Sundays

Sundays are just for me... and blowing off steam

Friday, February 25, 2022

And European Union is even more Selfish than America!

This is a Daily Beast article probably behind the paywall. I will reprint below because it shows how Italy, Germany and Hungary are stopping full scale sanctions. Just as an aside, I think it is time to kick Hungary out of NATO. Well, and the EU, but that isn't the US' business.

By the by, the United Kingdom, no longer part of the EU, has been tougher on Russia than the EU or America.



As Ukraine buckles under Russia’s brutal invasion, sparking the worst military bloodshed on European territory since the end of World War II, European leaders are haggling over sanctions, making sure being tough won’t hurt their own economies too much in the process.

Hours after the invasion began on Thursday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen promised “massive” sanctions that would cripple Russia’s financial standing. But it was soon clear that Russia’s tentacles are so deeply embedded in Europe’s strongest economies, that punishing Putin will come at a high price. Italy has asked that luxury goods so dear to Russian oligarchs to be excluded, Germany pushed for an exemption on the energy sector before eventually halting Nord Stream 2 certification but on Thursday refused to agree to block Russia from the SWIFT bank payment system. Other countries, including Hungary, dug in hard to block the toughest sanctions on the table.

Former President of the European Council Donald Tusk tweeted an angry missive to European leaders who have so far blocked the sanctions. “In this war everything is real: Putin’s madness and cruelty, Ukrainian victims, bombs falling on Kyiv,” he wrote Friday. “Only your sanctions are pretended. Those EU government’s, which blocked tough decisions (i.a. Germany, Hungary, Italy) have disgraced themselves.”

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