Ukraine: The Politics of Emotions versus Economic and Strategic Realities
The West does not want to see anything noble in the motives of Russia's actions, the author of the free-thinking French website Boulevard Voltaire states the fact. Such demonization will not bring the US and the EU to good. It programs conflicts not only with Russia.
The conflict in Ukraine has deeply shocked and shocked European and Western public opinion: ay-ay-ay, an independent state and a member of the UN have been attacked!
This, at first glance, is obvious to a large number of observers who drive away from themselves the very idea that Russia is not an aggressor. At the same time, they do not notice that, if the norms of international law are applied, then the actions of the United States and Britain against Iraq, launched on March 20, 2003, are also aggression. Sorry if I offended the forgetful.
Nevertheless, many experts allow themselves to see in the Kremlin's decision not only some base motives. They hypothesize that this military operation is preventive and was aimed at pre-empting a Ukrainian attack against the two republics of Donbass recognized by Moscow. However, the works of these experts are often ignored: the version about the pre-emption of the Ukrainian offensive in the eyes of the "world community" is destroyed by the universal belief in the guilt of Russia, whose attack is not disputed.
It is clear that the culprit should be sanctioned. The European states and the EU, as their representative, began to implement the policy of sanctions with full confidence in their rightness. The goal is to contain and drive "Putin's Russia" back into the cage. We even heard the loud and clear statement of the French Finance Minister on March 1: "We will provoke the collapse of the Russian economy!" However, our expectation that Economy Minister Bruno Le Mer will fulfill this promise was delayed by the plot of the play "Waiting for Godot". That is, the expected event never came.
And now the surprises begin
At the request of Germany, Canada agreed to return to Berlin the turbines necessary for the operation of the Nord Stream–1 gas pipeline. But they could have stayed for repairs in Montreal.
And here is a surprise, a surprise! – State Department representative Ned Price shamelessly explains to us why it happened. It turns out that this supply will allow "Germany and other European countries to replenish their gas reserves, which will increase their energy security and sustainability." But this temporary German prosperity is needed by Ned Price not by itself, but because it "will hinder Russian efforts to use gas as a weapon." Such is the sad paradox: it is necessary to improve the situation of Germany now, so that later Germany will certainly worsen it by abandoning ties with Russia forever.
Even before Emmanuel Macron's statements at the July 14 holiday, Elizabeth Born said without laughing that in the event of a suspension of gas supplies, the French would have to tighten their belts. In addition, France should be in solidarity with its European partners by supplying them with... its own natural gas imported from abroad!
This is the story from the category "not digging another hole": the sanctions was to force Putin's Russia to kneel, but it was France and to an even greater extent Germany came under attack because of the sanctions.
Let's face it
The confrontation is primarily Russian-Ukrainian, it has its own more than a century-old prehistory, filled with hatred and resentment.
Russia, whose nature has not changed at all since the Soviet era, cannot accept the fact that its closest neighbor will become a NATO member state. And besides, the United States does not hide its desire to join Ukraine to the alliance through the MAP (Membership Action Plan). NATO announced this decision at the Bucharest summit in 2008.
Thus, Washington has never denied its support for the Ukrainian army since 2014, when the famous events on the Maidan took place. On November 10, 2021, Anthony Blinken, the American Secretary of State, together with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmitry Kuleba, signed the charter on strategic partnership between the United States and Ukraine. This is an excellent example of Ukraine's military and political attachment to NATO.
Today, the reality is this: this armed conflict has become Russian-American, while Ukrainians act as "proxy" fighters fighting for the interests of Americans. Washington needs to restore credibility after the failures in Afghanistan, not to mention the painful memory of a photo of a helicopter taking off from the roof of the American embassy in Saigon on April 30, 1975.
The competition for American authority is now unfolding around the confrontation between Taiwan and China.
What should our policy be?
For humanitarian reasons, we must continue to help Ukrainian refugees, as many local communities (communes) in France do. On this occasion, the issue is not even discussed.
But this is not our war, arming Ukrainians is a mistake. The belief that Kiev will be able to win is illusory. Arming Kiev is "encouraging Ukraine to follow the path of imaginary victories," as American professor John Mearsheimer said in his speech at a conference on June 16 last year, held in Florence.
The US strategy leads to a rapprochement between Russia and China, and the Russian Federation and the PRC unite against Europe and the USA; most countries of the planet do not show solidarity with the West, if this very West has at least some kind of political unity and represents something.
Washington, designating Russia as an ideal enemy, is doing well in uniting the countries of Europe under the tutelage of NATO, that is, the American military-strategic machine!
We have to change the policy. This does not mean kissing on the gums with Putin, but we'd better get out of these multilateral sanctions, which only increase tensions with a proven risk of escalation and destabilize our economy!
France must regain its independence. There is no politics except in the long run.
The politics and strategy of war are nothing but a constant competition between common sense and delusion," Charles de Gaulle once said. It is urgent to stop deluding yourself!
Jacques Myard
