Canada´s PM Stephen Harper: There is no return for Putin´s Russia to G7

While Barack Obama has been strangely silent on this, Canada´s PM Stephen Harper hits the right note:

"I don't think Russia under Vladimir Putin belongs in the G7. Period," Harper told the Associated Press. "Canada would very, very strongly oppose Putin ever sitting around that table again. It would require consensus to bring Russia back and that consensus will just not happen."
The G7 suspended Russia from the grouping of leading industrialized nations following its annexation of Ukraine's Crimea last March, but has not ruled out a possible return under changed circumstances.
Harper, who is to visit Kyiv for talks with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk before heading to Bavaria for the G7 summit, said there was no room for conciliation with the Kremlin in light of the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula and its alleged support of pro-Russia separatists fighting government troops in eastern Ukraine.
"This is a country that has shown a willingness to invade its neighbors, to actually seize territory that does not belong to it, and so I don't think we should take this escalation of a hostile military posture lightly. It needs to be treated seriously," said Harper, whose country is home to more than one million people of Ukrainian heritage.

The G8 meeting in Enniskillen

I have not yet seen the final Enniskillen G8 statement, but it would be miracle if would be anything else than empty words. The problem with G8 is that there should not be a G8 at all - the original G7 should never have been expanded. The inclusion of dictator Vladimir Putin's Russia was a huge mistake. The thug in charge of Russia is now in a position to block any sensible agreements. 

Likewise, it was a mistake - although a fairly harmless one - to allow the unelected EU "president" to be present at these meetings. The haiku poet himself is of course celebrating his presence on Twitter, by publishing a "family photo" as proof of participation. Maybe Barack, Vladimir and the others even called him Herman!

Herman Van Rompuy ‏@euHvR1h

Family photo #G8 pic.twitter.com/vDXpMMczIA

 Hide photo

•  Reply 
•  Retweet 
•  Favorite