Trump is now using EU to give effect to West’s secondary sanctions against Putin
By Anjan Roy
With every day, peace in Europe is receding and fears of a serious war breaking out nearing. On the eve of First World War, Earl Grey, then foreign secretary of Britain, had mourned with prophetic words: “Lights are being put out all over Europe. We might not see them lit again in our lifetime”.
Poland announced on Wednesday that it shot down Russian drones over its skies on Sunday as Russia mounted its worst ever aerial attacks on beleaguered Ukraine. Instead of some small steps towards peace and resolution of the crisis, the prospects are darkening.
The situation is turning increasingly risky as one side, the Western allies and USA, are only threatening actions against Russia while the latter is escalating its stance increasingly with complete impunity and lack of any seriousness to the western threats.
The military escalation and wider spread of active engagements raise the ominous prospects of a continental face off. Russia obviously desperate to cross the hump and prove a decile victory, is raising the level of hostilities and inflicting damages in Ukraine. Now collateral damages are raining down on neighbouring countries.
Poland is appearing to be the front-line for the extension of the hostilities and the start incursions so far on to Polish skies are daring the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation —NATO— to trigger its mutual defence agreement. NATO member had sworn while entering the organisation to take any attack on any one members should be construed as attack on all.
Putin is messaging that he was hell bent on achieving his Ukraine objective as a grave cost. He is responding with these heightened hostilities his intension of fighting any troops deployment or more active involvement in Ukraine by European allies.
The west European countries had formed what is currently being described as the “coalition of the willing”. These countries, including some of the biggest European countries, like Britain, France and Germany, had proposed placing their troops in Ukraine as a guarantee for security of the country.
In response, Russia sounded its alarm and calculatingly stepped up his nightly attack on Ukraine targets. In the latest round on Sunday, Putin’s aerial forays had hit government buildings and the civilian targets with devastating effect in terms of civilian damages.
Putin is also challenging American president who had all along given fresh deadlines for Putin to come to the negotiating tables seriously and go easy on his assaults. However, Donald Trump had stayed away from slapping his ever more stricter sanctions and other steps to bring Russia round to the negotiating tables.
Excepting slapping the secondary sanction on India, Trump never dared to put the same sanctions on China or even on European countries which had kept buying Russian oil and energy. China had checkmated Trump in his threats about secondary sanctions threatening withholding supplies of key materials.
Now Trump is entreating with European countries to come out with their own secondary sanctions — and steeper ones — on China and India for continuing to purchase Russian oils. Trump’s chickening out from firmer actions against Russian oil purchases on a wider number of countries appears to have emboldened Putin further.
Meanwhile China is sitting in the wings watching the slugfest between the two sides and clear support for Russia. Some of those on the sidelines are calling for India’s mediation, which however could be remote given the raw treatment meted out by USA.
