Washington’s earlier boasts of driving Russian President Vladimir Putin from power, destroying Russia’s capacity to make war and halving the size of the Russian economy look ridiculous in retrospect.
The world economy is reeling from supply shocks in energy and food provoked by Western sanctions on Russia. Monetary policy can reduce inflation only by forcing consumers to stop buying, which forces retailers to liquidate inventory at lower prices and crushes demand for raw materials – a cure that is worse than the disease.
Russia meanwhile earned a record €93 billion (US$97 billion) from energy exports during the first 100 days of the war, a Finnish study concluded. China and India, which refused to join Group of Seven sanctions against Russia, reportedly are buying oil at a discount of $30 to $40 per barrel, while American and European consumers are paying the full price.
The European Central Bank convened an emergency meeting on June 15 to address the deterioration of its weakest members and promised yet-to-be-specified measures to prevent the “fragmentation” of the European Union.
The Biden administration vastly underestimated the inflationary impact of the $6 trillion Covid stimulus package, which began under Donald Trump’s administration but doubled under Biden.
It underestimated the resilience of the Russian economy and the capabilities of the Russian military.
France and Germany on February 15 asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to comply with the Minsk II agreement, then supported by Moscow, which would have given autonomy to Russian-speaking regions in the Donbas within a sovereign Ukraine.
At Washington’s prompting, Zelensky rejected a February 19 proposal from German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to avoid war. Michael Gordon reported on April 1 in The Wall Street Journal:
The hapless Zelensky did not invent the idea of NATO membership for Ukraine. He was given assurances by Washington and London, which stepped up weapons deliveries to Ukraine.
The United States won’t tell Ukraine what to do, Undersecretary Kahl declared. But that doesn’t prevent other governments from making Zelensky an offer he can’t refuse. Zelensky adviser Oleksiy Arestovych told Germany’s Bild-Zeitung on June 16 that German Chancellor Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian President Mario Draghi might deliver such a demand to Zelensky during their current visit to Kiev.
The Zelensky aide said he feared that Scholz, Macron and Draghi “will try to get a Minsk III. They will say that we need to end the war that is causing food problems and economic problems, that Russians and Ukrainians are dying, that we need to save Mr Putin’s face, that the Russians made mistakes and that we need to forgive and give them a chance to return to world society.”
Germany’s leading center-right daily Die Welt commented: “Kiev is beginning to have doubts about the solidarity of the West. Voices are being raised calling for peace efforts. In particular, a statement by NATO chief Stoltenberg points to a change of course.”
Die Welt referred to a June 12 speech in which NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stated: “The question is: What price are you willing to pay for peace? How much territory? How much independence? How much sovereignty? How much freedom? How much democracy are you willing to sacrifice for peace? And that’s a very difficult moral dilemma.”
https://asiatimes.com/2022/06/biden-stares-down-from-ukraine-economic-ledge/
The world economy is reeling from supply shocks in energy and food provoked by Western sanctions on Russia. Monetary policy can reduce inflation only by forcing consumers to stop buying, which forces retailers to liquidate inventory at lower prices and crushes demand for raw materials – a cure that is worse than the disease.
Russia meanwhile earned a record €93 billion (US$97 billion) from energy exports during the first 100 days of the war, a Finnish study concluded. China and India, which refused to join Group of Seven sanctions against Russia, reportedly are buying oil at a discount of $30 to $40 per barrel, while American and European consumers are paying the full price.
The European Central Bank convened an emergency meeting on June 15 to address the deterioration of its weakest members and promised yet-to-be-specified measures to prevent the “fragmentation” of the European Union.
The Biden administration vastly underestimated the inflationary impact of the $6 trillion Covid stimulus package, which began under Donald Trump’s administration but doubled under Biden.
It underestimated the resilience of the Russian economy and the capabilities of the Russian military.
France and Germany on February 15 asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to comply with the Minsk II agreement, then supported by Moscow, which would have given autonomy to Russian-speaking regions in the Donbas within a sovereign Ukraine.
At Washington’s prompting, Zelensky rejected a February 19 proposal from German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to avoid war. Michael Gordon reported on April 1 in The Wall Street Journal:
The hapless Zelensky did not invent the idea of NATO membership for Ukraine. He was given assurances by Washington and London, which stepped up weapons deliveries to Ukraine.
The United States won’t tell Ukraine what to do, Undersecretary Kahl declared. But that doesn’t prevent other governments from making Zelensky an offer he can’t refuse. Zelensky adviser Oleksiy Arestovych told Germany’s Bild-Zeitung on June 16 that German Chancellor Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian President Mario Draghi might deliver such a demand to Zelensky during their current visit to Kiev.
The Zelensky aide said he feared that Scholz, Macron and Draghi “will try to get a Minsk III. They will say that we need to end the war that is causing food problems and economic problems, that Russians and Ukrainians are dying, that we need to save Mr Putin’s face, that the Russians made mistakes and that we need to forgive and give them a chance to return to world society.”
Germany’s leading center-right daily Die Welt commented: “Kiev is beginning to have doubts about the solidarity of the West. Voices are being raised calling for peace efforts. In particular, a statement by NATO chief Stoltenberg points to a change of course.”
Die Welt referred to a June 12 speech in which NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stated: “The question is: What price are you willing to pay for peace? How much territory? How much independence? How much sovereignty? How much freedom? How much democracy are you willing to sacrifice for peace? And that’s a very difficult moral dilemma.”
https://asiatimes.com/2022/06/biden-stares-down-from-ukraine-economic-ledge/