Ever since the end of the Cold War and the end of bipolar division of the world, the US has been pursuing its strategy of establishing a uni polar world under its domination. At the present time, the US is using the people of Ukraine as a pawn to advance this strategy.
The US does not want the governments of Ukraine and Russia to resolve their problems through dialogue. Instead, the US and its NATO allies are arming the Ukraine government to its teeth, to fight Russia. It is reported that over 20,000 “volunteers” from different countries of Europe and North America have joined the Ukrainian army. Majority of them are highly trained military personal. Think-tanks of the US are voicing the hope that Russia gets bogged down in Ukraine, just like the Soviet Union did in Afghanistan in the 1980’s. The US does not care that lakhs of Ukrainians have been forced to flee their homeland and become refugees in Poland and other countries of Europe. It does not care for the devastating consequences of prolonging the war for the people of Ukraine, of Russia, or of the rest of Europe.
The US propaganda machine spews anti-Russian propaganda day in and day out. The US Company META, which owns Facebook, has announced that it will allow messages calling for the assassination of the Presidents of Russia and Belarus. Russian news sites have been blacked out by US tech companies. After Russia asked for a meeting of the UN Security Council to protest against US producing biological weapons in Ukraine, the US President has started accusing Russia of planning to use chemical weapons in Ukraine. The US has a long history of concocting lies to justify invasion of other countries. It cannot be forgotten that the US and Britain concocted the lie that Iraq had a stockpile of chemical weapons, to justify the invasion of Iraq and its destruction.
The US together with its NATO allies are responsible for creating an extremely dangerous situation in Europe. The US has been systematically pushing the boundaries of NATO eastwards. It has cynically violated agreements made with the Soviet Union and after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, with Russia, on this question. Since 1991, NATO has been expanded in 5 waves and now, 30 countries are members of NATO. In 2008, NATO proposed to include Ukraine and Georgia as members. This is unacceptable to Russia, as it would bring US led NATO troops right up to its border in Europe. Russia has demanded that its security concerns be addressed. It has demanded that the US stop the eastward expansion of NATO.
Sanctions
The sanctions the US and its European allies have imposed on Russia, which now include an American ban on Russian energy imports, are the most restrictive ever imposed against a major economic power. The finance minister of France described them as an “all-out economic and financial war”. These sanctions have been imposed unilaterally, without either the UN Security Council or the UN General Assembly agreeing to it.
The US is able to impose sanctions on other countries because of the domination of the US Dollar as the currency of exchange in the world economy. The sanctions on Russia not only impact Russia, they impact all other countries which trade with Russia, including Germany, India and China.
The US has placed sanctions on Russia’s Central Bank and frozen the reserves it held in the US financial system. The European Union has put in similar sanctions. As a result, Russia cannot use the 630 billion dollars it has in reserves, for any purpose. The two biggest Russian banks, Sberbank and VTB Bank, and the Russian oil and gas company, Gazprom, have been targeted. All the assets they held in the US financial system have been frozen.
The US and European Union have removed Russian banks from the SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication), the messaging system used to send and receive cross border payment instructions between banks. It was being used in about 70% transfers in Russia.
It is important to note that while removing Russia from SWIFT, the European Union took care to ensure that natural gas imports from Russia were exempted from sanctions. According to the International Energy Agency, in 2021 the European Union imported about 40% of its total natural gas requirement from Russia. The US has been demanding that Germany stop purchase of natural gas from Russia and instead buy it from the US. So far, Germany continues to source its gas from Russia.
The sanctions imposed by the US on Russia are forcing various countries to work on alternatives by which they can continue to trade with Russia, without using US dollars. There are reports that the government of India is considering trading with Russia in Rupee and Ruble. China and Russia are reported to be planning to carry out their trade in Yuan and Ruble.
Conclusion
The US is working to ensure that the war in Ukraine is prolonged. It hopes in this way to ensure that both Russia and Ukraine exhaust each other, and at the same time, Germany and other countries of Europe also get weakened. The US is heaping immense suffering on the people of Ukraine in the course of using them as a pawn to weaken Russia, and increase its control and domination over Europe.
A very dangerous situation is developing. This is a result of the drive of the US to bring the entire world under its domination and control. The possibility of the war in Ukraine engulfing the rest of Europe cannot be ruled out.
The people of India must not fall for the lying propaganda of US imperialism that it is acting in the interests of the people of Ukraine. The people of India must support all efforts towards a peaceful resolution of the problem between Ukraine and Russia, without US imperialist interference.