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Samizdata quote of the day “It says a great deal about the impotence of the European Union’s response to the Ukraine crisis that Poland should have emerged as the bloc’s most effective cheerleader in confronting the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. It was only a few months ago that Brussels was seeking to demonise Poland as a rogue state over accusations that it was violating the EU’s democratic agenda. This led the European Court of Justice to rule in favour of denying Warsaw access to more than 75 billion euros in funds. Today, with Poland taking the lead role in condemning Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, the EU’s attempts to humiliate the Poles appear ill-judged, to say the least.”
– Con Coughlin, Daily Telegraph (£)
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The statement is true, but the EUrocrats’ hatred of Polish (and other EU members’) sovereignty is not new. The measures they took against it always were and always will be ‘ill-judged’ in the sense of the article (and also literally), and recent events have not (yet, AFAIK) made them halt, let alone reverse course.
One could say of Putin that his hatred of Ukrainian (and other formerly Russian-ruled states’) sovereignty, is not new. The measures he took against it always were and always will be ‘ill-judged’ in the sense of the article (and also literally), and recent events have not (yet, AFAIK) made him halt let alone reverse course.
I am glad the EUrocrats can in the main only withhold funds (for now). They would like to have an actual force they could use on member states. They are as unhappy as Soros about “the lack of legal tools for disciplining member states”. May this lack remain!
Certainly the EU might hold back a bit on condemnation of Poland and Hungary while this Ukraine business is ongoing, but in the long run that won’t change a damn thing. As soon as the Ukraine situation dies back a bit the EU will be back on the whole “sanctions for sovereignty” schtick.
The thing which irritates me the most is that the concept that “EU Laws cannot trump the national legislature” is exactly what Germany has and the EU doesn’t make any fuss about that, but then again, it’s Germany that is paying much of the bill for EU largess.
Rank hypocrisy! Clearly some EU members are more equal than others.
I have a Polish brother-in-law. He’s about my age (late ’40s*). So, he bought his commie built flat and made it rather nice. Basically him and his mates because, oddly enough, under Communism DIY boomed because no-one else was going to do it so you wound-up with a massive barter economy of skills. One oddity remained. For some reason his flat had the master gas stop-cock to the block hidden in a cupboard. He showed me it and mimed turning it and declamed, “I’m Vladimir Putin!”.
This was over a decade ago and in (drunken – we’d all had rather too many vodkas than was strictly-speaking good for us) high spirits.
Russia is generally a shit-hole but my B-i-L got it about right. Putin has two levers of power. The gas stop-cock is the lesser of these. More to the point – I said when this drunken antic occurred – this is not a new lever of power and has any dictator improved with age? Ever? Garcon! A bottle of your finest Peron ’73! Nah. So, why haven’t we done something about it? We’ve had more than enough time to build modular, super-lift style fission plants. We get the Uranium from Australia, South Africa…
Of course there is the only other lever and that is the nuclear one under Vlad’s Enormous Fucking Table. You can’t get those bastards in IKEA. I feel like I’m living with Dr Strangelove watching this in full colour HD.
The Russians have had Peter the Great, Catherine the Great and now they are onto Vlad the Table.
*I hate typing that but when you consider the alternative…
What little I have read about Polish history shows a country which has been shat on by “friends” of all colours. I sincerely hope they take the EUSSR by the throat and tell it to take a flying fuck at a rolling doughnut.