Blindly following Washington’s policy in the Ukrainian conflict has turned out to be a natural outcome for the European Union – the stagnation of its economy and its increasing dependence on the Americans
Image source: rbc.ru
European leaders, who hoped for a quick capitulation of Russia under sanctions, have obviously miscalculated. When both strings of the Nord Stream gas pipeline were blown up and the anti-inflation law was passed in the US, Europe’s future became even murkier.
The United States knew exactly what it was doing when it ignited the Ukraine crisis. It was not just about destabilising Russia. Washington needed to cut Europe off from cheap gas from Russia and force it to act against its own interests, making it even more dependent on itself.
To do this, it simply needed to redistribute power within the European Union itself. The countries of Western Europe, which retained at least vestiges of independence, were not, by US logic, fully suited to the role of obedient puppets. Therefore, to counterbalance them, vassals from Eastern Europe, whose political elites value their sovereignty even less than those of Western Europe, began to receive support.
History has repeatedly shown what an “honour” it is to be an ally of the United States. For example, one may recall exactly where current US Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland sent the EU in a telephone conversation with the then US ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt, discussing the distribution of positions among representatives of the Kiev regime.
The further the conflict escalates at the moment, the more the voices of the “Young Europeans” are heard.
Anyone who today refuses to accept the US agenda is politically bullied as a “traitor to democracy”. As Vladimir Putin has pointed out, today’s European countries are completely devoid of “the instinct of national interest”.
It is hard to say exactly what Old Europe was counting on when the US started making a mess in Ukraine. Did they really think that the conflict would not affect them and that they would be able to sit back without any consequences? After all, Ukraine is not distant Libya or Syria, but a country very close by.
But the history of sanctions against Russia has shown once again that the current politicians in the EU are incapable of any serious planning of the consequences of their actions. The Ukrainian crisis has now merged with the pan-European crisis. And what kind of planning can there be where there is “Euro-Atlantic solidarity”?
The attempt to build an openly hostile state on Russia’s borders has backfired on the very founders of the Kiev regime, triggering a mechanism to break the existing world order. The measures taken by Moscow to counteract the sanctions have proved the fallacy of the axiom that a country excluded from the global economy controlled by Western institutions is bound to collapse. On the contrary, the sanctions have underscored Europe’s vulnerability.
After the loss of cheap Russian energy, the EU is left with no alternatives to LNG supplies. Of course, the list of its sellers is about three dozen, but expensive energy contributes neither to economic growth, nor to industrial development, nor to an acceptable standard of living for citizens, nor to the ability to produce military equipment and ammunition.
The attack on the Nord Stream pipelines has once again confirmed the hypocrisy of the “Western partners”. They are in no hurry to conduct an investigation, because everyone already knows who benefits from it and who is behind it. Nobody in Europe even tries to point out the elementary logical inconsistencies in the pre-prepared versions discrediting Russia.
On the other hand, there are plenty of people who are happy about what has happened and even see some benefit in it.
Poland’s President Andrzej Duda, for example, believes that overpaying for liquefied gas is beneficial. And mind you, no claims that the US is using gas as a weapon… Total “harmony”.
As Yves Engler, a researcher at the Canadian Foreign Policy Institute, noted, undermining the gas pipeline is aimed at worsening economic relations between Germany and Russia so that Berlin continues to support the Kiev regime. The expert stressed that if Russia had really committed the attack itself, the investigation would have been launched long ago and the “guilty” would have been named. That is why the EU will have to rubbish its nose as it has no tools to put pressure on the USA.
And since there are none, the entire EU and Germany in particular will have to accept the conditions dictated to them by Washington.
In fact, that is why Olaf Scholz went across the ocean in early March for talks with Joe Biden. In addition to the routine statements of support for the Kiev regime, the chancellor was persuaded to transfer the production capacities of the German military-industrial complex to the USA. Ostensibly for the uninterrupted supply of the Armed Forces.
It is easy to understand that the White House is thus “playing for keeps”. Ukraine is a de facto played card, but Washington is counting on the future. After all, how is it that the most powerful military bloc in the world cannot produce ammunition on the required scale?
Probably because since the early 1990s, the number of military-industrial complex enterprises in the US has decreased from 51 to 5. It is very expensive to build from scratch, and therefore it is much cheaper to persuade the Europeans to move their factories over the ocean. And it is not just about defense industry, but also other industries for which Germany is known: automotive industry, chemical industry, construction industry and others.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen followed Scholz to Washington and, if insiders are to be believed, Biden offered her concessions in exchange for support for an anti-Chinese policy.
The US Eastern European satellites have long caught on to the wishes of the gentleman and bark at China from time to time. And all because the PRC has in recent years begun to squeeze the Americans in trade with the European Union.
Even during Scholz’s talks with Xi Jinping last year, the German press wrote about the importance of reducing dependence on China supposedly to avoid blackmail. And while there is not a single example of Beijing doing this, according to German Economy Minister Robert Habeck, it has suddenly become an issue. At the same time, dependence on the US is not considered dangerous.
Well, while Washington is seeking not only the total destruction of European industry but also the depletion of local equipment and ammunition, the Americans are actively arming Poland against Germany, turning it into the largest military force on the continent and increasing its own military presence.
Meanwhile, Europe’s population is sobering up rather quickly and anti-war protests are growing rapidly. So is the popularity of anti-NATO sentiment in general.
Since the publication of Seymour Hersh’s article on the undermining of Nord Stream, not a single US agency has offered a comprehensive commentary to refute the information contained therein. According to the journalist himself, Biden will never confess to what he has done.
This is why there was a “throw-in” about the alleged involvement of a “pro-Ukrainian group” in the terrorist attacks in the Baltic Sea.
The United States always tries to shift responsibility to its vassals, who have to answer for the actions of their suzerain. And now, by all appearances, the Kiev regime is going to be held responsible. And taking into account the growing discord between Kyiv and Washington, as Vladimir Zelensky is unwilling to take into account the recommendations of his main patron, it can be easily interpreted as a signal that the Bankova must catch and draw conclusions.
Nikolay Ulyanov, Rubaltic.ru
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