Panama Papers file is closed. Life moves on

http://blogs.rediff.com/mkbhadrakumar/2016/04/16/panama-papers-file-is-closed-life-moves-on/

The Brookings Institution, the American ‘think tank’ which is based on Embassy Row in Washington, is credited with having enduring links with the US intelligence establishment, and is headed by Strobe Talbott, himself a Cold War era veteran who translated Khrushchev Remembers. It comes as little surprise that Brookings has been brought in to close the Panama Papers file.
Clifford Gaddy, an old ‘Russia hand’ at the Brookings, penned what appears to be an absurd article expounding the thesis that the Panama Papers was actually the creation of none other than – now, don’t fall off your chair – President Vladimir Putin. Yes, according to the Brookings paper, here, Putin ordered an intelligence operation to defame himself, but with a sinister purpose to hit at America.

Has Talbott gone off his mind? No, there is a pattern in the madness of Cold Warriors. The real idea behind the Brookings thesis is to distance the US intelligence from the Panama Papers controversy. And it has done that by creating shock and awe. Gaddy speculates that Putin deliberately withheld a smear campaign against corrupt American politicians because his intention is to blackmail them eventually. The Brookings has conveyed a signal to the Kremlin: ‘We are closing the Panama File. No hard feelings, pals. Let us move on’.
Why has the US intelligence shut down a flashy project that was painstakingly put together and aimed at destroying Putin’s reputation before the crucial parliamentary election in Russia in autumn? The answer is simple: The Panama Papers project crash-landed. It failed to smear Putin’s ‘image’. The Russian people smelt a rat and ignored the Panama Papers, while the world community is largely immune to the West’s shenanigans to demonize Putin. So, the law of diminishing returns is at work.

Having provoked the Kremlin by this outrageous intelligence operation, the likelihood of a backlash from Moscow becomes very high. Of course, the Russians also know a few dark secrets about America’s politicians. How would it be if in the run-up to what is turning out to be a no-holds-barred, bruising presidential election in November in the US, Kremlin decides to release a few dark secrets about the protagonists in the ring? Of course, all hell will break loose. It can only work to the advantage of Donald Trump who despite all his follies and foibles, at least made his fortune in legitimate business.
The big question now will be whether Putin is the forgiving type or not? He spoke with biting sarcasm when he discussed Panama Papers during a phone-in program on national television on Thursday in Moscow. (RT) The skeletons in the American cupboards must be rattling – from Arkansas to Chicago.

However, Putin has a highly focused mind. The Russian-American relations are at a crossroads and if there are dark clouds on the horizon, there is also the silver lining that the US engages with Russia. Putin’s priority will be to stabilize the rocky relationship.
So, at the end of the day, how does the balance sheet look? Funnily, only Iceland and Pakistan took Panama Papers with dead seriousness. Ukraine’s Petro Poroshenko survives while Iceland’s PM quit. Pakistan’s PM Nawaz Sharif is under fierce attack from his detractors who have a perennial itch over this irrepressible politician who keeps bouncing back like a squash ball no matter how hard they hit at him.
But, isn’t Pakistan taking Panama Papers too seriously? Sharif’s exit will make Pakistani politics very volatile, and is that a good thing to happen when the country stares at chaos? Maybe, Pakistan will do well to learn the ropes of democracy from India.
Within hours of the Panama Papers appearing, which listed many famous Indian names, Narendra Modi government announced that the state agencies concerned will inquire. The last word has been spoken in the matter.