The most recent round of sanctions on Russian oil companies, vessels, and other related entities is a clear continuation of the trend by the Biden Administration, which is working to throw as many hand grenades for the upcoming Trump Administration as possible, so that it is nearly impossible to change the strategic dynamic between the U.S. and Russia. The Russian Foreign Ministry said as much in response yesterday, identifying that the new sanctions “appear to be aimed at creating maximum obstacles for bilateral economic relations,” and that “the incoming U.S. President … will inherit a scorched earth policy—both figuratively and literally.”
But a closer look at the restrictions show that they are aimed at not only Russia, but also at the other leading nations, China and India, which have increased their trade and other relationships with Russia since the onset of the West’s all-out political and financial warfare against it. A Reuters article detailed that India and China now receive 36% and 20% respectively of their total oil imports from Russia—and it is these imports that the sanctions will impact. One analyst quoted in the article gleefully predicts that Russian exports will “drop off a cliff,” forcing the two large Asian countries to find new suppliers. On top of this, it’s widely expected that global oil prices will shoot up as a result, as they have already begun to do.
“Scorched earth” accurately describes the current Anglo-American policy that is wreaking havoc worldwide—on both friend and foe alike. European economies are struggling under the weight of the war in Ukraine and the absence of Russian gas, countries throughout the Global South are experiencing the worst debt crises in decades thanks to Western policies, and more and more of the U.S. economy has been vectored into useless military budgets, while leaving vital aspects of the economy in shambles. Not to mention the fact that the Palestinian people are being sacrificed in a genocide that is supposedly making Southwest Asia “safe,” and Ukrainians are not far behind them as they fight “to the last man” for the West’s proxy war against Russia—a war which could quickly go thermonuclear and end life for all on Earth.
Sane leadership must now act to end this madness. Rhetoric and actions regarding Iran continue to increase, and Iran has now begun large military exercises that include simulations to defend against attacks on their nuclear facilities. That is happening while the U.S. and Israel have opened new fronts against the Houthis in Yemen. Meanwhile, even as President-elect Trump seems poised to pull back from the war in Ukraine, NATO is working in Europe to “Trump-proof” more mechanisms, and has just taken over control of Polish air defenses from the U.S.
Despite that, citizens worldwide are rejecting such an outlook, even in imperfect and various ways. In Croatia on Jan. 12, President Zoran Milanovic won his reelection by a landslide of 74%, despite being labelled as “pro-Russian” by his opponents and by EU bureaucrats. Milanovic has been a strong voice against arming Ukraine, and the size of his vote total sends a strong message in that regard. Similarly in Romania, large protests have erupted in opposition to the government’s attempt to cancel the presidential election, after outsider and anti-war candidate Calin Georgescu won in the first round. Georgescu warned in a Jan. 10 interview that his country may be used as the next “door for war” with Russia, and pointed in particular to a new expanded NATO base being built there. Look for EIR’s upcoming interview with the President of the Coalition for the Defense of the Rule of Law in Romania Elena Radu, who is playing a central role in this fight.
There is no reason that Western countries can’t come to their senses and rediscover a proper role for themselves in a world that is no longer fit for these kinds of hegemonic games. British imperialists spent decades working to get the formerly anti-colonial U.S. to abandon its roots and instead adopt the mission of its former colonial master—yet this does not have to be the future just as it was not the case in the past. As President Franklin Roosevelt wrote in the speech that he was to deliver on April 13, 1945, one day after his untimely death on April 12:
“Today, science has brought all the different quarters of the globe so close together that it is impossible to isolate them one from another.
“Today we are faced with the preeminent fact that, if civilization is to survive, we must cultivate the science of human relationships—the ability of all peoples, of all kinds, to live together and work together, in the same world, at peace.”
The world urgently needs a new security and development architecture to address this fundamental crisis, and banish geopolitics forever. The world is at a crossroads, and which direction it goes from here is still undecided, especially as a new U.S. President is about to enter office. Mobilize to create this shift while the opportunity still exists.
