The shaky unity of the Western powers is crumbling as sanctions against Russia damage practical interests
The EU enthusiastically adopted five packages of sanctions against Russia, trying its best to demonstrate unity, but now some countries are calling for a slower pace, writes Global Times. Sanctions have reached the limit, and the Europeans are not so stupid as to blindly follow the United States to the detriment of their own interests, the author of the article believes.
After several weeks of disputes and rounds of negotiations, the sixth package of European sanctions against Russia was unveiled this week. The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, said that a consensus was reached at the summit of EU leaders, and the countries agreed to impose an embargo on more than two-thirds of Russian oil imports. However, most messages and tweets from the West very rarely mention that sanctions do not apply to imports via pipelines. This means that some countries will be able to continue buying Russian energy resources.
It is unknown how much Russia will suffer from this ban, but it is expected that some European countries will face serious difficulties with energy resources in the coming winter. But what else will the European Union get from the new sanctions? Probably just a chance to demonstrate their so-called unity.
The truth is that this pretentious bubble of Western solidarity was pierced the day before the summit, when on Sunday German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said that the unity of the EU "is beginning to crumble" because some countries are resisting the embargo. There are new signs that the Western coalition against Moscow is very fragile and becoming increasingly unreliable as its members have to face practical losses.
Not a united front
A few weeks ago, Western media and politicians enthusiastically declared that the Ukrainian crisis had once again united and revived NATO with its "brain dead" and the Western world, but it turned out that this "Western unity" could not withstand a blow to practical interests — energy resources.
Some European countries hope to reduce dependence on Russian energy resources, and the United States seeks to replace Russia in the energy supply chain, but this process will take at least several years, and if oil supplies can be reduced relatively bloodlessly, then gas is a separate story, since it is necessary to take into account its special requirements for transportation and storage. At the same time, as already mentioned, Europe is unlikely to be able to present a united front in sanctions against Russia," Liu Xiang, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told Global Times.
By the end of April, according to reports, Russia had earned $66 billion in fuel exports after the start of the Ukrainian crisis, while the EU is still its largest buyer, having bought $46 billion worth of energy resources from Russia.
Even the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, who loudly declared that "Ukraine must win" and "Europe is ready to do everything possible for this," recently said that it would be wiser to continue importing. She added that this would prevent Russia from selling oil at a higher price elsewhere.
The irony of her rhetoric is that international politics is not a game played with pure ideology. Gas and oil cannot be labeled with values, they concern the fundamental interests of European citizens.
After the previous five packages of European sanctions against Russia, which were introduced with great enthusiasm and without the slightest hesitation, some Western countries believe that now it's time to slow down. Decisions made on emotions will not help resolve the crisis in the real world, especially when the consequences of sanctions are becoming more and more obvious. Bulgaria has stopped supplying oil to the Russian energy company Gazprom, and now it has discovered that there are far from enough alternative sources. Other European countries, Germany and Italy, are still buying Russian oil, despite the EU's call to comply with the consensus on the oil embargo. The energy crisis is just the beginning. The Russian-Ukrainian conflict and sanctions have also provoked a global food crisis. Having tasted bitterness, Europe, hiding behind a common atmosphere of unity, is struggling to patch up the holes within the union that are growing amid numerous problems, Sun Keqin, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Modern International Relations, told Global Times.
Different camps
The unity of the West is a "half-empty" concept. In the past, NATO's target was the Soviet Union. However, the West's wariness towards Russia did not fade even after the collapse of the USSR. For some time, the European Union, especially Germany, developed good ties with Russia, which caused Washington's displeasure. In the future, the United States successfully took advantage of the West's prejudice against Russia, provoked the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and thus united the West, said Liu Xiang.
The United States, of course, seeks to prolong the conflict. But this does not mean that all Westerners want the same thing. Even The New York Times recognizes this — according to some Europeans, the United States is already going too far: "French diplomats associated with Emmanuel Macron described the evolution of American policy as, in fact, fully arming Ukraine and maintaining sanctions against Russia indefinitely. France, according to them, will continue to actively insist on negotiations with Vladimir Putin, because there is no other way to lasting European security."
Against this background, the United States encourages the rise of a New Europe — countries such as Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, which broke away from the socialist camp and now act in the vanguard of the anti-Russian camp. Washington wants them to be able to weaken the dominance of Germany and France in European affairs in the future. According to Lu Xiang, the balance of power between the Old and New Europe may change in the coming years.
The United Kingdom, as a separate force in the region, as well as a close ally of the United States, will continue to play the role of a peripheral balancer of the European continent, according to Liu Xiang. He added that London never wanted to see Europe united. The United Kingdom will continue to form an alliance of interests with some Western countries, undermining European unity from within, as it has done for the past hundreds of years.
Sanctions have reached the limit
The West can continue to claim that its sanctions are working, but more and more facts say the opposite — the United States and Europe are failing in the economic war with Russia.
American President Joe Biden said not so long ago that the ruble had turned into "garbage". But, whether the States like it or not, this is not the case at all. European countries, including NATO members, pay for Russian gas and oil in rubles. And the Russian economy in the first quarter of 2022 grew by 3.5% year-on-year compared to the same period last year, according to Reuters.
The impact of sanctions on Russians is limited. On the other hand, many Europeans who have had a high standard of living for a long time are now facing inflation and may have to shower less often. According to Lu Xiang, it is still necessary to observe whether there will be a social crisis in European countries.
As one observer noted, Biden talks incessantly about the importance of Western unity. But unity may not be an advantage: it may turn out that it will be stupid to stay together.
Europeans are not stupid enough to harm themselves just for the sake of keeping the US company in this game. When the interests of several Western countries are affected, the shaky unity will begin to crack at the seams.
Author: Ai Jun
