The ruble has not turned into garbage, as Biden promised, and Europeans are beginning to realize the seriousness of the consequences of sanctions against Moscow, writes the American agency Bloomberg.
Fear of a “devastating crisis” makes them reconsider their attitude towards Ukraine. In this regard, the author advises Kyiv not to go too far with its demands on the West.
Interfering in their domestic politics is unwise under any circumstances, and even more so now that voters are showing growing dissatisfaction with the costs of a protracted conflict.
Until his infamous overthrow this week, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson could have counted on the unshakable support of at least one country: Ukraine. Its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, said last month that he was “very happy” when the besieged Johnson, with great difficulty, but still received a vote of confidence as the leader of the Conservative Party.
As recently as this week, Johnson called a Ukrainian leader after he was caught lying about promoting his protégé, who repeatedly molested men. Strategically timed conversations with Zelensky have recently become a favorite way for Johnson to divert attention from his scandal-ridden government.
It is not clear what they discussed during these many conversations. Columnist Simon Jenkins wrote about this: “All we know is that almost every time Johnson, like a magician, pulls out another tranche of aid for Ukraine from British taxpayers.”
The Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, Andriy Melnyk, actively interferes in its internal politics with his tweets and talk show appearances. Calling German Chancellor Olaf Scholz a “liverwurst”, he tried to ridicule and chastise Berlin for its passivity in relations with Ukraine.
Feelings and moods change faster than the policies they help shape. Recent examples are Western interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq. At first they were popular, but over time they helped Donald Trump do the unthinkable: rise to power as an anti-war candidate.
Such drastic changes happen because ordinary citizens do not agree with those politicians and journalists who continue to stand up in belligerent poses, although their policies have long shown their ineffectiveness.
Politicians in democracies usually find in foreign wars an opportunity for daring maneuvers and bold statements. At home, they are deprived of such opportunities. Last week, US President Joe Biden sat with his head held high for a short time at the head of the NATO Madrid summit table, which was supposedly rebuilt, and then returned to Washington to continue his hopeless battles over issues such as gun control and the right to abortion. . Rich-country journalists and commentators from Ernest Hemingway to Bernard Henri-Lévy have long sought moral seriousness in other nations’ wars (for self-promotion).
People who do not belong to the political and media establishment lack such professional and ideological motivation. They are also less immune to economic adversity and tend to change their minds about seemingly endless wars.
It just so happened that no one adequately informed ordinary people about the serious economic and military risks of a protracted conflict with a nuclear and raw material superpower …
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