By sanctioning Russia without a plan for replacement fuel, the European Union may have hurt itself more than Moscow in its drive to punish Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, former British diplomat Alastair Crooke told RT.
NATO’s economic attack on Russia has split world powers into “two separate spheres,” Crooke explained on RT’s ‘Going Underground’ on Saturday. He argued that by completely decoupling the price of commodities from the US dollar, sanctions on Russia have essentially dynamited the credibility of the fiat currency system, and Brussels has made the wrong move by rushing forward to bludgeon Russia with sanctions without lining up a backup source of fuel.
“In many ways, Europe has not sanctioned Russia, it has sanctioned itself,” Crooke said, pointing out that the conflict in Ukraine is essentially being paid for by $100 billion in EU funds previously sent to Moscow to pay for fuel, and the the Western Europeans “cannot get gas from anywhere else that will substitute for Russian gas.” By cutting itself off without lining up a backup, the continent has signed its own death warrant, as citizens will have a difficult time surviving under double-digit inflation without critical (now-sanctioned) commodities like fertilizer and certain types of food, he continued.
“I don’t see any sign that Europeans gave any thought to the strategic consequences of what they were doing,” Crooke observed, suggesting the “fervor” to take down Russia had eclipsed its common sense. The EU gets 40% of its gas from Russia, while the US’ offer of liquefied natural gas will only cover 4% of its needs and Qatar cannot supply the remainder.
“They go into these things without any thinking and they suddenly say ‘we’re going to divest ourselves from any reliance on Russian oil or gas within the year’ - How?” Crooke asked incredulously, marveling at how the continent could not have predicted that Russia would demand payment for its gas in rubles. “People are going to feel a huge amount of pain … gas and electricity have gone up 50%, they’ll probably go up another 100% before the end of this year. How are people going to survive with this?”