European Union members Germany, Poland and Sweden declared a Russian diplomat in their countries “persona non grata,” essentially following former President Barack Obama’s leading in expelling Russian diplomats from their countries. But like Obama, Brussels-based European Commission, led by 62-year-old President Ursula von der Leyen will find out quickly that Russian President Vladimir Putin isn’t easily intimidated by Western officials, including the United States. EU’s 73-year-old Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell met with 71-year-old Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov Feb. 5, demanding the Putin release Navalny from jail. Arrested in Moscow Jan. 18 and sentenced to two-years-eight months in a Moscow court Feb. 2, the U.S. and EU demand that Navanly be released. Navalny led a clandestine network of dissidents seeking to topple Putin.
Think of the colossal hypocrisy to the U.S. Senate tomorrow essentially trying 74-year-old former President of “incitement of insurrection,” because some knuckleheads went ballistic, staging a riot armed with cell phones, not Kalashnikovs or Molotov Cocktails. Yet 81-year-old House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and her House impeachment managers led by Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) want to haze Trump one last time in absentia, a grotesque Kabuki theater for all the Trump-haters to get their jollies. When you consider that Biden and EU demand that Putin immediately release a known dissident who’s open about toppling Putin, it can’t get more hypocritical than Trump’s being impeached for the second time. Evicting Russian diplomats does nothing other than push the world closer to the brink. Under Trump there was too much peace for Democrats and the press to handle.
Booting out Russian diplomats in the EU accomplishes nothing, other than hiking natural gas and petroleum prices. “We have informed the Russian ambassador that a person from the Russian embassy is asked to leave Sweden,” Sweden’s Foreign Minister Ann Linda wrote of Twitter. “This is a clear response to the unacceptable decision to expel a Swedish diplomat who was only performing his duties.” Engaging it tit-for-tat retaliation with diplomatic personnel turns the clock back on international relations. EU officials didn’t have to take such a harsh stance on Navalny, someone known as a dangerous dissident working in a clandestine insurgency to topple Putin’s government. What would the EU do to any activists seeking to topple the Brussels government, including the European Commission and European Council? Yet when it comes to Russia, the U.S. and EU demand Navalny be released.
Over his 20 years reign, Putin has engaged in a number of crackdowns on Russian dissidents unhappy with his authoritarian rule. But unlike the U.S. or EU, democracy didn’t last too long under former Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev or Yeltsin, both of whom wanted to experiment with more freedoms for Russian citizens. After the collapse of the Soviet Union Dec. 24, 1991, the Russian Federation experimented with democratic reforms called “perestroika” and “glasnost,” attempting to make overtures with the West, especially the United States. Watching relations with Moscow deteriorate, there’s no Trump left on the world stage that can get along with authoritarian leaders. Trump was crucified by Democrats and the U.S. press for trying to get along with foreign dictators. Rather than praise Trump for his uncanny ability to get along with America’s new-and-old foes, he was persecuted.
Putin sent a loud message to Washington and Brussels that if he has to go back to what’s left of the Warsaw Pact or, new alliances with China, Iran and North Korea, he won’t hesitate to make new friends and business partners outside the West. Germany complained about Putin’s decision to expel European diplomats, insisting it ‘was not justified in any way.” Instead of reacting defensively, the EU should stop meddling in Russia’s internal affairs. U.S. and EU officials are in no capacity to challenge Putin on the world stage in hot spots around the world. If Putin’s invasion of Crimea taught Western officials anything, Putin wouldn’t stop defending Russia’s geopolitical interests. Putin didn’t like watching a CIA-sponsored coup take place in Kiev Feb. 22 while he was handcuffed hosting the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. No one in the EU wants to challenge Putin militarily.
EU lawmakers stepped over the line blasting Putin for arresting, charging, convicting and sentencing dissident Alexi Navalny. When the EU has a politician that differs from Brussel’s dictates, like Hungary’s Viktor Orban or Poland’s Andrzej Duda, they apply maximum pressure to seek conformity. When the EU, backed 66-year-old German Chancellor Angela Merkel or 43-year-old French President Emmanuel Macron’s proxy war in Syria topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, they spent millions creating the worst humanitarian crisis since WW II. With 500,000 dead and 15 million Syrian displaced, it practically broke up the EU. Orban and Duda didn’t want to take hordes of Syrian refuges into their countries. Brussels’ immigration quotas on the U.K. drove Britain with the Brexit vote out the EU. EU officials must decide whether meddling in Russia’s internal affairs is worth the consequences.
