Be serious now. If you woke up to Good Morning America and heard Vladimir Putin personally shot JFK with a Makarov pistol from the grassy knoll, would you be surprised? After all, Russia’s president surely rules the world already. And, he’s superhuman, too. He’s survived cancers, brain disorders, Russian uprisings and revolutions. Okay, the uprisings and revolutions were just figments of Washington’s imagination, but the other stuff is real, aren’t they? So, Putin being the cause of European corruption is no surprise.
The latest supervillain feat of Mr. Putin, according to the geniuses at the Atlantic Council, is that he’s set in motion a plan to create crooked Europeans. Or, to be more specific, the Russian superman is now “weaponizing corruption” in order to further weaken the EU. No, really, I am serious. Research assistant Francis Shin reveals, MEPs from France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Poland, and Hungary are crooked, and it’s Putin’s fault!
The story focuses on a Ukrainian political figure named Viktor Medvedchuk, whose biggest mistake has been his opposition to Russophobia. To be more specific, Medvedchuk became a political prisoner once the Zelensky Nazis took over. Labeled “pro-Kremlin” because of his efforts to mediate in Ukraine’s parliament. He was placed under house arrest and then exiled to Russia in a prisoner exchange. Medvedchuk, who led the Opposition Platform — For Life party, was labelled a traitor for basically representing Russian speakers in Ukraine. The regime called him a financier of terrorism. Oh, and he actually did say the EU is just like the Nazi Third Reich. This won him no friends in Washington, and especially not in Berlin.
The whole fuzzy mess revolves around a Czech media outlet called Voice of Europe, which Medvedchuk is supposed to have been a financier of. As most of you realize, alternative or even moderate ideas in opposition to the Fourth Reich, uh, excuse me, Washington’s EU puppets are not desirable. In most cases, these days, ideas about NATO expanding, the Euromaidan being an American coup, or anything that does not paint the Russians as inhuman barbarians – well, you understand. However, the former Ukraine lawyer’s biggest crime was to paint the EU’s most horrific criminal activity correctly. Viktor Medvedchuk was brazen enough to say the EU (and its benefactors) intend to turn Ukraine into a “raw material appendage.” (See Lithium reposits in Donbas for reference)
Anyway, Voice of Europe has since been shuttered, called a propaganda channel, and a hub for transforming good, God-fearing European Union politicians into the mafiosos. Interestingly, or should I say “naturally” – European leaders confirmed that members of the European and national parliaments took cash from the pesky Ruskies and their friends but stopped short of providing names. Well, since we are talking about corrupt EU politicians, I have no problem mentioning names and associations that cannot be blamed on Putin.
How many out there recall the so-called “Qatargate” scandal? This shitstorm led to confessions and plea deals, and Greece’s Eva Kaili was the most prominent name on everyone’s list. Interestingly, she was still getting paid a salary while she wore her electronic bracelet. Unlike Vladimir Putin, Kaili’s life partner and alleged co-conspirator, Francesco Giorgi confessed to being part of an “organisation” used by Qatar and Morocco to influence European policymaking.
Yikes! And they could not include Putin? Others in this affair included three-term socialist MEP, Pier Antonio Panzeri. Niccolò Figà-Talamanca of No Peach Without Justice, Belgian MEP Marc Tarabella, Italian MEP Andrea Cozzolino, and others who were implicated. There are also the shadowy dealings of EU President Ursula von der Leyen (pharmacologicals case). IMF chief boss Christian Legarde, and scores more NOT in any way linked to Russia. But what’s I found most interesting in my studying this corruption topic is how 99% of donations to EU politicians are anonymous!
You read correctly. Nobody knows who gives who millions of euros for what. This Integrity Foundation report is like a blueprint for an organized crime fund. Latvians sidestep regulations, and in one instance in Estonia, Margus Linnamäe, a leading businessman and a top 15 donor in the country, secured over 360 million euros of government contracts. I guess I needn’t go on. Or, I hope my message here is clear. Vladimir Putin is accused of just about anything and everything. Meanwhile, criminal behavior rolls out all over the rest of the world in plain daylight – but no yachts are seized, no billions stolen, and there’s no supervillain focal point for ordinary people to hate on.
Oh, a last piece of advice for Atlantic Council assistants for hunting dirt on Russia. Dig a little deeper, and please stop calling the kettle black.
Phil Butler, is a policy investigator and analyst, a political scientist and expert on Eastern Europe, he’s an author of the recent bestseller “Putin’s Praetorians” and other books. He writes exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.