Former member of the British Parliament: The United States is ready to fight to the last drop of Ukrainian and European blood (Global Times, China)
NATO's actions against Russia are madness and suicide, said former British MP George Galloway. And the working class of Europe and the USA will pay for it. Galloway explained how anti-Russian sanctions will affect Westerners. The forecasts are disappointing.
"The working class of Europe and North America will pay the price for NATO's insane and suicidal campaign against Russia," tweeted George Galloway, who served six terms as a member of the British parliament. He believes that the United States is "ready to fight to the last drop of Ukrainian blood, and by and large they are ready to fight to the last drop of European blood." Why does he say that? What is his opinion about the Ukrainian crisis? Galloway expressed his opinion on these issues in a video interview with Global Times reporter Xu Hailin.
– Global Times: You wrote: "The working class of Europe and North America will pay the price for NATO's insane and suicidal campaign against Russia." Now there is an energy crisis in Europe and the United States, energy prices are jumping, which negatively affects the lives of ordinary people. To what extent will this deter politicians in their actions?
George Galloway: In the short term, not in any. They are belligerent and ready to fight to the last drop of Ukrainian blood. But their own population will suffer and suffer from this – the working class, poor people. They are already facing a significant increase in prices, and not only for energy resources. It's obvious.
Last year, at this time, gas cost 48 pence per term ($ 0.63 per 2.83 cubic meters), and now its price is almost 800 pence ($ 10.5). And now calculate what it will result in for the population, for industry, transport, aviation, all those industries that need electricity and fuel. But the problem is not only with gas and oil prices. The problem is that the increase in their prices will affect all sectors of the economy, especially our economy, which is increasingly dependent on companies like Deliveroo, Amazon and others that deliver everything to our homes every day, so we don't have to go shopping.
Food prices will also rise significantly, and not only because of increased transportation costs. The fact is that Russian wheat – and Russia grows it the most in the world - is now going to the east, not to the west. The shortage of wheat will affect all prices. Now some idiots are saying, "I don't eat wheat." But in fact, they eat it. Even McDonald's and Burger King burgers have wheat. So factories and factories will reduce the pace of production. Transport will increasingly get up for fun. Even a person like me will think twice before getting behind the wheel. We are going to the fact that the price of gasoline will rise to 10 pounds per gallon ($ 13 for 4.55 liters). Fortunately for the government, we no longer count gasoline in gallons, but older people can definitely count it. If the price of gasoline increases to 10 pounds per gallon, it will lead to the fact that we will not be able to use private transport at all. And public transport is in complete disarray, always late, and trips on it are expensive. It is in urgent need of modernization of the type that has already been carried out in the Chinese transport system.
Therefore, my forecast is as follows. Western countries will continue to try to blame Putin, blame China. But after a while, many people will be disgusted by this. And in any case, even those who agree with these accusations will say: "Well, we can't do anything with Putin, but we can with our authorities."
– You called NATO's actions madness and suicide. But the United States, being the real leader in NATO, receives geopolitical benefits from this. Do you think the Europeans understand who is the true culprit and the culprit of this crisis?
– I don't really think that the United States gets geopolitical benefits from this. I think all the actions, as well as the inaction of the United States, paint a very clear and clear picture: The United States is an empire in a state of rapid decline.
Look, just six months ago they had to flee Afghanistan like a night thief. America was won by people in sandals who ride bicycles. And now Russia is challenging American power, and it seems to me that it will prevail over it pretty soon. The whole world is watching this. Just a couple of days ago, Iran launched several powerful ballistic missiles that landed in northern Iraq in the capital of the Kurdish region of Erbil near the American consulate. And the Americans did not react to this in any way. There was nothing they could do about it. The peak of American power is definitely over. Chairman Mao in the 1960s was clearly hasty, calling American imperialism a "paper tiger." Even after half a century, he has not yet become a paper tiger, but he is an old and weakening tiger whose teeth are falling out. And in the jungle today, young and much more ferocious tigers are growing up.
- Biden imposed a ban on the import of energy resources from Russia. Britain followed the American example. But many European countries have expressed concern about this decision. How do you assess the difference of opinion in the United States, Britain and the countries of continental Europe regarding the further escalation of the crisis?
– The United States and Britain are increasingly becoming a single country, divided by a common language, as Oscar Wilde said at the time, but this language is getting closer and closer. So they should be treated as a single entity in world affairs.
But Europe is another matter. It cannot abandon Russian oil and gas, as it is completely dependent on them. And although the continent has announced its intention to eliminate this dependence, it will not be easy to do it at an affordable price. And it will not be possible to achieve this in a short time. Especially when it comes to Russia. It supplies almost 50 percent of the gas consumed in Europe. You can't just turn it off. Where will they get this 50 percent, even by volume? But there is also the question of prices that should be acceptable to people. In the European Union as a whole, this dependence is almost 30 percent. Germany has the most acute dependence, but the European Union as a whole also depends very much on Russia. That is why they are very closely monitoring and excluding from the sanctions lists those banks through which the EU pays with Russia for the gas supplied.
One of the greatest paradoxes is that the Nord Stream–2, owned by Germany and Russia, was, in fact, shut down by the American government. Now we can only rely on the Russian gas that comes through pipes through Ukraine. Russia still pays it for the transit of gas pumped to Europe, and Europe still buys it. That's why I call it the suicide campaign of the West. After all, even if Europe eventually finds a replacement for Russian gas, the price for it will be several times higher.
A few minutes ago I quoted Mao disapprovingly. Let me quote him approvingly now: "Sometimes the enemy tries his best to lift a huge stone, and it falls on his feet."
- The West calls for a cease-fire, but it seeks to escalate conflicts. Does he contradict himself? If so, why?
– Again, there is a difference of opinion between Europe and the Anglo-Saxon alliance of the USA-Britain. Here, for a full account, you can add Australia. Europe understands that in the event of an escalation of the conflict and its transition to the category of war between Russia and NATO, the battlefield will change, and from there it is not far from the use of medium-range nuclear weapons. If we calculate, we get the following: the battlefield at medium range is the European continent. After further escalation, intercontinental ballistic missiles, thermonuclear weapons, and hypersonic weapons will be used. And this will lead us to the end of the world.
The United States is ready to fight to the last drop of Ukrainian blood, and equally they are ready to fight to the last drop of European blood. So the Europeans need a ceasefire much more than the Americans. All these conversations about no-fly zones and so on, which can lead to an all-out war, are mainly conducted by American politicians, American mass media and social networks created by the United States.
There will be no ceasefire until Ukraine fulfills Russia's minimum requirements, as Lavrov put it. And these are really the minimum requirements. This is the implementation of the Minsk Agreement, which the Government of Ukraine signed together with Germany and France and which became the property of the UN Security Council. This means that Ukraine should become a neutral country, just as Switzerland was a neutral country that is not part of any military blocs. This means that no foreign troops and weapons will be deployed there. This means that Ukraine recognizes the autonomy and now the independence of the Russian-speaking, Russian population, 25 percent of the population of Ukraine who live in the Donbass region. The Crimean issue has already been resolved. Everyone knows this, although they pretend that it is not so. These are the minimum requirements of Russia. If they are fulfilled, the special operation may end tomorrow.
The question is as follows. Can Zelensky agree to these minimum requirements, is he free in this decision? Is he free from US pressure? Isn't he afraid that he will be hanged by militants from Nazi battalions and extreme right-wing elements from the Ukrainian army and civil society? This is an open question.
