon, because when it does it is going to be absolutely horrible.
