Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Since the West refused to deploy armed troops onto the ground, the anti-Russia coalition employed idiotic economic and diplomatic policies in a desperate attempt to deceive people into believing that they somehow had complete control over the situation.
History demonstrates how such measures were ultimately going to be inadequate. Sanctions were enforced after Putin invaded Crimea in 2014. And we know how little of an effect this had.
The West had failed in their attempt to undermine Russia’s economy via blocking patents that could aid their military. In response, Russia embargoed alimentary products from the EU, Norway, Australia, and Canada, thus making the country increasingly independent. This was quite easy to achieve too, because people become eager to change their habits when doing so is crucial.
But will the sanctions work this time around?
Personally I don’t believe they will. It will probably actually make things much worse.
However, Bruno Lemaire (French minister of the economy) seems to believe the opposite. He declared on February 26, 2022, that he wished to destroy Russia’s economy, and on March 1, 2022, he also said that it was his desire to declare outright war against Russia.
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Strangely, what the leaders of developed nations forget to consider is that the power of an economy is not determined solely by its capacity for a high GDP. It is also determined by its access to raw materials and energy. This would render a nation independent and they wouldn’t have to rely so heavily upon shaky international relations. Doping the economy with services and digital products may indeed make a country’s productivity appear to be stronger, but from a diplomatic angle, depriving a country of video games and apps is not the same as taking away its gas and petrol.
The first course of action explored by the West was to seize the properties of Russian oligarchs all over America and the European Union. Yet this was quite a weak move, since these rich citizens don’t weigh much on Putin. They have almost zero influence as far as the war is concerned. To make matters worse, the maintenance of these pricey upmarket properties are now the responsibility of each state respectively, and they are now stuck spending millions to ensure that they don’t fall apart.
So how did Putin respond to this? The Washington Post reports:
To date, Russian airlines are refusing to return more than 400 planes and a slew of aircraft parts that they leased from Western companies, forcing the leasing companies to file $10 billion in insurance claims, according to data and research provider Cirium.
“Sanctions may be serving the long-term purpose of isolating Russia,” said Risto Maeots, chief executive of an aviation-servicing company in Estonia that has been unable to recover several engines from Russia. “But in the short term, they weren’t as painful as they were meant to be.”
For all the attention given to the seizure of yachts belonging to Russia’s oligarchs, what happens with the aircraft is of far greater import, he added.
“What will the West do with the yachts — go fishing? Russians can do much more with the jets,” he said. “So short term, they got a fairly good deal.”
So as you can see, seizing those homes didn’t really work out so well for them.
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The anti-Russia coalition then attempted to ban Russian media and stop its influence over the West, declaring it to be propaganda. Sputnik and RT for example were categorically banned from most European countries.
This just goes to show how much faith these Western states really have in “freedom of speech” and the populace’s ability to reason.
Anyway, this strategy also proved to be ineffective. Despite the ban, many pro-Russia channels remain active on social media. Banning media also tends to spark distrust between the people and their government. On the other side however, this was the perfect justification for Putin to simply reciprocate and do likewise, without making it seem in any way that he was trying to control information.
The only real effect that this had was in dividing the world into two sides, each following one of the two competing narratives: the West as the protectors of Human Rights versus Russia saving the World from the Empire of Lies.
In trying to put further pressure on Russia, the West has instructed many Western companies to stop trading in Russia. The goal this time is to ignite the Russian population into revolting against Putin due to being deprived of McDonald’s and iPhones.
This development may perhaps sadden a few middle class Russians, but Russia will likely find some way to effectively replace these products. At worst, they could simply establish new distribution channels by buying from countries where they are still produced.
Essentially, when Russia discovers a way to rearrange this momentary new mess, it will once again work in Russia’s favor—they’ll be able to localize their economy further or seize more assets.
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The situation may already seem pretty terrible, but this stupid economic war against Russia is only getting started. Isn’t it amazing how the “superior” West could continue making such childish mistakes? Could it be that they’ve become numb and are deluded by their own self-perceived feelings of superiority?
According to many analysts, these policies are signs of a declining civilization. Will we perhaps live to witness the end of the liberal empire which has reigned throughout the last century?
Notes
The above article was inspired by this video from the French YouTube channel ‘Trouble Fait.’
Seems like the time has come, for the re-rise of Islam in the geopolitical scene (Islam has never died and still strong enough Alhamdulillah, but the end times are coming…)
Before we talk about the re rise, we, especially Muslims living in the West need to make an effort on our strengthening our Imaan. The truth is, our Imaan is extremely weak.
To be honest, the muslims in the west are in some fields stronger in their deen than in the so called islamic countries.
I still don’t see any “re-rise” of Islam in the geopolitical scene, even if the Russian empire falls. Even if countries in the Muslim world are left alone by the West ,those countries will have to improve their socio-economic situations(which will take some generations for countries with an already difficult situation) before being able to have a big enough economy to exert some kind of influence outside of their area of control (unless they are floating on natural resources).
I don’t know if the time has come.
Are we, muslims, willing to pay the price to become strong and united again?
What if the required sacrifice is not what we expect?
Inshaallah we will see the caliiphate rise again
One big centralized caliiphate will never work though,it’s logistically imposible and each area has its own unique realities and needs on the ground.
Did the Russians already cry because they couldnt buy Chinese made Iphones and chemical MC Donalds burgers? I think they are deeply emotional about this.
I’m sorry to say for the US and Europe, but they almost dont produce anything that cant be bought from non-western countries.
This article gonna age like milk. Inshallah.
Russian Federation will NOT exist on political maps in near future. Inshallah.
Mark my words.
As a muslim from Russia, this website doesn’t understand Russia and what’s happening in Russia right now.