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U.S. double standards in Ukraine crisis testify to sole purpose of global domination
President Joe Biden speaks at Tidewater Community College, Monday, May 3, 2021, in Portsmouth, Va. Biden and the first lady are in coastal Virginia to promote his plans to increase spending on education and children, part of his $1.8 trillion families proposal announced last week. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
A month into the Russia-Ukraine conflict, picturing an endgame is challenging, with the White House poised to heap more pressure on the Kremlin while ignoring Moscow’s demands for security.
During the crisis, the United States, guided by its self-interests, has added fuel to the fire by delivering lethal weapons to Ukraine and imposing unprecedented sanctions on Russia.
All U.S. moves run counter to global efforts to de-escalate the conflict and won’t inspire an urgently needed ceasefire. Instead, Washington’s actions aim to shore up its global domination, and other countries are paying the price.
“STRATEGIC MISTAKE”
Before the fighting broke out, the United States had intentionally hyped up tensions between Russia and Ukraine instead of pooling efforts to smooth things over. With the situation worsening, the country is wielding its political heft and flexing its economic muscles to corner Russia, many experts have said.
For the United States, “the relative ease of imposing economic sanctions has made them the foreign-policy option of first resort, despite a growing body of evidence that they often fail to achieve their goals,” Fortune magazine wrote on Feb. 24, when Russia launched the special military operation.
“In some cases, experience has shown that sanctions only entrench undesirable behavior from the parties they target,” it added.
“The tool of sanctions has become a tired tool,” Stephen Biegun, former U.S. deputy secretary of state under ex-president Donald Trump, was quoted in the report as saying.
The use of sanctions, Biegun added, “has not seemed to significantly alter the behavior of any foreign party whose actions are of concern to the United States.”
Michael O’Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said in an interview with Xinhua on Wednesday that the continuous expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has reached an “extreme” point and that the Russian reaction of launching its military operation “was predictable.”
“In that sense, we made a strategic mistake,” he said.
To further isolate Moscow, the United States has proposed excluding Russia from the Group of 20, attempting to blur the line between global economic cooperation and political security.
The U.S.-led response to Russia laid bare double standards and was “hysterical,” which even includes sanctions on cats and dogs, Jin Canrong, professor at the School of International Studies of Renmin University of China, told Xinhua on Thursday.
U.S. DOUBLE STANDARDS
The double standards employed by Washington on Ukraine have once again revealed the essence of its foreign policy — which put America’s interests first — despite politically-glorified slogans of defending peace, democracy, human rights and freedom.
While chanting freedom of speech, the United States forced Russia’s English news channel RT America to cease production earlier this month as part of its whole-of-the-system information campaign to mute Russia. Furthermore, several U.S. social media platforms have rushed to close accounts and delete content seen as pro-Moscow.
“They’re afraid of even a single voice coming out as challenging the power elite, questioning them, daring to hold a dissenting view,” former Democratic Representative Tulsi Gabbard said recently. “And they’re afraid because their arguments are so weak that they know they will not withstand the light of the truth.”
Ted Galen Carpenter, a senior fellow for defense and foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute, a think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C., concluded as early as 2018 that the United States has had “too many foreign policy double standards.” However, its leaders like to portray the nation “as an exemplar of ethical conduct in the international system.”
“Such blatant hypocrisy and double standards continue today,” Carpenter said. “U.S. leaders need to be candid with the American people and acknowledge that their decisions are based on cold calculations of national interest, not ethical considerations.”
Double standards were boldly on display when the U.S. urged European countries to absorb people fleeing Ukraine while indifferent to refugees from certain war-torn places in the Middle East and parts of Asia, whose suffering has stemmed mainly from years-long, hegemony-sustaining military operations led by the United States.
Residents of Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, took to the streets in mid-February to condemn the White House for its decision to free up 3.5 billion U.S. dollars in Afghan assets held in the United States for families of 9/11 victims and urged America to provide financial compensation for the tens of thousands of Afghans killed during 20 years of war in the landlocked nation.
“Money stolen from Afghans, an economy destroyed,” tweeted Sana Saeed, a host and senior producer of AJ+, a social media publisher owned by Al Jazeera Media Network. “The depravity of this current crisis could have been avoided but instead the U.S. chose to starve an entire people.”
Since the end of the Cold War, the United States has waged numerous wars under the guise of “human rights over sovereignty,” putting hegemonism above the international order and domestic law above international law, Jin said.
DANGERS OF U.S. SELF-ABSORPTION
With a fixation on political coercing and economic bullying, Washington has tried to shore up its leadership while letting European countries foot the bill for soaring energy prices, rising military expenses and the heavy burden of absorbing a massive influx of refugees.
The United States is the “remote controller” of the current Russia-Ukraine crisis while Ukraine has become the “cannon fodder,” Chen Fengying, a researcher with the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said in a recent interview with Xinhua.
Chen said “the sanctions imposed by the United States on Russia are limitless and unprecedented,” adding that the current international order has been “disrupted,” which might make more countries take an interests-first stance.
William Jones, Washington bureau chief of the U.S. publication Executive Intelligence Review, told Xinhua in a recent interview that Russia’s main concern about NATO eastward expansion has never been heeded by the United States, “which is only interested in maintaining its hegemonic status in Europe, and which has been steadily retreating from that collaborative policy which the West committed itself to after the Cold War.”
A major exporter of some of the world’s most essential commodities as Russia is, massive U.S. economic sanctions would undoubtedly shock the trade in commodities, disrupt global supply chains and thus weigh heavily on the fragile post-pandemic recovery of the global economy.
Ira Kalish, the chief global economist at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, said the sanctions “create a risk that trade in commodities could become disrupted, especially exports of oil and gas commodities to Europe.”
“This risk is manifested in a sizable increase in the prices of key commodities, potentially leading to even higher global inflation and weaker global growth,” said Kalish.
News
“Nigeria’s Biggest Ever Coalition, Civil Groups, Professionals, Labour, Artisans, Declare for Bola Tinubu”
In what is being described as an unprecedented political development ahead of the 2027 general elections, a broad-based national coalition cutting across civil society organisations, professional bodies, labour groups, artisan associations, and other grassroots networks has announced plans to formally endorse President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for a second term in office.
The coalition, spearheaded by the Coalition of Civil Society Organisations in Nigeria, COCSON, now extends far beyond the traditional civic space, bringing together over 1,500 groups from diverse sectors of the Nigerian society. Participants include human rights organisations, medical and legal professionals, trade and artisan unions, community-based organisations, and influential labour leaders, reflecting a wide national spread and multi-sectoral backing.
The historic convention is scheduled to hold on May 17, 2026, where leaders and representatives of the various groups are expected to converge in what organisers say will be the largest endorsement gathering in Nigeria’s history. The event will serve as the official platform for the coalition to collectively declare support for President Tinubu’s re-election bid.
In a major demonstration of grassroots mobilisation, the coalition also revealed plans to submit a compiled total of 20 million signatures of Nigerians who have endorsed the President’s candidacy. The signatures, gathered through extensive nationwide engagement, are being positioned as a clear indication of public support cutting across regions, professions, and social strata.
Organisers of the event stated that the decision to back President Tinubu is driven by what they described as tangible strides in economic reforms, governance, and national stability. They emphasised that the inclusion of non-traditional actors such as artisans, market groups, and labour unions underscores a broader national consensus that transcends the usual civil society framework.
Political analysts say the scale and diversity of this coalition mark a significant shift in Nigeria’s political landscape, where support structures are no longer confined to political parties and elite stakeholders but are increasingly driven by a fusion of grassroots and professional constituencies.
As momentum builds towards the May 17 convention, observers are keenly watching how this expansive alliance will shape political narratives and influence voter sentiment in the lead-up to the 2027 elections.
Further details on the convention and breakdown of participating groups are expected to be unveiled in the coming days.
In what is being described as an unprecedented political development ahead of the 2027 general elections, a broad-based national coalition cutting across civil society organisations, professional bodies, labour groups, artisan associations, and other grassroots networks has announced plans to formally endorse President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for a second term in office.
The coalition, spearheaded by the Coalition of Civil Society Organisations in Nigeria, COCSON, now extends far beyond the traditional civic space, bringing together over 1,500 groups from diverse sectors of the Nigerian society. Participants include human rights organisations, medical and legal professionals, trade and artisan unions, community-based organisations, and influential labour leaders, reflecting a wide national spread and multi-sectoral backing.
The historic convention is scheduled to hold on May 17, 2026, where leaders and representatives of the various groups are expected to converge in what organisers say will be the largest endorsement gathering in Nigeria’s history. The event will serve as the official platform for the coalition to collectively declare support for President Tinubu’s re-election bid.
In a major demonstration of grassroots mobilisation, the coalition also revealed plans to submit a compiled total of 20 million signatures of Nigerians who have endorsed the President’s candidacy. The signatures, gathered through extensive nationwide engagement, are being positioned as a clear indication of public support cutting across regions, professions, and social strata.
Organisers of the event stated that the decision to back President Tinubu is driven by what they described as tangible strides in economic reforms, governance, and national stability. They emphasised that the inclusion of non-traditional actors such as artisans, market groups, and labour unions underscores a broader national consensus that transcends the usual civil society framework.
Political analysts say the scale and diversity of this coalition mark a significant shift in Nigeria’s political landscape, where support structures are no longer confined to political parties and elite stakeholders but are increasingly driven by a fusion of grassroots and professional constituencies.
As momentum builds towards the May 17 convention, observers are keenly watching how this expansive alliance will shape political narratives and influence voter sentiment in the lead-up to the 2027 elections.
Further details on the convention and breakdown of participating groups are expected to be unveiled in the coming days.
☆☆☆As Troops Foil Series of Ambushes.
Troops of the Nigerian Army under operation Hadin Kai have foiled a series of ambush by suspected members of the Islamic State West Africa Province (I SWAP) terrorist along the Monguno in Borno state.
Islamic state of West Africa province (ISWAP) have attacked the Nigerian army from Monguno 242 Battion Barrack in Borno State on their way to reinforce the camp.
A serving Nigerian Army Colonel was reportedly killed in an ambush by insurgents in Monguno, Borno State, during a reinforcement mission
Source added said that colonel I.A. Muhammad was ambushed by ISWAP and killed along with four other soldiers.
Community confirmed that the troops who were on a fighting patrol as part of operation,came under fire from suspected terrorists
As of the time of felling this report, there has been no official statements from the Nigerian Army regarding the accident.
Hon. Yakubu Dogara, former Speaker of the House of Representatives and Chairman of the Credit Guarantee Company Limited (NCGC), has joined Nigerians and the global business community in celebrating Alhaji Aliko Dangote on his 69th birthday. In a detailed tribute, Dogara described Dangote as “a visionary whose life’s work has become a cornerstone of Africa’s economic transformation.”
Dogara emphasized that Dangote’s entrepreneurial journey is one of resilience and foresight. From humble beginnings, he built the Dangote Group into Africa’s largest conglomerate, with investments spanning cement, sugar, salt, fertilizers, and the landmark Dangote Refinery. These ventures, Dogara noted, have not only revolutionized industries but also created millions of jobs, strengthened Nigeria’s economy, and reduced dependence on imports. “Alhaji Dangote is not just an entrepreneur; he is a nation-builder whose vision has redefined what is possible for Nigeria and Africa,” Dogara said.
He pointed out that the Dangote Refinery, in particular, represents a turning point in Nigeria’s energy sector, offering the promise of self-sufficiency in petroleum products and positioning the country as a major player in global energy markets. “This singular achievement underscores his commitment to solving Africa’s most pressing challenges through bold and innovative solutions,” Dogara remarked.
Beyond his industrial empire, Dogara praised Dangote’s philanthropy through the Dangote Foundation, which has invested heavily in healthcare, education, and humanitarian relief. From building hospitals and funding scholarships to providing aid during crises, Dangote’s generosity has touched countless lives across the continent. “His philanthropy reflects a deep commitment to humanity. He has shown that true greatness lies not only in building industries but also in uplifting lives,” Dogara added.
Dogara also reflected on the inspirational power of Dangote’s story, stressing that his rise from modest beginnings to global prominence serves as a beacon of hope for young Africans. “His journey proves that with hard work, faith, and determination, Africans can build enterprises that rival the best in the world. He remains a shining example of African excellence,” he concluded.
As Dangote celebrates his 69th birthday, his legacy continues to resonate far beyond Nigeria’s borders. His life stands as a testament to the transformative power of vision, enterprise, and compassion—an enduring reminder that Africa’s future can be defined by innovation, resilience, and generosity
“Nigeria’s Biggest Ever Coalition, Civil Groups, Professionals, Labour, Artisans, Declare for Bola Tinubu”
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