‘Whatever We Decide Is A Disaster For Us’ France Admits Putin Is Winning, Europe ‘Blinked’

–  “Whatever We Decide Is A Disaster For Us” France Admits Putin Is Winning, Europe “Blinked” (ZeroHedge, Oct 25, 2014):

While the analogy of Vladimir Putin playing geopolitical chess (while the rest of the world plays checkers) has been a popular one, the French ambassador Gerard Araud has a different – somewhat stunningly honest  – persepctive: Putin “is more a poker player really, putting all the money on the table; saying, ‘Do the same’ and of course we blink. We don’t do the same.”As Bloomberg reports, Araud goes on to express entirely un-Juncker-like, how Putin has outmaneuvered his opponents and humiliated Ukraine. Simply put, he adds, the Russian president “has won because we were not ready to die for Ukraine, while apparently he was,” leaving the ominous question, “when is Putin going to stop? Whatever we decide is a disaster for us.”

As Bloomberg reports,

Vladimir Putin has outmaneuvered his opponents and humiliated Ukraine by continuing to back pro-Russian separatists and flouting a cease-fire, making it crucial that sanctions on Russia remain firm, France’s ambassador to the U.S. said.

The Russian president “has won because we were not ready to die for Ukraine, while apparently he was,” Ambassador Gerard Araud said yesterday at a Bloomberg Government breakfast in Washington… Echoing the view of other European envoys in Washington, Araud expressed concern that the Ukraine conflict has hit an impasse, leaving Putin the winner by default.

Poroshenko is “kneeling in front of Putin with the cord around his neck and saying, ‘You know, you have won,’” and Putin is still not backing down, Araud said.

While many observers have called Putin a geopolitical chess player, he said, the Russian leader is more a “poker player really, putting all the money on the table, saying, ‘Do the same,’ and of course we blink. We don’t do the same.”

The economic sanctions against Russia must stay in place to prevent Putin from going further, said Araud, who moved to Washington in September after serving as the French ambassador to the United Nations.

“Whatever we decide is a disaster for us,” Araud said, again expressing his personal view. On one side, he said, lies France’s credibility as an arms supplier who delivers on contracts, and on the other, the difficulty of delivering a weapons system to Putin, who might use it against Ukraine or a European ally.

Araud concludes – rather ominously – and far too honestly for a paid-up member of the European elite:

“The question is there on the table: When is Putin going to stop?” Araud said. “That’s the reason that we need to keep the sanctions” because, “let’s be frank, it’s more or less the only weapon that we have. We are not going to send our soldiers in Ukraine. It does not make sense to send weapons to the Ukrainians, because the Ukrainians would be defeated real easily, so it will only prolong the war” and lead to a “still bigger Russian victory.”

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2 thoughts on “‘Whatever We Decide Is A Disaster For Us’ France Admits Putin Is Winning, Europe ‘Blinked’”

  1. Vlad’s mastery puts him in a class of his own, whilst all the other gibbering puppet idiots on the World Political Stage sound off their pre-programmed propaganda, trying to hide the truth with vacuous chatter.

    The Rothschild’s determination to destroy him and his proud Nation is not wavering though.

    Sadly the innocents and ignorant are the pawns in the Rothschild’s armory.

    Reply
  2. The sanctions are weak and of no importance to Putin. No German luxury cars? China builds them instead. No French products, China builds them instead. I don’t think these fools understand how the corporations have undermined the entire western economy.

    The corporations went to China to MFG using slave labor. I was working in technology at the time, some of my openings were to find engineers experienced in moving MFG sites from country to country. I am sorry to say I did, and the pain it gave me made me very ill…….I am not kidding. Making six figures a year didn’t help much……

    Had I not, someone else would have, I know that, but the pain was beyond description. A safety engineer could always command at least $85K a year….in China, the same engineer cost $3-5K a year. So, they all went to China.

    A wonderful small company that MFG here was being pressured to move MFG to China……..the savings were too great, and our wonderful engineers were being laid off all over the country. I left the industry, I could not do that kind of work…..went into nonprofit.

    The price was the same for all companies: All their trade secrets…..ALL had to be given to the Chinese government.

    Now, China is finally exposed and destroyed, but they have all the technology and MFG plants. Corporations are leaving because the environmental mess they have made has rendered it impossible to get anyone from the west to go there. My managers used to spend at least a week a month there…….and they hated it before the air turned black with smoke and other exhausts……

    All the technology the west ever made is in the hands of the Chinese government. The sanctions are rendered impotent……they are meaningless. As for food, Brazil can provide what they need…….

    The sanctions hurt the providers, not Russia. Perhaps they can deny the people a few items, but Russians are used to doing without, their history is the bleakest on the globe. Putin is doing what they want, rebuilding the Russian empire, and he is doing it with finances, not guns.

    So, I hope the Euro feels good, because that is all they can do. Telling Russia to leave the Ukraine alone is absurd, they have been part of the Russian mother land for a long time. And, they will be again.

    Reply

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