Who Are Putin's Friends In Europe?

The Business Insider/The Economist: Here's who backs Putin in Europe — and why

Populist parties of both right and left, many pro-Russian, did well in last May's European elections, taking between them a quarter of the seats. This has raised fears of a coherent pro-Russian block forming in Strasbourg.

In Greece, the now-ruling radical-left Syriza party leans towards Russia. On February 11th Nikos Kotzias, the new foreign minister, went to Moscow--his first visit to a foreign capital outside the European Union.

WNU Editor: Russian President Putin has always cultivated personal friendships and alliances .... not political parties. And it is through these relationships that he influences European policy. Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and former Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi are two people that immediately come to my mind.

Russia Showing Off Its MIlitary Muscle

In Air and Cyberspace, on Land and Sea, Russia Shows Muscle -- New York Times

MOSCOW — The casual reader of The New York Times may be forgiven for thinking he or she had dozed off and awakened in a John le Carré novel. How else to explain the sudden increase of bombers in the skies over Europe, kidnapped spies, troop buildups in Eastern Europe and roaming submarines in the Baltic Sea?

Much of what we see today, we hope, is bluster, as when a popular Russian television host reminded his prime-time audience that Russia could reduce the United States to “radioactive dust” (to help explain why President Obama’s hair was graying).

But something has indeed been afoot since Vladimir V. Putin resumed the presidency of Russia in 2012 and sought to push back against the West, which he has accused of meddling in Russia’s backyard.

Here are recent examples of Russia’s new assertiveness. Of course, none of this has been confirmed by Moscow.

Read more ....

My Comment: Being one who grew up during the Cold War .... sorry .... but I am not impressed by this "Russian show of force". I remember the multiple forward based Soviet armored divisions in East Germany that were just minutes away from the West. The movement of dozens of jets .... not a few planes .... near the borders of NATO to provoke a response. The placing of over one million Soviet soldiers throughout eastern Europe .... not a brigade or two near the Baltic states. This "show of force" is just a shadow of what the Warsaw Pact once was.