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zerohedge, Jan 29, 2015 — http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-01-29/putins-unexpected-victory-germany-furious-greece-now-russian-sanctions-veto

Putin’s Unexpected Victory: Europe Furious That Greece Is Now A Russian Sanctions Veto

Two days ago, Zero Hedge first, and shortly thereafter everyone else, pointed out something stunning: the biggest surprise to emerge so far out of the new anti-Troika/austerity Greek government was not so much its intention to proceed with the first test of „Odious Debt“ – this was largely known in advance – but its dramatic pivot away from Germany and Europe, and toward Russia.

As we noted before, not only has Greece already blocked all ongoing privatization processes, a clear snub of Merkel and the Troika which demands the piecemeal blue light special sale of Greece to western buyers as part of the „bailout“, but is also looking at plans to reinstate public sector employees and announce increased pensions for those on low incomes: further clear breaches of the Troika’s austerity terms.
But the most important message that Tsipras is sending to Europe is that (after meeting the Russian ambassador first upon his election) Greece is now effectively a veto power when it comes to future Russian sanctions!

This was first hinted when the Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias, who arrives in Brussels today to discuss possible additional sanctions on Russia over the conflict in Ukraine, said a few days ago that the Greek government disagreed with an EU statement in which President Donald Tusk raised the prospect of “further restrictive measures” on Russia. As Bloomberg observed before, in recent months, Kotzias wrote on Twitter that sanctions against Russia weren’t in Greece’s interests. He said in a blog that a new foreign policy for Greece should be focused on stopping the ongoing transformation of the EU “into an idiosyncratic empire, under the rule of Germany.”
And Europe, shocked that one of its own has dared to question its „unanimous“ policy toward Russia, a policy driven by the US foreign state department whose opinion of Europe is best captured by the hacked and intercepted „Fuck the EU“ outburst by Victoria Nuland in February 2014, has been forced to backtrack. From DPA:

The European Union denied Wednesday that it ignored Greek objections when it issued a statement raising the prospects of new sanctions against Russia.
The row is the first of several clashes expected between Brussels and Greece’s new prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, who was elected Sunday on promises to renegotiate the bailout granted to Greece by its European neighbours and the International Monetary Fund.

Tsipras has in the past also spoken out against sanctions on Russia, rejecting the use of „Cold War language.“
The EU has imposed several rounds of sanctions on Russia for its role in the Ukraine crisis, notably economic measures restricting Russian access to European credit markets and European exports. On Tuesday morning, EU leaders in a joint statement tasked their foreign ministers with considering „further restrictive measures“ when they meet on Thursday.

But Tsipras complained to Greek media that his country had not been consulted on the statement. „Greece do not consent,“ a statement by Tsipras‘ office said on Tuesday evening, adding that the announcement from Brussels violated „proper procedure.“
A spokesman for EU President Donald Tusk, who issued the statement on behalf of the leaders, denied that Athens had been sidelined during the preparation of the text. (…)

And whatever happens, please don’t remind Brussels that point 40 of Syriza’s 40 Point Manifesto, (1) aka the „nuclear option“, is „Closure of all foreign bases in Greece and withdrawal from NATO.“

It is so bad that Business New Europe went so far as to ask if the New Greek Government is „Russia’s Trojan horse inside the EU?“
In any event, the European balance of power has just shifted and in a way that nobody anticipated:
The biggest winners: if only for now: Greece and Russia (and, while it will never be admitted, all those Europeans who desperately need the Russian import market).
The biggest losers: all the unelected Eurocrats in Brussels who at this moment are scratching their heads how to bring the bad news that there is no longer unanimity on Russian sanctions to John Kerry, and all thanks to a country nobody thought would dare to speak up. / end

(1) http://www.greanvillepost.com/2012/05/27/the-european-situation-syrizas-program