An analysis published by digital website Zrohedge.com, Will Biden Sanction Half the World to Isolate Russia?, assessed the obstacles the White House faces in achieving its goals against Moscow, stressing that it is no easy task will be.
From Mexico to Brazil, China and India to much of Africa, the world resists Washington’s call to treat Russia as a pariah nation, he said.
Yes, the United States would certainly do great damage to the Russian economy with its sanctions, but the damage is unlikely to be great enough to incapacitate the Moscow regime.
McMaken said this is because much of the world is showing that he plans to maintain ties with the Russians while making some efforts to avoid a direct political confrontation with Washington.
If the White House wants to carry out its policy, it must threaten many other regimes with secondary sanctions, i.e. sanctions aimed at forcing compliance with the original sanctions against Russia, he stressed.
The analyst noted that this will be diplomatically and economically costly for the United States in its plans to build alliances and economic partnerships against a potential RussoChinese bloc.
In geopolitical terms, this means that Washington seeks to directly punish and regulate foreign companies and individuals, even in cases where the United States is not involved in the trade or investment that is taking place.
“By extending very tough sanctions on Russia, Biden is significantly expanding the reach of his sanctions regime and to a country that is much more globally connected than Iran, Cuba or North Korea,” McMaken said.
It’s one thing to ask other countries to sanction a handful of small countries with a small global economic footprint. Demanding that the world follow US sanctions against a big country like Russia is another matter, he stressed.
He added that a move toward enthusiastic use of secondary sanctions would put the United States in direct conflict with those regimes that have no interest in specifically challenging Washington’s policy toward Russia but are unwilling to sever ties with Moscow.
The United States is no longer able to remake the world in its own image. This isn’t 1945 or even 1970, so Washington will find itself in a global South far more empowered than it was in the first few decades after World War II, McMaken concluded.
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