By quietly building up a web of influence across Europe, the Russian President has changed the rules \u2013 and Nato is running to catch up<\/p>\n
It\u2019s easy to laugh at Vladimir Putin, to dismiss him as a Cold Warrior trapped in the Eighties. His nostalgia for the old Soviet Union, his fondness for ballistic missile testing and denouncing Nato in speeches all seem to underline the image of an old KGB agent who can\u2019t bring himself to admit that the war is over. At first, his behavior just seemed odd. When he annexed Crimea, it seemed more sinister. But now, we ought to consider a third possibility: that we\u2019re the ones stuck in the past. That Putin is fighting a war of the future \u2013 and winning.<\/p>\n
In the old days, Russians built and maintained an empire by sending tanks over borders. This was the Cold War that my wife\u2019s parents knew: they ended up fleeing Prague after dodging Russian bullets a few too many times. When that war ended, Nato was expanded to make sure it couldn\u2019t happen again. The United Nations has rules based on the inviolability of borders. So, for example, if Russia invaded Cyprus to give its navy access to the Mediterranean then everyone \u2013 Uncle Sam included \u2013 would come riding to the rescue.<\/p>\n
But Putin, now, would do nothing so gauche as to invade. He cuts deals instead: this week, he agreed a \u20ac2.5 billion loan for Cyprus. In return, Russian navy vessels will be able to dock in its ports. This will lead to the extraordinary situation of Cyprus becoming a military hub for both Britain and Russia. We still have bases there; when budgets allow, RAF Tornados fly off to bomb Isil positions in Iraq. Their base abuts the Port of Limassol \u2013 so soon, British and Russian servicemen may be separated only by the colony of pink flamingos that divides Cypriot and British territory in Akrotiri.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s quite a coup for the Kremlin. Cyprus was British until 1960; now it has been absorbed into Putin\u2019s new empire. It\u2019s not an empire that Nato, with its Cold War mindset, would recognize; it\u2019s not one that can be described by coloring in nations on a map. This is an empire of influence \u2013 far cheaper to acquire, harder to spot and easier to maintain. It doesn\u2019t cost much for Russia to provide 80 per cent of foreign investment into Cyprus, but with investment comes gratitude. Cyprus, an EU member, opposes sanctions on Russia \u2013 making the hard task of a common EU foreign policy that little bit harder.<\/p>\n
TheTelegraph http:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/news\/worldnews\/europe\/russia\/11438314\/Vladimir-Putins-invisible-empire.html<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By quietly building up a web of influence across Europe, the Russian President has changed the [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-138178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-headlines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pio.mfa.gov.ct.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pio.mfa.gov.ct.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pio.mfa.gov.ct.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pio.mfa.gov.ct.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pio.mfa.gov.ct.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pio.mfa.gov.ct.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138178\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pio.mfa.gov.ct.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pio.mfa.gov.ct.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pio.mfa.gov.ct.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}