The Global Times editors take aim at the duplicity of U.S. President Biden’s National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, who has claimed that he has engaged on “senior levels with the Russians to communicate, to reduce risks,” as Sullivan said in a Monday presentation to the Council of Foreign Relations. An earlier report from the Wall Street Journal, and then characterized by the Washington Post, indicates that Sullivan is privately encouraging Ukraine’s leaders to signal an openness to negotiate with Russia, and to drop their public refusal to engage in peace talks unless Russian President Vladimir Putin is removed from power.
The editors of Global Times aren’t buying it.
“What Washington is concerned about isn’t the peace of Europe and Ukraine, but how to bring down Russia using Ukraine as a pawn and taking advantage of Europe, as well as how to consolidate its hegemony in Europe and across the whole world. The international community should discard any illusions about any of the US’ moves which appear to promote peace.”
The Global Times piece notes that the political and economic turbulence in the United States is making further support for Ukraine more difficult, which will likely be hastened after the midterms—regardless of the election results. The paper asserts that Washington’s diplomatic moves, designed to fail, are to get Europe to foot the bill instead.
“Under US’ instigation, if Ukraine talks with Russia, the negotiations will end up as a failure as Ukraine can use the pretext that Russia could not meet Ukraine’s conditions, and then the blame of the long-standing conflict between Russia and Ukraine can be passed to Russia.
“In this scenario, Ukraine will be regarded as the constructive side to the Ukraine crisis, while Russia the destructive one. As a result, Ukraine will gain more firm support and aid from US’ European allies. The Biden administration hopes its European allies to fill in the gap resulted from US’ reduction, according to a Beijing-based expert who asked for anonymity.”
The piece ends:
“The US does not want to see the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine end soon. For Russia, Ukraine, as well as Europe, the longer the crisis, the more detrimental for them; while for Washington, the longer the conflict, the more favorable position it will be in. In spite of European countries’ economies and energy supply heavily hit by the ongoing crisis, they have to supply Ukraine with large amounts of military and financial aid. This is what Washington wants to achieve — exploiting Ukraine as a pawn to drag down Russia and Europe; and amid the whole process, the US merely pays a light price.”
