At It Again

There's the heavy hand of the Kremlin, making friends and influencing people again. Or, perhaps, making erstwhile friends cringe, and influencing people to once again fear that raging bear with its nasty headache brought on by plunging energy prices, exacerbated by ingratitude of former dependents. You'd think Ukraine and the European Union would be accustomed to the blackmail, extortion, and bungling oafery of the Kremlin, led by the ever-belligerent Vladimir Putin.

But that's merely reflective of an ongoing facet of life. People always have hope that things will change, that those whose reason is befuddled with never-ending rage will somehow embrace rational thought and reach out with kindness to fellow Europeans struggling to cope through the brutality of another climate-changing winter. Not Putin; as far as he's concerned, anyone who has the bloody nerve to challenge his edicts can freeze in the dark.

They're welcome to their intransigent opinions as long as they're prepared to suffer for them. And suffer they will, if he has anything to say about it. And he has, plenty; he's unsparing of words of condemnation and doesn't mind publicly spilling accusations of theft against Ukraine. Theft of energy claimed to rightfully belong to the European Union, which Russia claims that Ukraine is siphoning off for its own use to ensure its people are adequately guarded against frigid temperatures rattling their bones.

Russia has plenty of surprises up its sleeve, foremost among them raising the price of its gas to Ukraine to over double what it charged the previous year, and that's a painful bite from a ravening bear. But then, it's pay-back for a former ally who seeks membership in NATO and the European Union. And their little tiff, imperilling the well-being of EU countries, dependent on Russian gas flowing through Ukraine pipelines is merely a by-product of long-standing aggravation.

Those pipelines which Russia claims Ukraine is illegally milking is one element of treachery to the truth. Moscow accuses Kiev of withholding payment for its energy, along with additional fines and levies imposed representing penalties for late payment. Ukraine insists all has been paid up to date. And the European Union nervously attempts to intercede, unwilling to name Russia for what it is, instead designating the contentious issue as a "commercial" misunderstanding.

It would take a lot of internal fortitude for the head of the EU to call it like it is; a political end-game of delivering harm to one's perceived enemy, a traitor to regional unity, deserving of the Kremlin's contempt and the fate of begging for its energy supplies. Hungary and Poland are not pleased with this state of affairs; they're looking at an immediate deficit in their supplies. More collateral damage.

The politicians are alarmed and their populations somewhat less so, knowing from experience that once the ire has steamed off and the bile swallowed, normalcy will ensue - that too is normal; living under the shadow of the former U.S.S.R.