After G7, Europe Welcomes Vladimir Putin

In sharp contrast to President Obama's frontal attack at the G7 meeting when he called Vladimir Putin out for ruining Russia in his search to recreate the Soviet empire, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi warmly welcomed President Putin when he visited World Expo and the Russian Pavilion today at the start of a high-profile visit to Italy and the Vatican. Renzi's warm welcome came just two days after the G7 threatened tougher sanctions against Russia over Ukraine. The Russian president was greeted by 200 well-wishers waving Russian flags as he arrived for Russia Day at the Milan World Expo 2015 fair. A smiling Putin was welcomed by Italian Prime Minister Renzi, formerly Mayor of Milan, with whom he had bilateral talks followed by a joint press conference, at which President Putin emphasized the longstanding and large-volume trade relations between Russia and Italy, calling them the biggest in Europe today, and reminding Renzi of their 25% reduction because of the sanctions that make Russian-Italian cooperation difficult. Italy has long had an important economic relationship with Russia and political ties were close prior to the Ukraine eruption. Before the Ukraine crisis, Italy was Russia's third-biggest trading partner after China and Germany, with deals amounting to €30 biilion in 2013. Putin noted that there are 2 million Russians in Italy and 200,000 Italians in Russia. Prime Minister Renzi's welcome to Putin was positive, but the Italian leader referred often to the need to honor the Minsk Agreement that would end sanctions on Russia and expand Italian-Russian trade. ~~~~~ Renzi was one of the G7 leaders who signed the Monday warning that the major powers "stand ready to take further restrictive measures to increase cost on Russia should its actions so require." The G7 statement reflects concern about recent increased fighting in eastern Ukraine, where the West accuses Russia of providing military support that gives a great advantage to pro-Moscow rebels who control parts of the Russian-speaking region. Ukraine this week said Russian aid allowed separatist forces in the east to establish a 42,500-strong fighting force. Putin says any Russians fighting alongside the rebels are volunteers "answering a call of the heart." But, today Renzi seemed to be softening the G7 stance by calling for dialogue with Russia to end the Ukraine crisis, saying this is vital not only for Ukraine but also for the conflicts in North Africa and the Middle East, where Russia is a key player. ~~~~~ Putin then traveled on to Rome where an audience with Pope Francis focused on Ukraine amid fears that a fragile ceasefire agreed in February is falling apart. Ukrainian catholics want to hear the Pope say that Russia is behind the trouble in eastern Ukraine. A Ukraine prelate has said that the Pope's comments about Russia sound like "Russian propaganda." The Vatican today called for "a clear commitment and real effort for peace." Francis is undoubtedly focused on meeting Putin in an effort to be a peacemaker between Ukraine and Russia. This would further the goals of the Pope to protect the tiny, somewhat persecuted Russian Roman Catholic community and to bring the Russian Orthodox Catholic Church and its 230 million followers closer to Rome -- all part of Francis's global goal of uniting all Christians in the battle against their persecution and extermination in the Middle East and Asia. But, a Vladimir Putin-Pope Francis rapprochement could not only bring the pieces of the Catholic Church closer togethet. It could also provide Francis with the first visit of a Roman Pope to Orthodox Russia, and provide Putin with significant evidence that his isolation - emphasized by Barack Obama - does not in fact exist in much of the world, especially in areas such as Latin Ametica and Asia where Putin has his own political goal - to isolate America. ~~~~~ Dear readers, the strategic differences between Europe and the United States being highlighted today are not only cultural or religious. They are also economic and political. It is relatively easy for America to use sanctions to try to isolate and weaken Russia into giving up eastern Ukraine and possibly the Crimea. America needs very little from faraway Russia, which permits Barack Obama to play up what he sees as his macho warrior image by means of personal name-calling attacks on the Russian leader. In Europe, Russia is seen very differently -- as a major trading partner and next-door neighbor who could do significant damage to western Europe economically, but also militarily on a continent whose military is no match for Russia's, the US-led NATO excepted. And perhaps Europe is more aware than Obama of Russia's potential for reining in Syria's al-Assad regime and Iran in order to offer to Europe -- separated from the Middle East chaos only by an unpredictable Turkey -- a sense of security that President Obama has miserably failed to provide. The US President's lack of personal engagement and dilitante approach to the Middle East crisis has created many negative collateral results. But, the post-G7 welcome to Russian President Putin by Italy and Pope Francis may be the collateral result least foreseen by Obama and his White House advisors. It may well be that European leaders will quietly trade EU sanctions for a series of accommodations with Putin that not only seals off Ukraine in a no-mans-land between Russia and the European Union, but also seals off President Obama from having any meaningful input into the EU-Russia-Vatican equation. The damage done to American leadership by Barack Obama has not yet played itself out, unfortunately.