Putin

A WW1 battlefield.

Russia invaded Ukraine on 24th Feb 2022 so we have been watching this for four months now. This would not be the first war in the region and it could be said the origins of the present conflict go back to 2014 at least. The history of this part of the world is complex and countries from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea have fought each other over centuries. There have also been alliances which have been formed and dissolved long before the EU or NATO came along. So it’s easy to see why Putin thinks that he has a right to revisit the past and claim that parts of Ukraine ‘belong’ to Russia. To get a better understanding we have to look at things from the point of view of Putin. The EU thinks that not only should it have, ‘an ever closer union’ among member states but it should be always expanding too. Putin objects to this. In the same we here in, ‘the West’, saw it as our duty to resist the spread of Communism prior to the Berlin Wall coming down so Putin sees he has a, ‘duty’, to Russia. Indeed one can imagine that while many people have forgotten the reunification of Germany following the removal of the Berlin Wall Putin would be word perfect on that subject. He has his own beliefs that are also dynamic. Hence the old well worn trope of, we are good, but, ‘Russia is bad’ is misplaced.

Zaporozhets

At the start of December Mr Putin's party won the elections in Russia. At once there was the suggestion that not all had gone well, there was suspicion about the outcome. This in turn led to caution in the way the results were greeted by some European Leaders, but not all. The effervescent Mr Sarkozy heaped praise on Mr Putin from the moment the results were known. Then, just a few days later we see that Renault, in partnership with Nissan, have bought a 25% stake in the Russian car maker that we call Lada, but is called Avtovaz in Russia. Could these events be related? To get this stake the French and their partners beat off competition from, amongst others, General Motors and Volkswagen.