VIDEO: Europe Rejects Tough Russia Sanctions Despite Anger Over #MH17

The Europeans aren't ready to declare economic warfare on Russia, despite the growing evidence of Moscow's role in the attack on Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17.

The Netherlands, who lost almost 200 souls in the attack, is Russia's biggest importer, and the French have no plans to halt shipment of two Mistral-class helicopter carriers to Russia.

The New York Times reports, "Despite Anger Over Downed Jetliner, Europe Shies Away From Sanctions on Russia":

AMSTERDAM — In cafes across the Netherlands a new Cold War with Russia had already erupted. “We have to draw a line somewhere,” said Meindert van der Kaaij, a silver-haired journalist, lamenting over beers those who died on Flight 17, 193 of them from the Netherlands.

“We must say something.” Russia, everybody agreed, was the real culprit. “What can we do?” Niels Romijn, a civil servant, snapped back.

“We must be realistic; there is just not much we can do.”

t was a mirror image of the debate that unfolded in bland diplomatic language in Brussels, where foreign ministers of the European Union’s 28 member states were under pressure to display resolve and common purpose after the downing of the Malaysia Airlines jet over eastern Ukraine. In the end, there was plenty of tough talk, yet no real punishment for Russia despite calls from Australia, Britain and the United States, who have all accused Russia of supplying the missile that brought down Flight 17, to take a tougher line.

Despite widespread anger over the plane’s downing, European nations have shied away from measures that would further isolate Russia. Dependent on Russian gas and oil, wary of confrontation on the Continent and alive to the fact of Russia’s proximity, Europe’s leaders have largely decided they will have to live with a newly assertive Russia.

“Almost every European state has voluntarily handed over power to Mr. Putin, allowing him to play countries against each other,” said Marietje Schaake, an influential member of the European Parliament. “We should choose for energy independency, for principles, human rights and rule of law. But that is not what we are doing now.”

At Tuesday’s meeting, the foreign ministers agreed to draw up a new, broader list of targets for sanctions, including Russian individuals and entities, said Catherine Ashton, the European Union’s foreign affairs chief.

But no new additional measures were imposed, reflecting fears among some Europeans that tougher sanctions would invite reprisals by Russia against countries dependent on its energy supplies, harming the Continent’s economic growth.

Nowhere is the European conundrum clearer than in the Netherlands, a tiny nation of 16 million but one of the wealthiest in the European Union. For more than a decade, the Dutch have been forging closer ties with Russia, emphasizing a growing trade and economic partnership while pointedly ignoring President Vladimir V. Putin’s regional ambitions.

Shell, the Anglo-Dutch oil giant, which has its head office in The Hague, is one of the largest foreign investors in Russian gas fields in Siberia. Shell is the largest corporation in the Netherlands, and its stock is widely held in the nation’s pension funds. If Shell loses money, the pensions of Dutch teachers, civil servants and many others suffer.

As a result, the ties between Shell and the government are extremely close, and the company’s welfare inevitably influences policy, analysts said.

“They have direct access to everybody in the establishment,” said Sweder van Wijnbergen, who was the secretary-general of the ministry of economic affairs from 1997 to 2000. His former boss in that job, who was then the minister in charge of the economy, Hans Wijers, sits on the Shell board of directors. “Naturally Shell will try to prevent any sanctions against Russia,” Mr. van Wijnbergen said. “Of course the government ultimately makes its own decisions.”

A spokesman for the company declined to say whether Shell would reconsider its investments in Russia after the downing of the plane. Four Shell employees died in the crash of Flight 17.

After China, the Netherlands is Russia’s most important trading partner. The Russians and the Dutch have invested billions in each other’s countries. In 2012, the Netherlands imported 20.3 billion euros, or about $27.3 billion, worth of gas, reselling 95 percent of it to the rest Europe, official statistics show. Russia imported €7.2 billion in office equipment, food and flowers...

There's more, but you get the picture.