Europe Caves on Russia… Again
True to form, the Council of Europe has fallen into appeasement of the illiberal regime that lies on the European Union’s eastern flank. Russia had been suspended from the continent’s human rights watchdog council in 2014 as a result of its annexation of Crimea in neighboring Ukraine, and its ongoing covert war in Ukraine’s eastern oblasts of Donetsk and Luhansk in which more than 13,000 have died. This ongoing war, as well as Russia’s constant aggressions against its other small neighbors, may have fallen out of mainstream news coverage, but they should not have escaped the attention of the European body which was allegedly established to “uphold human rights, democracy and the rule of law across the continent.” Nevertheless, with the approval of German Chancellor Merkel and French President Macron, the Council reinstated Moscow’s voting rights in the body.
The irony was not lost on Ukraine’s new president, Volodymyr Zelensky, since the reinstatement occurred on the very day that Russia exceeded a UN deadline to return 24 kidnapped Ukrainian naval personnel.
Sadly, this behavior from Europe is typical and expected. In March we told you about the approval given under German pressure for an expanded pipeline to ship Russian natural gas to Europe, and some of the compromised and possibly corrupt interests at work in that deal. While Europe fails to stand up for human rights in Russia, and to hold Russia’s leaders accountable for their aggression against their neighbors, it does not bode well for the future — and especially, it will stoke divisions within Europe between the cavalier, self-interested western Europeans, and the eastern Europeans who live in Russia’s shadow.
Investment implications: In the long term, Europe’s unwillingness to stand up to Russia is bad news for the political cohesion of the continent, which is one more reason we are not long-term bulls on Europe.
