That Proverbial Molehill According To Moscow

"We are having a discussion on the shared interests of the Western democratic world. Mr. Putin, who is in no way part of that, has no place at the table, and I don't believe there's any leader who would defend Mr. Putin having a place."
"I came of the view, some time before the invasion of Ukraine, that his presence at the table of the G7 was not productive -- in fact was inhibiting the kinds of discussions, the kinds of co-operation we could be having on a broad range of international issues." 
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper -- G7 summit, Schloss Elmau, Germany

"I don't want to offend anyone, but if the United States says Russia should be returned to the G8, the prime minister will change his opinion."
Russian President Vladimir Putin -- St.Petersburg International Economic Forum

Putin said that sanctions against Russia have hurt the global economy, not just his own country. (Alexander Zemlianichenko/Reuters)

The influential group of nations which morphed from the G7 to welcome Russia expanding the group to the G8, by general consensus returned to the G7 designation after Moscow appropriated part of Ukraine's geography by annexing the Crimean Peninsula last March. Russian authorities shrugged at the decision claiming Russia would continue to interact with members of the group.

Last month German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the only head of state of the G7 to remain in regular contact with Mr. Putin, stated that Russia would be welcomed to rejoin the group only if Moscow decided to respect the values of the G7; values as fundamental as freedom, democracy and adherence to respect for the territorial sovereignty of all nations.

That represents two members of the G7 heard from with respect to how they view the legitimacy of Moscow's actions respecting Ukraine, taking into account the clandestine arming of ethnic Russian Ukrainian rebels and the presence of Russia's military within Ukraine and massed along its border; using intimidation, force and threats disguised as cooperation to manipulate the rebels into a better position to continue destabilizing Ukraine, with a view to taking the country back into the Russian orbit.

Despite which, it would appear that Russia is making plans to rejoin the G8. If other members continue to resist that inevitability, Mr. Putin feels assured that pressure from the Obama White House will bring resisters into line. Russian authorities, it would seem, appear convinced they are on the cusp of achieving a deal between the Washington and Moscow to welcome Mr. Putin at the next summit, simply waving away the two summits that he missed attending, because he had been disinvited, as it were.

An acutely accommodating White House, it would appear, seems prepared to waive consensus and exert the heft of power and leadership. If it can be held to be leadership when the most influential and powerful leader of the free world is prepared to concede to an autocratic aggressor that though he has orchestrated an internationally illegal occupation of another country's resources, all will be forgiven in the greater interests of achieving harmony, however lopsided that might appear to many.

President Obama, the great Nobel Laureate conciliator living up to his peace prize, seems to have nestled himself with some comfort into the game plans advanced by Vladimir Putin, be it forgiveness of Syrian war crimes, accepting Iran's arguments of nuclear entitlements, and the Russian propaganda that Crimea historically belongs to Russia in any event, as though the shooting down of a passenger airliner with the death of all aboard, the chemical bombing of Syrian Sunni citizens, the threat of nuclear warheads, are mere details to the greater gift of being nice and choosing diplomacy.

Just as sanctions will be relaxed for Iran freeing up billions to enable it to continue funding terrorist groups and get on with its nuclear file, sanctions hobbling Russia's full thrust toward conventional and nuclear weapons updates will also be relaxed as a good will gesture to a country whom its neighbours are unjustifiably paranoid about, and whose intentions are only those of a peace-loving, friendly regional powerhouse.