I regard Stephen Cohen as essential listening if you want to be up-to-date with the Empire's push for war with Russia
Blaming
Putin after BREXIT. Stephen F. Cohen
"Brexit is a win for Putin," announced Michael McFaul, a former U.S. ambassador to Russia.
To
listen to podcast GO
HERE
Writing
in The Washington Post, McFaul said: "Putin, of course, did not
cause the Brexit vote, but he and his foreign policy objectives stand
to gain enormously from it."
But
at least publically, that's not how Putin sees it.
Shortly
after the vote, the Russian president told reporters that Brexit
brought both "positives and negatives."
European
reaction to Brexit vote 03:41
Putin,
along with his prime minister, both warned of the unsettling effects
of the vote on the financial markets. Despite EU sanction on Russia
over Ukraine, the EU remains Russia's biggest trading partner.
"If
the EU falls apart at the seams, this will affect our trade
relations," warned Konstantin Kosachev, head of the Russian
Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee.
It
would, however, be naive to think Russia's hardline president, locked
in a bitter rivalry with the West, isn't allowing himself a wry smile
as a key European institution fragments.
There
may be economic benefits for a start.
One
new report suggests that trade between Britain and Russia could
actually be boosted by the Brexit vote, especially with the British
pound in free all.
"Sterling's
weakness against the euro creates opportunities for UK exporters to
take market share from EU competitors," said Chris Weafer,
senior partner at Macro Advisory, which provides investment analysis.
And
then there are sanctions.
Russia
is currently suffering under tough measures imposed on it by the EU
over Ukraine. Britain, along with the nations of Eastern Europe, has
been among the strongest voices to keep the sanctions in place.
But
even Moscow's Mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, can see how Brexit may have a
positive impact for Russia.
"Without
Great Britain in the EU, there is no longer anyone so stridently
standing up for sanctions against us," he tweeted after the
result.
Even
if sanctions are not eased, the Kremlin may turn Europe's troubles to
its advantage.
The
scenes of chaos likely to emerge from Britain and the EU in the
coming weeks and months will provide a stark contrast to the image of
stability at home -- Russia strong under Putin, that the Kremlin
strives to portray.
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