As Britons made their preference clear in June 23, 2016, "Brexit" referendum, Russia may be the only beneficiary nation stemming from the outcome. The "Leave" vote outweighed the "Remain" vote by 52 percent to 48 percent, with Londoners and more educated turning in drove on the "Remain" side, only to see an overwhelming number of rural and less educated voters--disenchanted, with mostly genuine grievances, by the Brussels bureaucracy--eclipsing them with a firm "Leave" vote.
In the aftermath of the "Brexit" vote, world capitals were shaken undeniably by the degree of disenchantment displayed by British voters over a host of issues, especially the immigration issue, with British pound taking a beating and global stock markets in the midst of a significant correction--if not, of a recessionary--mode.
However, one nation, in particular, is not likely to be disappointed by the outcome of Brexit referendum. Instead, Russia and its mercurial president, Vladimir Putin, have every reason to be elated by what has been delivered on a golden plate by a myopic "Brexit" movement led by a diverse group of isolationists such as conservative Boris Johnson, former London Mayor, and U.K. Independence Party leader Nigel Farage, an avowed anti-immigrant politician.
In the night of "Brexit" victory, Farage audaciously called that it's a new "Independence Day" for Britain. Any political observer can see through the hollowness of such characterization as what isolationists such as Farage and Johnson have delivered is in fact a geo-political victory to Russian President Putin.
Now, a fractured Europe will have less time, and geo-political will, to deal with Russia, and the economic sanctions, imposed on Moscow in the aftermath of Crimea annexation and Russia's support to secessionist rebels in the eastern Donbass region, are going to have less appetite for many EU member nations. In the coming weeks, months and years, EU nations will deal on how London works through the diplomatic maze of Article 50 to begin the process of withdrawal from the 28-nation European Union.
With every passing day, Ukraine and Crimea will fade away in terms of geo-political importance to EU nations as they have a new, urgent problem at hand: how to handle British withdrawal from its more than five decades of deep association with the bloc. The economic sanctions, already being challenged with increased fervor by several European nations because of counter-sanctions imposed by Moscow on imports of items such as meat and poultry that have hit them dearly in the past two years, are surely going to be loosened, if not overtly flouted.
For the USA, it's a dismal outcome contrary to the outlandish statement made by the presumptive GOP candidate Donald Trump in favor of "Brexit" vote. The USA has just lost a significant voice and leverage to sway and influence the European policies toward various global issues: be it Syrian civil war, be it the mess in Ukraine, be it Russia's new-found assertiveness, be it Chinese effort to dictate terms over the South China Sea, or be it the concerted effort to fight terrorism.
Beside, one of the most adverse side effects of the "Brexit" vote will be a weakened, if not a fractured, United Kingdom as murmur of dissention has already started to emerge from Edinburgh and Belfast. A weakened UK, likely to be an unfavorable long-term diplomatic consequence of the "Brexit" vote, will affect Washington's relationships with Britain and rest of Europe dearly.
For Vladimir Putin, it's a time of Fall Fest that has come early in the summer. Decades later, future generations will look back at the "Brexit" vote, and see it as one of the most strategic international events of the time, with myopic and isolationist British political leaders such as Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson handing the most precious, lifetime political gift to Russian strongman Vladimir Putin.
In the aftermath of the "Brexit" vote, world capitals were shaken undeniably by the degree of disenchantment displayed by British voters over a host of issues, especially the immigration issue, with British pound taking a beating and global stock markets in the midst of a significant correction--if not, of a recessionary--mode.
However, one nation, in particular, is not likely to be disappointed by the outcome of Brexit referendum. Instead, Russia and its mercurial president, Vladimir Putin, have every reason to be elated by what has been delivered on a golden plate by a myopic "Brexit" movement led by a diverse group of isolationists such as conservative Boris Johnson, former London Mayor, and U.K. Independence Party leader Nigel Farage, an avowed anti-immigrant politician.
In the night of "Brexit" victory, Farage audaciously called that it's a new "Independence Day" for Britain. Any political observer can see through the hollowness of such characterization as what isolationists such as Farage and Johnson have delivered is in fact a geo-political victory to Russian President Putin.
Now, a fractured Europe will have less time, and geo-political will, to deal with Russia, and the economic sanctions, imposed on Moscow in the aftermath of Crimea annexation and Russia's support to secessionist rebels in the eastern Donbass region, are going to have less appetite for many EU member nations. In the coming weeks, months and years, EU nations will deal on how London works through the diplomatic maze of Article 50 to begin the process of withdrawal from the 28-nation European Union.
With every passing day, Ukraine and Crimea will fade away in terms of geo-political importance to EU nations as they have a new, urgent problem at hand: how to handle British withdrawal from its more than five decades of deep association with the bloc. The economic sanctions, already being challenged with increased fervor by several European nations because of counter-sanctions imposed by Moscow on imports of items such as meat and poultry that have hit them dearly in the past two years, are surely going to be loosened, if not overtly flouted.
For the USA, it's a dismal outcome contrary to the outlandish statement made by the presumptive GOP candidate Donald Trump in favor of "Brexit" vote. The USA has just lost a significant voice and leverage to sway and influence the European policies toward various global issues: be it Syrian civil war, be it the mess in Ukraine, be it Russia's new-found assertiveness, be it Chinese effort to dictate terms over the South China Sea, or be it the concerted effort to fight terrorism.
Beside, one of the most adverse side effects of the "Brexit" vote will be a weakened, if not a fractured, United Kingdom as murmur of dissention has already started to emerge from Edinburgh and Belfast. A weakened UK, likely to be an unfavorable long-term diplomatic consequence of the "Brexit" vote, will affect Washington's relationships with Britain and rest of Europe dearly.
For Vladimir Putin, it's a time of Fall Fest that has come early in the summer. Decades later, future generations will look back at the "Brexit" vote, and see it as one of the most strategic international events of the time, with myopic and isolationist British political leaders such as Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson handing the most precious, lifetime political gift to Russian strongman Vladimir Putin.
