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BLOOMBERG NEWS---"German Chancellor Angela Merkel has a portrait on her desk of Russian empress Catherine the Great, the Prussian-born princess who went on to expand Russia’s territory to the west and the south, including Crimea.


As President Vladimir Putin tests Europe’s resolve during the crisis over Ukraine, Merkel’s admiration for Catherine hints at the complex ties binding Germany and Russia together that give her sway over Putin yet constrain her response.

Merkel, who once told German television that Catherine had “accomplished many things under difficult circumstances,” has telephoned with Putin at least three times in the past week alone.

That diplomacy reflects her role as the key conduit between east and west.


“The German government wants to avoid drastic EU measures or sanctions on Russia,” Fredrik Erixon, director of the European Centre for International Political Economy in Brussels, said in an interview. “The main casualties of such moves would be German companies exporting to Russia or those in Russia.”

WB7--Damn, now ain't dat some reaaaal politique!

 


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"Yekaterina Alexeevna or Catherine II, also known as Catherine the Great , Yekaterina II Velikaya; German: Katharina die Große; 2 May [O.S. 21 April] 1729 – 17 November [O.S. 6 November] 1796), was the most renowned and the longest-ruling female leader of Russia, reigning from 9 July [O.S. 28 June] 1762 until her death in 1796 at the age of sixty-seven.

Her reign was called Russia's golden age. She was born in Stettin, Pomerania, Prussia as Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg, and came to power following a coup d'état and the assassination of her husband, Peter III, at the end of the Seven Years' War.

Russia was revitalized under her reign, growing larger and stronger than ever and becoming recognized as one of the great powers of Europe.
In both her accession to power and in rule of her empire, Catherine often relied on her noble favourites, most notably Grigory Orlov and Grigory Potemkin. Assisted by highly successful generals such as Pyotr Rumyantsev and Alexander Suvorov, and admirals such as Fyodor Ushakov, she governed at a time when the Russian Empire was expanding rapidly by conquest and diplomacy. In the south, the Crimean Khanate was crushed following victories over the Ottoman Empire in the Russo-Turkish wars, and Russia colonised the vast territories of Novorossiya along the coasts of the Black and Azov Seas.

In the west, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, ruled by Catherine's former lover, king Stanis?aw August Poniatowski, was eventually partitioned, with the Russian Empire gaining the largest share.

In the east, Russia started to colonise Alaska, establishing Russian America.

Catherine reformed the administration of Russian guberniyas, and many new cities and towns were founded on her orders. An admirer of Peter the Great, Catherine continued to modernise Russia along Western European lines. However, military conscription and economy continued to depend on serfdom, and the increasing demands of the state and private landowners led to increased levels of reliance on serfs.

This was one of the chief reasons behind several rebellions, including the large-scale Pugachev's Rebellion of cossacks and peasants.

The period of Catherine the Great's rule, the Catherinian Era, is often considered the Golden Age of the Russian Empire and the Russian nobility."

From Wikipedia

WB7:

Ask any Pole what he or she thinks of Catherine the Great.

History Quiz:

And where do you think the land of the Cossacks is?

Hint:


 

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The Russian Empire circa 1801

 

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The United States Circa 1808

 


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If Russians knew how to read, they would write me off.--Catherine The Great.

WB7--Don't worry, they most certainly know how to read.

 

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Bloomberg Link: Here

 

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Thu, 03/06/2014 - 14:37 | 4517530 news printer
news printer's picture

Merkel was born Angela Dorothea Kasner in Hamburg, West Germany, the daughter of Horst Kasner (1926–2011),[12][13] a native of Berlin, and his wife Herlind, born in 1928 in Danzig (now Gda?sk, Poland) as Herlind Jentzsch, a teacher of English and Latin. Her mother was once a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany.[14] Merkel has Polish ancestry through her paternal grandfather, Ludwig Ka?mierczak, a German national[15] of Polish origin.[16] Her grandfather had been a soldier in the Polish Blue Army in 1918, participating in the struggle for Polish independence. He took his German-born fiancée Margarethe with him to Poznan, and they later settled in Berlin, where he worked as a policeman and the family changed their Polish name Ka?mierczak to Kasner in 1930.[17][18]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angela_Merkel

@WB7

As long as i read Your "column" , this is a 2nd or 3rd time U mention Poles.

You must be of romantic nature just like they are.

Thu, 03/06/2014 - 15:47 | 4518192 williambanzai7
williambanzai7's picture

There is something to be said about chivalry and codes of honor, excluding the dueling part ;-) There is a great movie about that called "The Duelist."

Thu, 03/06/2014 - 13:38 | 4517408 toadold
toadold's picture

Sex with animals in the White House?  Vlad and company are probably watching the recordings of that.

Quick! Somebody send a jack mule to Merkel. 

Old Joke:  "With one German you have a good worker, with two Germans a Broderbund, three Germans an invasion of Poland."

Thu, 03/06/2014 - 13:00 | 4517194 optimator
optimator's picture

William, where's that picture of Catherine and retinue strolling by a Potemkin Village?

Thu, 03/06/2014 - 13:26 | 4517330 williambanzai7
williambanzai7's picture

It seems that we are the ones running the Portemkin scam no these days. They call it Blackstone Village ;-)

Thu, 03/06/2014 - 13:31 | 4517363 the grateful un...
the grateful unemployed's picture

China is a huge Potemkin village. run for the benefit of financial oligarchs who want to change the world in their image

Thu, 03/06/2014 - 13:52 | 4517475 williambanzai7
williambanzai7's picture

Perhaps, but I can assure you there are many things in China that would totally floor you.

All you see is the empty apartments, which are held for investment, just like all the empty Chinese owned flats in London.  

When I travel around China, the empty flats is the last thing I notice. I remember laughing at all the vacant space in the Pudong side of Shanghai 10 years ago, space which is now bustling.

Go and check it out for yourself.

Thu, 03/06/2014 - 14:43 | 4517837 the grateful un...
the grateful unemployed's picture

i'm sure there's a real china just like there's a real russia, (and a real america) i was telling a friend before you buy a home in a development you must check the neighbors, see how many of them are titles held by a bank, how many are on section 8, many of these places look great, but inside they are ghost towns, a monument to bernankes asset reflation policies.

two things happened in CA, the state redevelopment program caused a glut of commercial property to come on the market, its the housing markets equivalent of channel stuffing, and drug growers were using commercial property as a front to launder cash. one suspects the restaurant franchise corporations are a wall street conduit for illegal drug money. buy one of these franchises and push drug money through the till. this is why the growers and sellers are against legalization. obama wants the wall street banks to start lending money to growers, drugs are big business and he is americas drug lord, or money lord if you prefer.

and china like mexico profits from americas drug habit, but a great cost. i feel pretty certain that the us stock market would fall in half if you took away everyones antidepressants for a week. hopium isn't just a phrase, its a real problem and part of the real reason people spend money they don't have and act irresponsibly. and most of this business now is controlled by big pharma, and their drugs do not replace the need for recreational drugs, they are gateways to stronger pot and heroin.

america is ovemedicated out of its fucking mind most of the time. thats one reason guys like obama get elected, and they say the damned things which any right thinking person goes WTF. i'm sure the real chinese are doing things, but its only a shadow of what the overall numbers are saying their economy is really doing. just like the real economy in america is a way scaled down version of bernankes economy. but give us some more dope and we'll go into debt again.

 

 

Thu, 03/06/2014 - 12:49 | 4517144 the grateful un...
the grateful unemployed's picture

Its hard for Americans to understand this sort of history, because everything we have was taken from someone else. Recently the tribe in Montana which was blocking the DNA research into some 10000 year old bones, relented, and the research establishes a DNA link between those early native americans and europeans. all one big carousel ride.

Thu, 03/06/2014 - 09:44 | 4516245 blindman
blindman's picture

Eddie And The Hot Rods - Get Out Of Denver
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxgQjQ4eRQ4

Thu, 03/06/2014 - 08:42 | 4516054 Independent
Independent's picture

LOL Banzai you probably have a task force in the White House with the sole mission to find you and well lets just say I hope you dont drive a late model Mercedes my friend.

Thu, 03/06/2014 - 09:18 | 4516151 williambanzai7
williambanzai7's picture

Fri, 03/07/2014 - 21:53 | 4523752 ShakaZulu
ShakaZulu's picture

I want this hanging on my front door when the invasion of USSA begins.

Thu, 03/06/2014 - 13:56 | 4517503 Bear
Bear's picture

Best Ever

Thu, 03/06/2014 - 11:04 | 4516591 machineh
machineh's picture

Ah ha ha ha ... killah!

Banzai7 Faux Cyrillic for the YES WE CAN caption would complete the look.

Thu, 03/06/2014 - 10:55 | 4516547 Dewey Cheatum Howe
Dewey Cheatum Howe's picture

Putin - knock knock

Obama - who's there?

Putin - Crimea

Obama - Crimea who?

Putin - Crimea river

Thu, 03/06/2014 - 13:28 | 4517343 the grateful un...
the grateful unemployed's picture

Obama: Knock Knock

Putin: Who's there?

Obama: Crimea

Putin: Crimea who?

Obama: Crimea doesn't pay.

Putin: I know, they owe me a billion dollars

Obama: We'll stand up for their debt.

Putin: I would sell you one of Mother Russia's children for a billion dollars? Your central bank prints 85 times that amount every month, out of thin air for your capitalist stock market. You think you can take over the world by printing money and buying things?

Obama: pause. (muffled voices - He's not as stupid as we think, John)

Putin: Crimea doesn't pay and neither do you.

Obama: We have gold.

Putin: Angela tells me something else.

Obama: Last chance to avoid sanctions.

Putin: A billion of your American fiat dollars. Send Bob Kraft over and let me look at them.

Obama: Okay we'll send them on consignment. We've got plenty more. Keep them as a gift.

Putin: Thank you BEEAARR-acchhh. finally Crimea does pay.

 

 

Thu, 03/06/2014 - 09:47 | 4516257 ptoemmes
ptoemmes's picture

Now that should be emailed - if not posted to - whitehouse.gov

Thu, 03/06/2014 - 05:27 | 4515818 williambanzai7
williambanzai7's picture

Uprising 1863

Thu, 03/06/2014 - 03:55 | 4515744 Aquarius
Aquarius's picture

The First Front of Buddhism was introduced to the World into Northern India and Persian, far West Asian and Egypt regions, Circa 10,000 BCE by the Shaman of Siberia and preceeded the Brahims and earlier Burmans; far earlier than the Empire of Rama.

Ho hum

Thu, 03/06/2014 - 09:05 | 4516116 TweedleDeeDooDah
TweedleDeeDooDah's picture

What, exactly, is the "First Front of Buddhism"? Wasn't "The" Buddha born sometime around around 550 BC?

Just wondering what you're referring to...

Thu, 03/06/2014 - 09:06 | 4516115 TweedleDeeDooDah
TweedleDeeDooDah's picture

Double post, sorry...

Thu, 03/06/2014 - 01:10 | 4515548 janus
janus's picture

wowzah, WB!!!

one of your absolute best posts.

nothing for now save praise.

 

Wed, 03/05/2014 - 23:08 | 4515138 Comrade de Chaos
Comrade de Chaos's picture

'And where do you think the land of the Cossacks is?'

 

There were Ukrainian Cossacks and Russian Cossacks. Major fraction of Ukrainian Cossacks decided to join Russia, since at the time (17 century) it was believed to be a lesser foe compared to Ottoman Empire and Polish kingdom. Later, starting with Peter the 1 st, Ukrainian cossacks were dissolved. At the same time, Russian Cossacks movements were formed and were send to the territory in between Moscow and Siberia  to be used as a buffer and as an extension force to expend the territory of Russian kingdom (not empire yet.)

 

Currently, most of what Russians want is a certain degree of respect. And since our idiotic politicians fail to see such a simple fact, a fraction similar to our Neo Cons has too much power in there. And the more Western world differentiates Europe vs Russia in between us and them, the more radical Russian government will be.

 

Finally, a funny fact, Ukraine in the last ten years has been much more corrupt and lawless than Russia. And one of the main reasons is that Ukrainian branch of communist party was more corrupt and interconnected than their counterparts in Russia.  

Thu, 03/06/2014 - 02:51 | 4515666 janus
janus's picture

dude, janus can totally hear your accent as he reads...not that i disagree with anything you're saying; but, understand, you're writing to an audience that's read everything of Doestoevsky, Tolstoy, Chekhov, Soltzenietzen (sp? gulag archipeligo and ivan denisovitch guy) and many others.

you may be a citizen; if so, forgive me...and, even so, i say to you das vidanya (sp?...again -- and, btw, your language has far too many consonants.)

all that being said, i'm starting to smell partition in the ukraine.  a save-face for the west and a rook captured clear and safe by putin's knight; his knight is still hemmed in by pawns, and he's left is near-southeastern flank vulnerable.  everybody, even the cia, can walk away with something.

this leaves only israel and saudi and qutar dissatisfied.  and it's well-nigh time they tip back the bitter cup. 

beyond all that, and whatever this says about me, continental europe means far more than anything else at play.  and if we play hasty and hubritic in this morass, we'll see the nordics politely and cordially take a big step away from NATO; and nobody, not even putin, wants that.  except maybe the germans, who're lookin for any available excuse to cleave some wedge betwixt theirs and our tomfoolery; they have serious concerns over america's incoherent and slap-happy US foreign policy. and, well, i'll tell you all, they should. 

i've long stood solidly opposed to this nonsense of governing by deception; but coupling juvenile incompetence with third-rate duplicity is taking it all a bit too far.  

we've got at least two and a half more years of this, and nothing in the way of viable prospects in the offing.  i'm starting to feel that nausea particular to ominous dread...putin is staring at charts & maps and slowly stroking his chin; obama is tweeting sweet nothings to his bffs and updating the likes on his facebook page. 

at this point, all we can do is flood the russian market with cheap meth and even cheaper heroin; equip the chechnians with more advanced equps.. coms, sams and bombs; print as many counterfeit rubles as we can channel into mother russia's every oraface; attempt to provoke putin into over-reaction in some remote provincial backwater; energy-sector sabotage; break the russian bond on the international market; crush wti to sub $75; give china the bribe their ginning for...all of this...all of this and still, i don't know what effect it may have on putin's next move and at what point he's willing to withdraw.  it would take highly skilled, deft and convincingly firm diplomacy to discover putin's point of inflexibility -- and, sad to say, america's running short on such these days. 

so, in the very short term, we're gonna lose a lot in europe to putin and another nugget of africa will now fall to the han in bejing. 

i can at this point blame democracy only; that means you, you half-witted amorican voter.

imagine if Catherine The Great had to deal with some doltish lot of congressmen and senators, and, God forbid, presidents.  a pox on the whole  of they and the annoying members of their families (and i mean a memorable one, complete with unsightly whelps and alarming temperatures)!

look, gentlemen, it is inevitable that russia's gonna supply europe with energy...it's over-land transmission.  europe can readily recognize the tangible benefits (and obvious advantage of more secure transmission) of such an arrangement.  that's good for us and persia (at least to my way of thinking -- again, i believe the oil rumors viz. sauid to be true); and this is bad only for saudi and others to whom, frankly, we owe nothing.  as if opec has been america's friend.  they've been a very good friend to the 30year T-note...but america?

and all the while, we want to block the construction of keystone?  shut down coal-fired plants?  divert oil to ethanol?  who benefits most from what is the most managed of all 'markets' -- petro?  saudi and russia.  which of these will instantly collapse with a precipitous fall in its price? 

now, which nations benefit most from a substantial fall in the price of oil?  i'll give you a hint; most of you are living in it.  cheap and abundant energy is the most elemental ingredient of economic vitality; especially in the age of a hydro-carbon economy; and most especially in a nation that consumes far more of the molecules per capita than any other. 

look, whether or not the 'american way' is 'sustainable' (assuming all the world's seven billion are 'entitled to live in a similar fashion) is sorta beside the point.  i doubt that many have truly considered the enormity of what an across-the-board collapse of our economic system would entail.  yes, i do believe in collapsing several elements of it; but, at the same time, i don't want this land to spiral into some neighbor v. neighbor death-scrap for all of what's left.  my greatest fear is that the worst parts of what runs america will be able to retain their sway until half-past the midnight hour; when all that's left to do is sweep up the scrap steel and copper threaded across this land.

and i don't exaggerate nor do i mean to by this alarm; but i do, most assuredly, believe that far too many of the most influential positions in this country (whether they be political, financial, legal or martial) are chaired by persons who passionately do labor to harm and destroy this nation...more than any slavic commie could'a ever.  and it seems as if the rest are occupied by persons who think extracting maximum efficiency for the benefit of the stock holders of amorica inc. is the only alternative good.  

we function under a system where neo-fascists and neo-commies compromise for each others benefit and always at our expense; and it's harder and harder to know which is which.

fuck it...it's late...i need to go to bed...sometimes i just want to move to the carribbean, do as little as possible for a living, and think even less about it.

janus 

Thu, 03/06/2014 - 10:36 | 4516472 dontgoforit
dontgoforit's picture

Kruschev beatng on the podium at the UN, "We will bury you!"  Grinning all the while.  Yeah - so it's taken a generation but they've made significant inroads.  obama seems to be the Manchurian Candidate.

Wed, 03/05/2014 - 23:26 | 4515227 williambanzai7
williambanzai7's picture

Our idiotic Politicians have absolutely zero comprehensionof what is going on. They are just following orders.

And the people sending the orders are once again.

It seems the crime spree of the past six years was not enough to satisfy them.

As we all know very well, corruption and cronyism manifests itself in many different ways. What is cronyism in and industrial/agrarian economy is similar but very different to what you will find in a financialized economy such as our own.

And brother, we sure have found it.

Wed, 03/05/2014 - 22:36 | 4515043 MrSteve
MrSteve's picture

Her death by being crushed by a horse in sex-gone-wrong is one of history's greatest tales of regal perversion.

Thu, 03/06/2014 - 13:00 | 4517191 RabbitChow
RabbitChow's picture

I was wondering when anyone would mention that.

Thu, 03/06/2014 - 08:19 | 4515982 GetZeeGold
GetZeeGold's picture

 

 

Wow.....those guys really are party animals.

Wed, 03/05/2014 - 22:31 | 4514983 ShakaZulu
ShakaZulu's picture

Face like a queen.

 

http://tinyurl.com/mzuo3wr

Wed, 03/05/2014 - 22:18 | 4514966 whatthecurtains
whatthecurtains's picture

"The United States Circa 1908"

I think you mean the Circa 1809.  Otherwise sumthing wrong wid my history

Wed, 03/05/2014 - 22:36 | 4515042 williambanzai7
williambanzai7's picture

Tnx

Thu, 03/06/2014 - 09:12 | 4516128 crunchyfrog
crunchyfrog's picture

Actually pre-1804. Those are the original boundaries before the Louisiana purchase which happened in 1804. One could count states to get a fairly precise date. After 1804 the USA looked much more respectable vs the Russian Empire.

 

ETA Tenn became a state in 1796, Louisiana acquired in 1804. There's your window.

Wed, 03/05/2014 - 22:17 | 4514960 ShakaZulu
ShakaZulu's picture

Watched an interesting movie entitled "The Horde."  A Russian made movie on the mongol invasion.  Americans ignorance of history (mine included) is monumental.  I sat down and estimated that considering 80 years an average generation then my Polish ancestors fought the mongols only 8 generations ago.

 

I will welcome our new Overlords with a pack of Marlboros and a bottle of Jack Daniels.  They will be good Americans in one generation.  

Wed, 03/05/2014 - 22:39 | 4515056 williambanzai7
williambanzai7's picture

I highly recommend "The Trilogy" by Henryk Szynkiewicz. Entertaining reading and very informative.

For the Poles, the region known as the Steppe was their equivalent to our "Wild West"

Thu, 03/06/2014 - 08:34 | 4516024 BearTrap
BearTrap's picture

Greetings from Poland, WB7. Nice to see a foreigner mention "The Trilogy". Just a small correction -- the author's name is Henryk Sienkiewicz.

Thu, 03/06/2014 - 09:20 | 4516141 williambanzai7
williambanzai7's picture

Not at 5 AM its not ;-) I am sure history is rhyming in Poland this week.

Thu, 03/06/2014 - 02:47 | 4515658 ShakaZulu
ShakaZulu's picture

Looks like a good read. I enjoyed reading Michener's "Poland."

Wed, 03/05/2014 - 22:16 | 4514952 williambanzai7
williambanzai7's picture

Thu, 03/06/2014 - 10:01 | 4516312 kaiserhoff
kaiserhoff's picture

Neighhhh, Bonzai;)

I have it on good authority that no horses were involved.

It was a mule.

Wed, 03/05/2014 - 22:33 | 4515031 ShakaZulu
ShakaZulu's picture

In her majesty's secret service.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lb4asEv4jz8

Thu, 03/06/2014 - 10:18 | 4516379 old naughty
old naughty's picture

Interesting stuff, WB. ++

 

Merkel's admiration for Catherine the Great;

of course she does, Catherine was born a German princess, no?

So, a bit of cozy history with Russia... 

Thu, 03/06/2014 - 10:25 | 4516411 dontgoforit
dontgoforit's picture

I wonder what she thinks of Hillary?

Thu, 03/06/2014 - 12:44 | 4517125 0b1knob
0b1knob's picture

Catherine the Great had a special haness that allowed her to have sex with horses.   It is unknown what whe wouyld have thought about horse face Kerry.

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