Because the anti-Putinian Ferguson questions Biden’s strategy in Ukraine
Putin, Biden and more. Bits of press review by Lodovico Festa
On Fanpage it is written: « The news of today March 31 on the Russia-Ukraine war on the 36th day of crisis. Negotiations between Kiev and Moscow will resume online from tomorrow, April 1st. Foreign Minister Lavrov: "Positive progress". Some troops withdraw from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Telephone talks between Mario Draghi and Vladimir Putin: progress of negotiations and purchase of Russian gas in rubles discussed. Fighting continues near Kiev, the mayor denounces: "No troop withdrawal". Russia announces a ceasefire in Mariupol ».
How are negotiations between Moscow and Kiev going? According to some they are proceeding.
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On the Tgcom website it is written: " Zelensky does not want to compromise:" I do not see anything concrete from the talks ", says the Ukrainian president, who reiterates on the Russian de-escalation that he" does not believe anyone ". Meanwhile, the Pentagon reports that Russian troops are moving from Kiev and Chernobyl to Belarus, but that there is no military movement in Donbass. The openings for an agreement seem to close again while the talks should return at a distance on 1 April ».
According to others, they encounter difficulties in a generalized climate of lack of trust.
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On Open it is written: «S erhiy Leshchenko is senior adviser to the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky. And in an interview released today to Corriere della Sera he explains what Italy's role will be as Kiev's guarantor in negotiations with Vladimir Putin's Russia. “We work on a written text”, explains the councilor. “We focus on the security of Ukraine, against any possible attack in the future, not only against military aggression, but also against hybrid and cyber warfare. This is why the role of the guaranteeing countries is fundamental ”, he adds. And this is because “we ask that, if we cannot be NATO members, then we are given solid security guarantees” ”.
In the meantime, however, serious progress has been made on the question of Ukraine's "neutrality".
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On Dagospia we cite an interview by Luigi Ippolito for Corriere della Sera with Niall Ferguson, in which he writes: " The problem is the United States: because the Biden administration has embarked on a strategy that aims to prolong the war , in the belief that this will lead to regime change in Russia. Biden's so-called gaffe was by no means a gaffe: Administration members have repeatedly pointed to what I call the cynical but optimistic strategy of prolonging the war and waiting for sanctions to bring Putin down. However, I find this strategy extraordinarily risky and poorly thought out ».
Ferguson is an uncompromising critic of Vladimir Putin's desperate neo-imperialism, which does not prevent him from doubting an American strategy that is not always well aware of the feasibility of its goals.
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On the Subsidiary Pasquale De Sena he says: « Moscow – let us remember, together with Beijing – does not at all question the United Nations, nor the prohibition of the use of force; although, of course, it is violating that prohibition. But why is he violating it? Beyond the Ukrainian question, it is doing so, as I have just said, to affirm that the notion of international security, as it has matured in the last thirty years under the aegis of the United States, must change ”.
De Sena, professor of international law at the Catholic University, observes how the Ukrainian crisis fits into a more general discussion of what the issue of international security is today and how Russia and China converge in rejecting what they consider a unilateralist interpretation. of the question on the American side.
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On Formiche Ferruccio Michelin writes: « What happens in Israel? On March 22, four Israelis were killed in Beer Sheba: an attacker stabbed them and then hit them with his car. On the 27 th two men opened fire on the street in Hadera, killing 2 policemen and seriously injuring 6 other people. On March 29, a Palestinian with a history of arms trafficking fired at passers-by in Bnei Brak, an Orthodox neighborhood in Tel Aviv, killing 6 people ».
It is evident that the "international disorder" originating from the Russian aggression against Ukraine will not remain limited. And the Israelis were aware of this from the very beginning.
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On the daily New Compass Lorenza Formicola writes: " The ongoing conflict and sanctions against Russia have brought the price of wheat and fertilizers to the sky: the blockade of the Black Sea directly threatens the food security of over half a billion people in the Middle East and North Africa. Egypt, Tunisia, Lebanon, Iraq, Algeria, Libya. Everyone is taking countermeasures to avoid new protests to the sound of "bread, work and dignity", as was the case at the dawn of the Arab Spring between 2010 and 2011. According to the World Food Program, for some more fragile economies, one or two are enough months to make the impact of the crisis devastating. And, in the meantime, Ramadan is about to begin – the Islamic holy month which, traditionally, involves substantial peaks in demand every year. The concomitance this year with the dizzying rise in prices caused by the Ukrainian crisis certainly has the potential to generate significant social unrest ».
Nobody should forget the explosive consequences that famines, especially in North Africa and the Middle East, can cause.
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On Formiche Francesco De Palo writes: «“ Russia is an important member of OPEC + ”, Mazrouei added,“ and this is an alliance we need ”. Both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have the potential to pump more oil, but have chosen not to change their strategy with respect to an agreement entered into with Russia that envisaged a monthly increase in production levels but determined by the degree of recovery of the economies affected by Covid and without taking into account the war in Ukraine. On the other hand, if on the one hand Moscow is a significant member, on the other hand there has been no shortage of American pressure in order to ease the prices which have risen to almost 140 dollars a barrel after the invasion of Ukraine ”.
Washington would like to align the Arab Emirates and the Saudis to its policy on Moscow. It doesn't seem like an easy task.
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On Open it is written: " The clash over the increase in military spending has become more and more lively, as tomorrow's date approaches, when the dl Ukraine, which has also implemented a specific agenda of the Brothers of Italy, will arrive at the classroom vote. During the meeting with the Senate group, the newly elected leader of the 5-star Movement, Giuseppe Conte, explained that he does not intend to support this expense, especially in the current situation of economic crisis. Immediately afterwards, the 5-star Movement released a note explaining that reaching the goal (according to the agreements it involves spending 2 percent of GDP annually in the military) is unattainable if you aim to do so by 2024. Precisely on this argument was made by the Minister of Defense, Lorenzo Guerini: "From 2019 to today we have undertaken a gradual growth of resources both on the ordinary budget and on investments, which will allow us, if the next budget laws confirm it, to reach the average of spending by the countries of the European Union adhering to NATO and then, by 2028, the achievement of the 2 per cent target ”, he explained to Ansa, speaking of military spending. In fact, the agreements provide that spending will start to rise more steadily from 2023, reaching 2 percent in 2028. Guerini also added: “Frankly, I would come out of a rough debate on figures and dates. The commitment undertaken at the headquarters Born in 2014 and reconfirmed by all the presidents of the Council who have succeeded each other since then, provided for the achievement of 2 per cent of GDP for defense spending by 2024. Since I took up the guide of this dicastery and even in these days I have always indicated both the need to respect the 2 per cent target and the gradualness with which to achieve it ” ».
Also in Italy the destabilizing effect of the Ukrainian crisis is manifested on a political framework as disintegrated as ours which holds only for the idealistic choice of a large part of the deputies and senators not to give up a few months of parliamentary allowance.
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On Dagospia it is written: « Yesterday, the new Mario Draghi also appeared, bruised by the post-Colle flop when he unloaded the five-star burden in the hands of Sergio Mattarella. A stressed Draghi who without the war would have already given up the government to his fate. For now, it is not at all sure to arrive seated at Palazzo Chigi at the vote of 2023. Perhaps, once peace is reached between Russia and Ukraine, with the peons sure of the annuity (in September), he will abandon them to their fate of escaped home and will finally be able to rest with his beloved wife in the Umbrian buen retiro ».
Draghi continues to do his duty. Even yesterday, after fixing that mediocre and improvised character of Giuseppe Conte, finally authorized by a Washington which – concluded the agreement with Berlin on gas – leaves more diplomatic freedom to Europeans, he spoke with Vladimir Putin. But it is evident how the basis of his political commitment, once he was unfortunately not elected president of the Republic, has worn out.
Article published on Tempi, here the full version
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/perche-lanti-putiniano-ferguson-si-interroga-sulla-strategia-di-biden-in-ucraina/ on Thu, 31 Mar 2022 11:22:16 +0000.