As our little German friend who used to visit this site with such great regularity used to opine: it is ALL about oil… while he meant Bush
[quote]Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder urged an end to sanctions on Russia, clashing with his successor Angela Merkel over relaxing penalties imposed in the conflict over Ukraine. As Schroeder evoked German-Russian friendship today at a conference co-sponsored by Russian gas exporter OAO Gazprom (GAZP), an official familiar with German policy making warned that the sanctions, aimed at extracting Russian cooperation to end fighting in eastern Ukraine, could be further tightened. Schroeder, a Social Democrat who led Germany from 1998 to 2005 and friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin, symbolizes the forces pulling at Merkel as she seeks to keep German industry and public opinion behind sanctions. While Schroeder is retired from politics, his party is Merkel’s junior coalition partner.
“The mutual sanctions are causing immense damage to both sides,” Schroeder said in a speech in the Baltic port of Rostock, which lies in Germany’s formerly communist east. “Politicians in Russia and Europe must find a way out of the spiral of ever tougher sanctions.”
Schroeder makes no secret of his Russian ties. He chairs the shareholder committee of Nord Stream AG, the Russian-German natural-gas pipeline company that’s 51 percent owned by Gazprom. He celebrated his 70th birthday this year with Putin in St. Petersburg, and he and his wife, Doris, adopted two children from Russia.
“Germany doesn’t need a new Russia policy based on confrontation, as is being demanded by some hawks,” he said. Without criticizing Merkel by name, he said he was proud to understand Russia’s position and urged a return to “detente,” the policy of easing tension in Europe during the Cold War. That contrasts with Merkel’s increasingly tough stance in the crisis that has escalated into an armed rebellion with more than 3,500 dead since Putin annexed Ukraine’s Crimea region in March.
With cease-fire violations being reported daily, the EU is far from considering an easing of the latest sanctions imposed in September, according to the official familiar with Germany’s position, who asked not to be identified because he isn’t authorized to discuss the matter publicly. If the separatists took the Donetsk airport or the city of Mariupol in an effort to create a land corridor, the EU might impose additional sanctions, the person said. The outcome is impossible to predict and could go either way, the person said. “I don’t see any change at the moment regarding Russia’s position,” Merkel, a Christian Democrat who grew up in former East Germany, said this week. “Sometimes in history one has to be prepared for the long haul, and not ask after four months if it still makes sense to keep up our demands.”
Schroeder shared the bill with with Vladimir Grinin, Russia’s ambassador to Germany, and Erwin Sellering, a Social Democrat who is premier of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the region where Merkel has her electoral district. Nord Stream’s German terminal is also located in the state. After the speech at a communist-era hotel, Russian business executives posed for photos with Schroeder, who declined to comment when a reporter asked him what he thought about the annexation of Crimea. Germany gets about a third of its gas from Russia and is Russia’s biggest European trading partner. With 6,000 German companies operating in Russia, bilateral trade was $88 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Sanctions on Russia are “wrong,” Schroeder said. “I want to say that loud and clear.” [/quote]
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