There is growing frustration these days, particularly from the Western world, casting a shadow over the beauty of life on this planet.
One frustration is that, despite intense NATO/US involvement in Ukraine, Russia remains on a path toward winning the war. NATO’s stance, as made clear so far, isn’t primarily about Ukraine (though to some extent, it's about natural resources); it's about preventing Russia from winning in the region and proving that NATO can still effectively respond. Some people are even extreme enough to prefer the outbreak of World War III rather than ending the conflict, but let's hope those decisions are never made.
There’s frustration over the fact that, despite 14 sanction packages to date, the Russian economy isn't collapsing but, on the contrary, is finding strength, new markets, and allies. Russia is still conducting business with EU states that remain dependent on Russian natural gas. Ursula von der Leyen, the unelected president of the European Union—a political entity that technically isn't a state—is particularly unhappy with the situation.
In Germany, there’s growing frustration as its economy continues to sink due to the EU-imposed sanctions, which have backfired badly. With cheap energy gone, businesses are leaving too. If that weren't enough, more details about the Nord Stream sabotage are emerging, and they point in a direction that isn't Russia (quite the opposite, in fact).
Meanwhile, frustrations are also growing in Ukraine, where Zelensky is seeing the Middle East attracting more attention, money, and weapons, with Israel preparing for a full-scale war in that part of the world.
And what is Europe’s solution? Issue a...
"issue a €35 billion loan to support Ukraine's war-battered economy using the immobilised assets of Russia's Central Bank as collateral."
This isn't the first batch of money thrown at Ukraine. Billions upon billions have already disappeared into a black hole, yet the EU believes it needs to pump in even more.
"The €35 billion will be "undesignated" and "untargeted," according to EU officials, meaning the Ukrainian government will have maximum flexibility to spend the money."
Because, of course, this makes everything better—Ukraine, a country globally recognized for its transparency and tough stance against corruption, and generally speaking, lack of corruption*.
However, there is one country in the EU that is sane enough not to participate in this charade:
"We believe that this issue should be decided – the prolongation of the Russian sanctions – after the US elections. That was the Hungarian position," Mihály Varga, Hungary's finance minister, said on Tuesday after a ministerial meeting in Luxembourg."
At this point, there is no legal way to simply seize Russian assets (or any other assets), but it seems they've found a loophole to target the profits generated by these assets. That still doesn't make it right. Guaranteeing loans with money you don’t own is not a smart move—it’s a desperate one. Those making these decisions should remember that Russia also has control over Western assets within its own borders, and it recently gave a brief demonstration of that. It may not seem like much, but it could definitely create some serious shockwaves in Western economies if push comes to shove.
And as conclusion:
"Under the G7 plan, the windfall profits earned by the assets will be leveraged to gradually repay the amount of money that each ally will lend to Ukraine. If these profits are no longer available, the West will have to foot the bill."
That sounds like a promising future for taxpayers who are funding a war they neither want nor can likely win.
*as a side note, just recently Tatyana Vasilievna Krupa, the head of the Khmelnytsky Medical and Social Expertise Commission (Zelensky’s party) was busted with $6 million in cash, 30 real estate properties in Khmelnytsky, Lviv and Kyiv, nine luxury cars, a hotel and restaurant complex of almost 3,000 m² in Khmelnytsky, real estate in Austria, Spain and Turkey and $2.3 million in foreign currency accounts. At the same time, according to the declaration for 2023 at the place of main work, the head doctor received 597,300 hryvnia ($14,000). Among other incomes - more than 15 million hryvnia ($365,000) and 70 thousand dollars in cash. That's beyond hilarious.
