STEVE PIECZENIK TALKS

Russia Threatens Both Sweden and Finland if they Formally Join NATO!
However, Russia’s main concern is Finland. Once again, Putin is flexing his biceps by threatening Sweden if they join NATO. This past Friday saw an event that has become all too common, with Putin acting desperately to intimidate those western European countries which may present a potential geopolitical threat to Russia. As I have posted previously, Putin and his military are provoking the Swedish military into potential conflicts by Russian overflights into Swedish territories and Russian submarines patrolling the littoral areas of Swedish sovereignty.

Putin is re-enacting the Soviet Union’s paranoia, where any near-far lands that may present potential threats have to be diplomatically co-opted before they become real strategic threats. Sweden and  Finland are literally a stone’s throw away from the true heart of Russia—St. Petersburg. Finland is so close that some of you may remember that prior to the full outbreak of WWII, Russia and Finland fought a brutal war against each other where thousands of troops on both sides froze or died in their ensuing battles in their respective snow tundras. Putin has utilized these old memories of conflict to reinvigorate his new virtual Russian Federation expansion. By outright reprimanding the Swedish Ambassador this past Friday, warning him to abstain from joining NATO, Putin was really warning Finland and the USA. Sweden presents far less of a military threat than does Finland which has the advantage of military expertise and geopolitical proximity as a true threat to Russian sovereignty.

From the USA and EU perspective, both Sweden and Finland would act as effective counter-forces to a potential incursion by Russian troops into the northern sector of the EU. Please bear in mind that Putin’s extravagant gestures of bellicosity do not effectively correlate with the current Russian economy. Putin desperately directs his frenetic attention away from the more serious concern: the complete bankruptcy of the Russia economy. Neither he nor his ineffectual political cronies can control this economic sinking.
A new narrative has been created by the Kremlin where they claim that the stalwart Russians are not in anyway encumbered by the failing consumer economy. Some of our leading policy thinkers agree with this complete myth. There is no doubt that when over 81 regions of Russia are bankrupt then the people have already suffered more than they should have. Putin has ensured that those who might want to complain about souring conditions in the consumer sector are silenced for quite some time.

Putin’s image of a progressive Russia has more bearing to that of Stalin-Yeltsin borscht. He wants to look and act like Stalin without the efficiency or lethality. In reality, Putin has the ineffectual traits of a wannabe Stalin with the complete incompetency of the drunken Yeltsin. Not a great combination. The more he threatens the less intimidating he becomes.

If Putin thinks that the invasion of Georgia or Ukraine was impressive, may I remind him that anyone who dealt with the powerful Soviet Union will not take his predictable gestures seriously. Putin must be reminded that Russia is a very large federation of 125 different ethnic groups located over 11 time zones. If we were able to takedown a far greater threat than Russia –that is the Soviet Union—rest assured, Putin, that you are nothing more than a fly on the bear’s ass.

If you keep on threatening those countries around you like Moldova, Nagorny--- time is not on your side; neither is China, the EU nor the USA. Putin: please remember the Swedish Russia Wars of 1595, 1788, and 1808. What did Russia really gain or lose in those wars? A few kilometers here and there.

Russians are now tired of wars and foreign intrusions which take the attention away from more important subjects. What will be the future of a rich Motherland which is sinking rapidly into poverty and oblivion as the rest of the western world keeps on growing and advancing. Putin you have managed to stultify the growth of the great Russian citizens more than any Czar in the history of Russia’s repression.

Congratulations, you bully. Watch out for your security apparatus which has been planning behind your back for the next successor.

Why not?
You did that with Yeltsin, now it’s your turn to be deposed. That’s fair.

Forget Sweden and Finland !  

Instead, pay attention to Mother Russia, which needs your help ….ASAP!!!