Readiness of the former Federal Chancellor of Germany Gerhard Schroeder to join the board of directors of Rosneft caused a natural outcry in the political circles of Germany. Schroeder recalled about himself and his Kremlin ties just before the parliamentary elections in Germany. The Social Democrats, whose last chancellor was a Russian mercenary, are trying to fight the CDU, Chancellor Angela Merkel's party. And another reminder of the ties of the party establishment with the Kremlin they absolutely do not need.

And this is a reminder of the ties of the party establishment, and not about Schroder himself. Many leaders of the SPD have repeatedly demonstrated their readiness to understand the Kremlin's interests. And, of course, they explained this their readiness with ideology and the desire to preserve peace in Europe.

But the Schroeder case proves superbly that it's not a matter of ideology or the world. Schroeder's cat is money. The former Federal Chancellor is cooperating with Russia not in any centers for the protection of peace and for the support of civil society. No, Schroeder is used exactly where you can earn. So it was with the projects of Gazprom and so it happens with Rosneft.

The problem of many representatives of the Western elites is that instead of introducing civilized rules of the game into the Russian game, they themselves chose to live according to Russian rules. Simply put - by the rules of obtaining huge amounts of money without any effort and value constraints. You could call these rules the rules of the "zone" and banditry. But in fact - given the official origin of Schroeder's employers, these are the rules of the Gulag.

Schroeder is a servant of the camp economy. Western politicians who want to negotiate with Russia without changing their approaches to politics, who want to conclude a "deal" - supporters of dictatorship and obscurantism. And no position for which they are elected by a trustful voter can protect them from recognizing this simple fact.

You can be President, Chancellor and Minister. But if you support Putin, then sooner or later you will be in "Gazprom".

Original.