Crimea: Can Merkel Still Strike a Deal With Putin?

By Steve Weissman, Reader Supported News

01 August 14

ven as Washington and its sycophants were pushing Europe “to stand up” against Russia, German chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian president Vladimir Putin were reportedly engaged in secret negotiations to resolve the current crisis over Ukraine.

The downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 – whoever did it, and whether by accident or design – put any deal-making on ice. But sources have told The Independent that “Merkel’s deal” is still on the table, with negotiations expected to begin once the official Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) investigation of the downed aircraft has been completed.

“She needs to solve the dispute because it’s in no one’s interest to have tension in the Ukraine or to have Russia out in the cold,” said one insider. “No one wants a new Cold War.”

If only that were true.

Though the German government has officially denied the negotiations, “Merkel’s deal” appears concrete and specific.

• Germany and other nations to follow would recognize Putin’s annexation of Crimea, an admittedly hard nut for Washington and others to swallow.


• Moscow would pay Kiev $1 billion to compensate for rent the Russians used to pay for basing its warm-water fleet in the Crimean port of Sebastopol.


• Moscow would agree not to meddle in Ukraine’s trade with the EU and withdraw its financial and military support for pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine.


• The oligarchs in Kiev would devolve greater powers to the pro-Russian rebels and give up any attempts to join NATO.


• Russia’s state-controlled Gazprom would give Kiev a long-time contract for the supply and pricing of natural gas.

Together, these provisions would stabilize the border between Russia and Ukraine, boost Ukraine’s troubled economy, and reduce the threat of energy shortages in both Ukraine and the EU. But, most important, “Merkel’s deal” would preempt a wider war with its threat of nuclear annihilation.

A veteran of the Berkeley Free Speech Movement and the New Left monthly Ramparts, Steve Weissman lived for many years in London, working as a magazine writer and television producer. He now lives and works in France, where he is researching a new book, "Big Money and the Corporate State: How Global Banks, Corporations, and Speculators Rule and How to Nonviolently Break Their Hold."

Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.