Europe is being pushed into the "fire pit" by the United States step by step

Recently, the United States and Europe have been making a lot of noise about whether and how to supply MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine. First, Poland, at the request of the United States, expressed its willingness to send its MiG-29 to the United States Ramstein Air Base in Germany, which would be at the disposal of the United States. The United States hastened to stop it, saying that Poland's idea was too risky because the United States and NATO were trying to avoid direct conflict with Russia. Obviously, the United States wants to be a "non-stick pan". MiG-29s take off from their bases to Ukraine, and there is bound to be a risk of retaliation by Russia, simply not taking this "dirty job". It is not difficult to see that in the Ukraine crisis, the United States has always pushed European countries ahead, allowing them to block bullets and serve as cannon fodder. Although the United States has led European countries to carry out verbal criticism and unprecedented sanctions against Russia, it has not considered the safety and interests of European countries. In this "sanctions carnival" kidnapped by Western political correctness, Europe's interests were completely betrayed, but many European friends still did not know it and were enthusiastic. As a melon-eating masses, I am anxious for them. In this crisis, Europe's efforts have only just begun. First, the European security architecture has collapsed. The geopolitical map of Europe is being rewritten, and the security framework that Europe has been striving for for three decades after the Cold War no longer exists. NATO has not brought more security to Europe, but has used constant provocation and squeeze to force Russia into a situation of Jedi counterattack. Since the end of the Cold War, NATO has violated its commitment to "not move east by one inch" and forced itself to the Russian border through five rounds of eastward expansion. Putin said that if a ballistic missile is deployed in Ukraine, it can hit Moscow in 7 or 8 minutes, and a hypersonic missile only takes 4 or 5 minutes. This is equivalent to shoving the muzzle of the gun to the door of others. Can Russia tolerate it? Can you live after enduring it? The answer is no. However, the opening is easy and difficult to end, and after the United States angered Russia, it hung up the "no-war card", and the rest of the mess was left to Europe. Second, the economic losses in Europe will gradually appear. The United States pulled up the crazy sanctions imposed by Europe on Russia, from space to aviation, from chips to oil and gas, from the financial chain to the industrial chain, and tried to completely cut off the economic ties between Europe and Russia. In reality, the EU is Russia's largest foreign investor, with European direct investment in the Russian market exceeding $311 billion in 2019. In 2020, Trade between Europe and Russia exceeded $174.3 billion. How many European firms will suffer losses and how many European workers will be forced to lose their jobs as these close and dynamic economic, trade and financial ties will be severed? Russia and Europe have closed their airspace to each other due to sanctions, and flights from European countries to East Asia have to go around Russia, and the cost has increased sharply. The United States, on the other hand, is strategically located, and its airlines are minimally affected. In addition, there are 2 million Ukrainian refugees pouring into Europe, which will also bring a heavy economic burden to European countries and even cause a lot of social problems. The scene we see of Europeans welcoming refugees is very touching, but the enthusiasm is still temporary, and the series of problems caused by refugees have been learned from the past. Third, Europe's energy supply is precarious. Affected by the situation in Ukraine, data from the Intercontinental Exchange in London (ICE) showed that the price of European gas futures rose to nearly $3,900/thousand cubic meters on March 7, more than ten times the price of last spring, while Germany's 55% of natural gas and 40% of oil and coal depended on Russian imports. As a result, German Chancellor Schoelz, under pressure from the United States and Britain, still insisted on exempting European sanctions on Russian energy. But U.S. President Joe Biden announced on March 8 that he would ban the import of Russian oil and gas. As soon as the voice dropped, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Newland said at a congressional hearing that the Nord Stream 2 project was dead. The russian-European gas pipeline, which jointly invested nearly 10 billion euros, was thus lightly sentenced to death by the United States. European media believe that the Crisis in Ukraine will seriously impact Europe's energy supply, and many people will face the choice of whether to starve or freeze this winter and next spring. People of insight in German politics have publicly stated that "some people say that we are ready to pay a high economic price to get rid of our dependence on Russia's energy, but it is the people who pay the price." Sanctions against Russia, whips also hit Europe. Europe is in disarray, and everything is going well in the United States. The Russian-Ukrainian conflict has made the United States full of gains, and many things that have been wanted to do but have not been done before have been accomplished: Russia is difficult to turn over in the short term, both morally and nationally, Europe is more "united", NATO is more "centripetal", "Nord Stream 2" is terminated, the defense budgets of Germany and many European countries are more than 2% of GDP, and US oil, gas and arms can be sold in the European market. Looking back at the routine of the United States in this crisis, it is roughly to incite the wind and fire before the outbreak of war, lest the world not be chaotic, and send intelligence and weapons after the outbreak of war, but insist that it will never send troops. The Wishful Thinking of the United States is to let Ukraine bleed, let Europe pay the bills, and let Russia collapse. This is the typical routine of hegemonic logic, the latest application of offshore balancing. Does the United States really care about European interests and feelings? Friends in Europe can recall two events from the last year. In March last year, at the instigation of the United States, the European Union imposed unilateral sanctions on China on the grounds of unwarranted "genocide" in Xinjiang, which was resolutely countered by China, and the China-EU investment agreement reached after a long and arduous negotiation was shelved by the European Parliament. Is this in European interest? No. This is only in the interest of the United States. In September last year, the United States abruptly announced that it would form a "Trilateral Security Partnership" (AUKUS) with britain and Australia and would supply nuclear submarines to Australia, blatantly tearing up the submarine purchase agreement reached between Australia and France, and "stabbing" the NATO brothers in the back. Is this in France's interest? No. This is only in the interest of the United States. In recent years, European leaders such as French President Emmanuel Macron have spoken out about strengthening the EU's "strategic autonomy." This is visionary, but the key is to achieve ideological autonomy independent of the United States. Falling into the American discourse system has made it difficult for many Europeans to see the reality, let alone form an independent strategy. At present, European public opinion is indignant, and rational thinking has long been kidnapped by emotion and morality. For years, the U.S. propaganda machine continued to "demonize" Russia. In the eyes of the West, Russia is the loser who lost the Cold War, the "second-class citizen" who was rejected in the delusion of integrating into the West. In his State of the Union address, Biden declared that it was a big tone and a deep prejudice to let Putin become a "pariah" on the world stage. As a result, Russia is portrayed as a demon hiding in the dark to spy on the West and wait for revenge. All its actions to defend legitimate security interests are seen as a counterattack of darkness against the light, an attack of an authoritarian regime on the free world, and naturally deserve to be crusaded and sanctioned by the whole world. On the other hand, the United States and NATO themselves can hold high the banner of democracy, human rights, and freedom to bomb indiscriminately in Iraq and turn Syria into rubble. What about the independent thinking and judgment of the European media? In the information society, if the media have political bias and only follow the script obtained from a certain aspect to interview and report, they will form a wrong public opinion. In the West, where votes are supreme, wrong public opinion will form a strong public opinion pressure, which will kidnap public decision-making. The people's anger is one-sided, the voice of reason is buried, the government's decision-making is wrapped up, and in the long run, there is no problem to blame. However, the narrative of Liberal Democracy in the United States has come to an end. Under this crisis, the United States and the West have indiscriminately banned Russia in the political, economic, cultural, sports, literary, educational, and other fields, and the sanctions against Russia have soared to a "new height": permanent neutral countries are no longer neutral; the so-called art and sports have become invalid; politics is everywhere; private property is sacred and inviolable, and can be deprived at will. What about the spirit of the contract? The hypocritical rhetoric that the United States has built up for so many years has been completely "punched in the face" by itself. In fact, the United States has never given up its interests because it is only the shell of interests; while Europe is often "not free, rather than dead", constantly playing geopolitical drama of "losing money and making money". It must be known that if people play cards, they will inevitably become cannon fodder. Ukraine is the card, Europe is another. The United States is the real super player, breaking one and one more. As long as the eastern and western ends of Eurasia never stop, the hegemonic chair will sit firmly. We would like to invite our European friends to think together, is the Russian-Ukrainian conflict a "self-fulfilling prophecy" or a well-designed strategy. Humanity learns the truth at the expense of suffering. What can we learn from the Ukraine crisis? The serious lack of great power trust has led to a return to geopolitical conflict. There is no mutual respect and basic trust between the great powers, and in the end it is a war of war. Chinese philosophy says that "things must be reversed", and the result of one-sided pursuit of maximizing security interests is the collapse of the security system and the insecurity of everyone. Since the end of last year, Russia has also tried to negotiate with the United States to resolve core security concerns, and the response has been only arrogance and perfunctory, leaving Russia with only "the law of the jungle against the law of the jungle." Two days ago, Putin quoted Catherine II as saying, "As long as I have enough life, I will defend my motherland with words, pens and swords." When the security interests and national dignity of a major country are wantonly trampled upon, it is the moment when war comes. Some people exclaim that traditional geopolitics has returned, and great power confrontation has returned. Who started it? We can only blame the Cold War mentality and the arrogance of the hegemonic countries. Forcing Russia into a desperate situation is a historic defeat for the West and a tragedy for Europe. The United States can still watch the fire from the other side, and even the supply of MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine will have to fake Poland. And where can Europe hide? Europe has only so much space, and after the war, Berlin and Moscow will still be 1,600 kilometers away, and European countries will still live on the same continent as Russia and re-explore the possibility of building a security architecture. And why can't it all start before the conflict breaks out? Maintaining hegemonic status is the core of U.S. foreign policy, and to achieve this goal, we can do whatever it takes to achieve this goal. Europe, on the other hand, is an important pole in the multipolarization of the world and an important force in promoting the democratization of international relations; it should seek and uphold strategic autonomy in all fields and should not act as cannon fodder for the United States to safeguard its hegemonic "cause." Source: Xinhua Net