A majority of people globally are on Russia’s side in relation to its conflict with Ukraine, while US influence in the international arena is declining, veteran journalist Seymour Hersh has said.
“The percentage, particularly of the African and Central Asian and South Asian countries, that have changed from being pro-America to being pro-Russia is really quite dramatic,” he noted during an interview with George Galloway, which was published on YouTube on Sunday.
“Much more than half of the world’s population supports Russia in the war and not the US. This was never the way it was,” Hersh said.
Washington has “lost so much credibility around the world” amid the conflict in Ukraine, said the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, who returned to the spotlight in February when he published a bombshell report, accusing the US of sabotaging the Nord Stream pipelines. Washington rejected the report as “utterly false and complete fiction.”
According to Hersh, an example of waning US influence is the rapprochement between former arch-rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran, which began in March.
“It’s happened because… of Ukraine and dislike of the war” and was a “big blow” to the people in the Biden administration, who “hate” Iran, he said.
As a result of the mending of ties between Tehran and Riyadh, “we’re going to have a settlement in Yemen that we – in America – could never get. We’re getting pushed out,” the 86-year-old added.
Polls show that support for Washington’s involvement in Ukraine is declining in the US as people become increasingly worried about its economic cost, Hersh said.
“America spent something like $140 billion on this war at a time when 15 million Americans were taken off free healthcare by this administration. I mean what’s going on America this is just outrageous,” he added.
The journalist expressed belief that Ukraine’s long-awaited counteroffensive is “doomed to fail” as Kiev’s military units all have different training, weapons and commanders, and seem unable to work together efficiently.
US President Joe Biden apparently thinks the conflict in Ukraine “is a ticket for him to be reelected. And it seems to me we’re in for some real political problems here in America,” Hersh predicted.