From Russia, No Love for EU's New Chief and Her Hawkish Stance

[Rogue Valley]

From Russia, No Love for EU's New Chief and Her Hawkish Stance

Ursula von der Leyen.

7/19/19
Ursula von der Leyen won’t be getting a bear hug from the Kremlin. Russia’s top diplomat was asked during a visit to Germany about the incoming president of the European Commission and her “strict” view of his country. “Show me anyone who isn’t critical of Russia nowadays,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters on Thursday at a conference in the city of Koenigswinter. “We are pragmatists, we want to focus on practical matters, not on public statements.” His frosty response was that the decision by the European Union’s leaders and Parliament was one “we simply acknowledge.” Von der Leyen takes over at the helm of the EU’s executive arm in November and Chancellor Angela Merkel’s defense minister staked out a hawkish stance on Russia. She’s led calls for a common European military strategy since Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and is a staunch backer of sanctions.

“The Kremlin doesn’t forgive weakness,” von der Leyen told Die Welt in an interview Thursday. “From a position of strength we should stand by Russian sanctions.” Lavrov’s language was calculatingly neutral, saying President Vladimir Putin will react to EU policy rather than dwell on verbal volleys. “I hope that the new composition of the European Commission will conduct an inventory of relations with Russia, and when they express their position on the long-term development of relations with us, we will of course respond,” Lavrov said.

Overall, a good choice. Ursula is no pro-Russia toady.

 

[Phys251]

From Russia, No Love for EU's New Chief and Her Hawkish Stance

Ursula von der Leyen.



Overall, a good choice. Ursula is no pro-Russia toady.

Good. The West needs to stop treating Russia with kid gloves.

EDIT: Why link to an article from the Moscow Times? You know that Russia has virtually zero freedom of the press, right?

 

[Brochacholomigo]

I don't necessarily like all of the connotations that "hawkish" has when it comes to American geopolitics, but it's about ****ing time someone with the guts to tell Russia to eat a dick got into a position of power. We needed something more forceful than Obama, it's about damn time we got rid of either Juncker or Trump. Here's to hoping we can axe the second one next year, too.

 

[OrphanSlug]

As if Russia was going to be happy with anything the EU did... :roll:

They are just a customer for Russia, and someone to mess with along the way now that the UN and NATO have proven themselves to be absolutely worthless at doing really anything of value.

 

[Rogue Valley]

EDIT: Why link to an article from the Moscow Times? You know that Russia has virtually zero freedom of the press, right?

The ownership of The Moscow Times is currently split between Vladimir Jao, the CEO of Aeromar (an airline catering company) with 51%, Svetlana Korshunova (Princeton/Department of Slavic Languages and Literature's) General Director of the paper with 30%, and Derk Sauer (a Dutch publisher) with 19%. Derk Sauer is the founder of the paper. Ownership is done this way to comply with a Russian law mandating that no more than 20% of a media company in Russia can be owned by foreigners. The Executive Editor is Eva Hartog Skorobogatova, a journalist and Dutch citizen who speaks 4 languages.

The Moscow Times is as good as it gets from Russian journalism with an English edition. Kommersant, Vedomosti, Novaya Gazeta, and RBK are Russian language only. The rest are trash.

I often link to the Moscow Times in order to negate the whining from some pro-Russia DP members about using "the biased" Western media.

If I do use the MT, I will often also drop a link to a Western source at the bottom of the page [Related:]