ABSTRACT
WMM vilification of the Russian President Vladimir Putin approached absurdity with coverage of the “Panama Papers” tax avoidance scandal in April 2016 that they spearheaded with false insinuations of Putin’s involvement. Putin’s name was not mentioned in records of tax evasion from the law firm Mossack Fonseca and released by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) (Harding 2016). The significance of Putin’s possible ties to Russians who were mentioned was sketchy in the extreme and much less important than the involvement of US, British, Chinese and other oligarchs globally. In short, the Ukraine crisis had helped reignite Cold War tensions, accentuating fears of nuclear confrontation, whether planned or accidental. A former NATO Deputy Supreme Allied Commander predicted that Russia would attack NATO in 2017 (Robinson 2016). In May, NATO deployed the Aegis Ashore ballistic missile defense system in Romania and planned a further deployment in Poland in 2018. Russia protested that such systems are anything but “defensive” since they qualify as launch areas for US missiles. NATO forces engaged in large-scale military exercises close to the Russian border in Poland and in Ukraine in June. Meanwhile, Russia tested prototypes of the S-500 Prometey air and missile defense system capable of destroying ICBMs, hypersonic cruise missiles and up to ten ballistic missile warheads before these should re-enter the atmosphere (Escobar 2016). Russia’s economy was damaged significantly by EU and US sanctions (which, together with Russian sanctions, also negatively impacted European and Ukrainian economies). Yet, increased self-sufficiency boosted the prospects for longer-term recovery with less debt. Russia benefited from a modest recovery of global oil prices. Ukrainian, US and EU obstacles to Russian ambitions to supply more oil and gas to Europe and beyond were partly circumvented with the help of German collaboration and improved relations with Turkey. Internal conflict erupted within the EU and NATO over whether sanctions against Russia should be maintained (they were renewed until the end of 2016), and whether Russia constituted any kind of real threat to Europe. The United Kingdom’s dramatic “Brexit” vote in June augured the possible disintegration of the EU, opening the door to better relations between Russia and Europe at the expense of US maneuvers for Eurasian domination. Russia and China consolidated political, industrial and trading ties.
