Why US can’t get along with other major global powers
Sam Matema is the MP for Buhera Central constituency and Zanu PF Manicaland Provincial Spokesperson, and writes here in his personal capacity.
UKRAINE is a convenient tool for the United States to weaken and contain Russia, and to force its European allies to keep their discipline and obey.
This is all part of an international struggle for a new form of hierarchy.
Of course, it is just a temporary phenomenon until a new balance of power, recognised by all, is established.
Until this point is reached, we will see foreign policy experiments by various countries.
The position of small and medium-sized states is increasingly attracting the attention of the great powers, which are negotiating the formation of a new balance.
We are at a point where a small state can demand much more than it would get in a system of rigid hierarchy.
The US sincerely believes that foreign policy is part of domestic policy.
Moreover, every American external strategy is a component of internal struggles.
Of course, the country’s self-absorption makes its allies near and far very nervous and creates uncertainty in the development of the situation.
I do not see any objective conditions for Washington to reduce its involvement in Ukrainian affairs, at present.
The current decision to suspend funding is of a technical nature: Most likely, the US will find a way to transfer the necessary funds to Ukraine from another source.
The US is eliminating any impulses for strategic autonomy by Western Europeans and is cutting off resources from that side of the continent.
The Americans “sold” the conflict to the Euros as a quick victory over Russia, which would lead to easier access to large amounts of resources and the opportunity to enrich themselves.
As the conflict has dragged on, the relative gains for both the Americans and the Western Europeans have begun to decline. The resources that the latter should be using for their own development are now being channelled either into the purchase of energy resources, the main material basis of any development, at inflated prices, or into the supply of arms and military equipment to Ukraine.
Therefore, I believe that we will not see anything new in the American strategy, and since the new draft of the Russian budget assumes the preservation of military conditions for the next three years, I do not believe that the Americans will be ready to abandon their asset in the form of Ukraine.
There is another observation: that Americans never“hold”a falling asset.
As investors, they realise that they need to put their dollars into something else quickly. And maybe at some point they will get the feeling that Ukraine is an asset that is constantly costing them money but has stopped adding value.
The Americans could be forced to withdraw their support from Ukraine by an emergency situation in another part of the world, which would force them to concentrate their efforts there.
The suspension of funding for Ukraine would not have happened if Kiev had shown signs of being a good investment, and if the media image of a “victorious Ukraine”and“doomed Russia”painted by the Americans was a reality.
The problem for Ukraine and the West is that the constant production of illusory ideas is not supported by reality. This makes it harder to“hold”the asset.
Instead of positive images associated with victory: triumph, good returns on investment, other news comes in: a stalled offensive, corruption scandals, President Vladimir Zelensky’s attempt to pressure allies, scandals with Nazi collaborators in which he is directly involved.
Throughout the decades, as the large Ukrainian diaspora in Canada has grown in influence, the US has turned a blind eye to the cult around the OUN-UPA [Ukrainian nationalists who were aligned with Adolf Hitler’s Germany] in its ranks, where it is common to honour Nazi collaborators and indoctrinate children in schools.
The Ukrainian government, realising that this is already a legitimised phenomenon, is beginning to use it in its official propaganda.
However, some changes are taking place: For the first time, the Americans are correcting the Ukrainians when they stage provocations, including information provocations, in an attempt to shift responsibility for their crimes onto Russia.
The missile strike on civilian facilities in Kostantinovka, which by a strange set of circumstances coincided with Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to Kiev, was attributed by Ukrainian propaganda as a “Russian crime.”
• Full story on www.herald.co.zw