by Gordon Duff with Press TV, Tehran
The suspected plot of the US and Germany against Russia will not work and is likely to backfire since Moscow can turn the gas tap off on Berlin, a political commentator says.
Gordon Duff, a senior editor at VT, said in an interview with Press TV on Saturday the idea that US President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are plotting against Russian President Vladimir Putin will produce nothing, adding:
“The Germans are running entirely on natural gas that comes from Russia. Very simply Putin can turn the gas tap off.” Duff stated that the Germans will not be able to heat their homes and all of their industry is run on the Russian gas.
On Friday, Obama discussed the escalating Ukraine crisis with Merkel. The two leaders called on Russia to withdraw its troops from Ukraine’s Crimea region and establish a contact group to hold direct talks with the Ukrainian government.
“The leaders reiterated their grave concern over Russia’s clear violation of international law through its military intervention in Ukraine,” the White House said in a statement.
Duff said, “The idea of the Russian forces that are currently in Sevastopol and in the surrounding Crimea…that’s a violation of international law, as Obama said, according to his lawyers, it’s simply not true.”
Commenting on the US president’s recent belligerent statements against Russia over Ukraine, the Veteran analyst said, “Obama is only doing what he needs to do, to appear to be standing up to the Russians. [But] the US is not militarily prepared to try over Ukraine.”
Washington has sent US fighter jets to allied countries located near Ukraine, imposed visa restrictions on Russians, ordered sanctions on individuals it said were involved in the Russian military intervention in Ukraine and condemned a proposed referendum in Crimea to break away from Ukraine and join Russia.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Duff said that there have been “some gross misrepresentations about Ukraine.”
“The Russian-speaking population is far larger than they claim… 40 percent of the country is Russian background, Russian speaking — a similar area with a slightly larger population is the Ukrainian background, much of the population, as it should be expected, is entirely mixed culture,” he said.
A political crisis erupted in Ukraine in November 2013 after the country’s ousted president, Viktor Yanukovych, refrained from signing the Association Agreement with the European Union in favor of closer ties with Russia.
On February 23, the Ukrainian parliament ousted Yanukovych and named anti-Kremlin Oleksandr Turchynov, the legislature’s newly-elected speaker, as interim president.
Gordon Duff posted articles on VT from 2008 to 2022. He is a Marine combat veteran of the Vietnam War. A disabled veteran, he worked on veterans and POW issues for decades.
Gordon is an accredited diplomat and is generally accepted as one of the top global intelligence specialists. He manages the world’s largest private intelligence organization and regularly consults with governments challenged by security issues.
Duff has traveled extensively, is published around the world, and is a regular guest on TV and radio in more than “several” countries. He is also a trained chef, wine enthusiast, avid motorcyclist, and gunsmith specializing in historical weapons and restoration. Business experience and interests are in energy and defense technology.
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