Quite recently, the Politico daily news briefing had a weird heading: “The new cold war – Russian infiltration of European political parties”. It refers to an article in the Telegraph of 16 January 2016: “James Clapper, the US Director of National Intelligence, has been instructed by the US Congress to conduct a major review into Russian clandestine funding of European parties over the last decade”. Similar coverage may be found at the Independent and ZeroHedge.
At a first glance there is nothing new to this topic. However, the Telegraph article mentions some really weird examples: “Officials declined to say which parties could come into the probe but it is thought likely to include far-right groups including Jobbik in Hungary, Golden Dawn in Greece, the Northern League in Italy and France’s Front National which received a 9m euro (£6.9m) loan from a Russian bank in 2014″. Note: bold markings are mine.
And it gets even more weird: “Russian influence has also been detected in a referendum in the Netherlands next April over whether to block the EU’s closer relations with Ukraine. Sources said arguments deployed in support of the referendum “closely resembled” known Russian propaganda”.
This referendum has been initiated by an organisation called “GeenPeil” (UnPredictable) which is supported by an organisation called “GeenStijl” (No Style). Basically, GeenStijl has populist right wing sympathies which are hardly heard on mainstream Dutch TV. Latter probably explains their public support. I have covered this referendum in my 4 January 2016 blog and concluded that “the Ukrainian President is right: voting NO in the Dutch referendum is a YES for Russia”.
I do sympathise with the many people who argue that the EU has become too big and that Ukraine should not also become part of the EU. However, these are emotional arguments. From a rational point of view, it is in our long-term interest to absorb the countries which seek shelter from Russia. Russia and Turkey are both a serious threat to Europe and both as a result of its current (effective) leadership. Europe has no other choice then to formalise its role of being a de facto Superpower for the majority of the past 5,000 years“. Please see my 4 January 2016 blog.
This American political instruction to have their intelligence services perform a major European review gives some mixed feelings. From an American political perspective, nearly everyone in Europe is a leftie or a communist. From a European political perspective, nearly everyone in US Congress is a gun-crazy, ignorant, far-right extremist. The result of such an intelligence review can hardly be welcome to anyone.
An American review of the Russian part in the European “refugee” crisis would make much more sense. Russia stirred up the Syrian crisis and its historic ally Greece continues to welcome “refugees”. Politico: “One common complaint is [that] news reports on the refugees often picture families and women, even though single young men make up the vast majority of those arriving”.
More and more top EU politicians express their concern that the refugee crisis is far more capable of breaking up the European Union than any crisis before (eg, Juncker, Timmermans, Tusk).
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