March 19, 2025 (EIRNS)—The war mongers at the Atlantic Council NATO outpost are hysterical that President Trump may succeed in his peace efforts with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, and that the war in Ukraine will be “abandoned.” A March 17 article penned by Council associates Daniel Fried, Richard L. Morningstar and Benjamin L. Schmitt, under the headline “Enough carrots for Putin. For better negotiations, serve maximum pressure’ instead,” makes several recommendations to “force Putin to the negotiating table,” but which in fact would constitute a declaration of war against Russia, were they to be implemented. These include imposing “comprehensive sanctions and technology export controls that target Russia’s main economic lifeline: energy exports.”
They demand the U.S. seek to replace Russia on world energy markets, “not allowing Russia to come back,” and that the maximum pressure approach on energy should aim to gut Russia’s oil and gas revenues that finance its war machine. Notable is their deep concern about a possible revival of Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines, urging Trump to make sure these are not reestablished. They add that every effort must be made to weaken or eliminate Russia’s “shadow fleet.”
The authors demand that the same stringent measures that were applied to Iran be imposed on Russia, recalling that Iran’s oil customers had to reduce their oil purchases every six months and that their central banks were targeted as well. They are adamant that the U.S. must impose additional financial sanctions on Russia and join with Europe to consider a general financial and trade embargo on Russia. High-tech energy and other technology should be targeted as well. The Congress must also be deeply involved, particularly through the Senate Foreign Relations committee and Banking Committee as part of an “all-of-government pressure campaign” against the Kremlin.
The authors take Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-SC) proposed “bone-breaking” Russia sanctions package is evidence that the Congress as a whole is on board. The Atlantic Council’s assumption is that even after a ceasefire, Russia will continue its aggression against Ukraine. Thus, it will be crucial to work with those European leaders who are open to increasing sanctions on Russia and seizing and using frozen Russian central bank assets, to support Ukraine’s ability, “even after a ceasefire, to rebuild and rearm in the face of what is likely to be sustained Russian pressure regardless of agreements to halt fighting in Ukraine.”
