Putin fires first salvo in new Cold War in Europe…

I’ve been writing for some time about the Stalinist antics of that little munchkin president of Russia, Vladimir Putin. But the provocative act he perpetrated on Sunday should erase all doubts that Putin not only harbours a visceral hatred for democracy but is also hell-bent on reclaiming control over the former republics of the Soviet Union.

Here’s what he did:

Putin made Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko an offer he could not refuse: Like a true dictator, Putin told Yuschenko that if Ukraine’s 47 million “orange revolutionaries” wanted to continue receiving gas from Russia to cook their food, heat their homes, and drive their cars, they would have to pay four times as much for it. When Yuschenko refused, Putin made good on his threat and cut off the gas supply!

But Putin undermines this shrewd justification for his dictatorial machinations by insisting that Russia needs decades, if not centuries, to wean itself off the mammaries of communism, but insisting that Ukraine must pay (capitalist) market rates today for oil Russia once supplied at dirt-cheap rates as part of the communist compact – where it ruled as the mother country to the former dependent republics of the Soviet Union.

By “grounding” Ukraine like an unruly child, however, Putin may have overplayed his maternal hand. Indeed, this is the kind of behaviour one might have expected from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez or Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. As it happens, Putin’s provocative action has conjured up Cold War memories of Soviet domination that have unnerved many Europeans. Moreover, even before this episode, the Times of London reported that Putin’s human rights abuses in Russia troubled his American critics so much that:

“A group of senators and congressmen from both Republicans and Democrats are calling for the St Petersburg summit to be cancelled and for Russia to be kicked out of the G8.”

Now, it does not seem at all far-fetched to suggest that there’s little difference between Bush attending a business summit hosted by Putin and him attending a human rights summit hosted by Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe. And, if Putin does not retreat from this gaseous offensive, Bush (and many other G8 leaders) will not be in St Petersburg!

Note: Putin has not taken complete leave of his senses. Because late last night he was trying desperately to pacify European jitters by assuring them that he’s just teaching his uppity Slav brother in Ukraine a lesson but that all other recipients of Russian gas need not worry about the spigot being cut off. Ultimately though, he will find that the lesson the Americans are determined to teach him is far more painful than the lesson he wants to teach Yuschenko….

Stay tuned….

UPDATE (1:55pm): Talk about painful lessons: Putin has cried uncle! In fact, he seems to have misfired so badly that the latest report from The Washington Post indicates that he “retreated abruptly” from his confrontation with Yuschenko.

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