A new ice age?
More Russian strategic activity has found a prominent place in the UK media. The story is, in some ways, very funny.""This isn't the 15th Century," Canadian Foreign Minister Peter MacKay told the CTV channel. "You can't go around the world and just plant flags and say 'We're claiming this territory'," he said."
It is also unsurprising: Putin has been quite consistent in taking steps to increase Russian influence over the acquisition and distribution of natural resources.
Of more interest is the pattern of reportage in the British media. Russia has been taken more seriously here, it would seem, since the assassination of Litvinenko. Compare this relatively low key article about the Russia-Georgia gas standoff, from a couple of weeks before Litvinenko's death with this article in German publication Spiegel right back on 4th September 2006. It will be interesting to see how both Britain and the EU proceed - there have already been signs of Britain adopting a confrontation stance in diplomatic circles.
1 Comments:
Maybe more important than the assasination of Litvinenko was the Russian government refusing to renew the license for the BP-subsidiary operating in the north-ewast in May (the operation has now passed to a Russian company). This kind of thing is what is really concerning the British government. And the media follow in line with the briefings they recieve from the foreign office.
Could very easily get much uglier unless the Foreign Office treads carefully (which it hasn't been in the last few weeks).
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