Tuesday, August 4, 2015

The United States and Russia are still at it. The cold war may have ended with the end of the Soviet Union and the emergence of Russia. However, certain factors are still important and both countries have the will and the power to safeguard their interests.

The Greek Saga re Bailout (inewsmalta) presented an opportunity not only for Germany (Facebook ) but also for Russia to get a better balance of the situation in the Balkans. One of the main concerns of Russia is its defence. Russia has got the longest border with other countries and its defensive strategy which was evolved in 1945 collapsed with the foundering of the Soviet Union. The policy was to have buffer states throughout this border and thus ensure a certain amount of security at the expense of others.

However, with the internal turmoil which it experienced with the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia could not ensure its strategic defence policy. It was only with the emergence of Putin that Russia attained a certain internal stability and thus could give the importance that was due to defence. Russia, up to a certain extent, could tolerate that the Baltic States would change their role from Russia’s buffer states to the Western European Powers’ buffer states against Russia. But it could not tolerate that it would lose its only secure port for its Mediterranean Navy. Russia made that point clear with the annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. Russia gave a warning signal that it was not going to tolerate any other strategic changes some years ago when Georgia created troubles on Russia’s border.

Greece offered an opportunity to Russia. Greece was the only country in the Balkan states where Russian influence was at a minimum. The visit of Tsipras to Russia when Greece was still hoping of a better deal with its creditors provided that opportunity. Both Tsipras and Putin were very careful to indicate that a Russian bailout to Greece was not on the table indicating that it was.

The United States countered this move by officially insisting that there will be no Grexit. Officially the USA took the position that this was a European internal affair. But pressure was exerted especially on Merkel to find a solution. So much so that the German Finance Minister is quoted to have said that Europe was ready to exchange with the USA the Greek problem with the Costa Rica problem. In fact the way the USA handled the Costa Rica bailout problem contrasted very much with how the EU tackled Greece. Very few know that the USA had a similar problem with Costa Rica whereas very few if any, have not heard of the Greek bailout and Grexit.


The USA has a vital interest in the EU as the EU is acting as a proxy for the USA’s interests. With the EU there is no need of USA military presence in Europe – note the great reduction of US military basis in Europe. As already noted above, the USA through the EU already succeeded in turning the Baltic States and Poland as a buffer zone for the Western powers. One has to note how the EU membership card was played in Ukraine in an attempt to turn Ukraine into a buffer zone for the West while denying Russia of a strategic naval port. The geopolitical interests in this area are great and I am convinced that the cards are already on the table to have the EU accept, in spite of all problems, Turkey – an essential chip in the geopolitical USA-Russia chess game.