Neo-con Geopoliticians Try to Harass Pro-Russian Circles of German Industry

May 21 (LPAC) - Parallel to, and in the wake of, the Samara EU-Russia Summit, attacks on pro-Russian currents in German industry have occurred. For example, Ruhr Coal AG, Germany's coal-mining conglomerate, is attacked by the Northrhine-Westphalian state government, led by neo-con CDU man Juergen Ruettgers, for holding talks on joint ventures with Russia's Gazprom. RAG struck back, telling Ruettgers that Gazprom is as good a potential partner as any other firm, and there is no reason to call off a planned RAG-Gazprom industry summit in the end of June (as Ruhr region news dailies and news wires reported, May 19-21). Ruettgers, also vice chairman of the CDU party of neo-con Chancellor Angela Merkel, is known for preferring coal deals with cartels of the British Commonwealth, instead of deals with Russian firms. RAG is chaired by Werner Mueller, a former economics minister under Merkel's predecessor as chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder.

In this context of economic warfare over relations to Russia, note (as reported in the Finanznachrichten newsletter, Germany, May 21) that the recent joint ventures, with mutual asset swaps, between Magna (Canada), Basic Elements (Russia) and AvtoVaz (Russia), which have been attacked in the media as "Russian raids into western business," have been prepared by a number of prominent mediators, including Klaus Mangold (chairman of German industry's Trade with the East division, Ostausschuss) and Franz Vranitzky (former Austrian Prime Minister). In Germany, Mangold stands for the continuation of the pro-Russia policy of former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, and for that, he has been under attack from neo-con sympathizers among German industry managers. In spite of that opposition, Mangold pushed through a statement of his Ostausschuss, on the eve of the Samara Summit, which calls for progress in aerospace tech, transport and research, in relations with Russia despite the many problems that exist.