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U.S. double standards in Ukraine crisis testify to sole purpose of global domination

Published

4 years ago

March 25, 2022

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

‘Ombugadu Is a Brand, Not a Title’ — PDP Chieftain

Published

21 hours ago

September 15, 2026

Our Reporter

By Emmanuel Kuza

A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Nasarawa State, Abuga Ovie, has described the name Ombugadu as a political brand, saying the popularity and wide acceptance of the name have made David Emmanuel Ombugadu a major force in the state’s political landscape.

Ovie, who stated this in an interview on Tuesday, said what started as opposition from some of Ombugadu’s biological brothers and people he described as fathers and uncles who betrayed him for personal political interests had now assumed a wider dimension, with political parties allegedly joining the battle against him.

According to him, the latest development was an attempt to undermine the political value of the Ombugadu name by presenting another person with the same surname, describing it as an indication of how far some political actors were prepared to go to weaken the PDP governorship candidate.

“Ombugadu is a brand, not a title. The people are not fools. They know their own. You cannot simply bring another person bearing the same name and expect the people to forget the political identity that Ombugadu has built over the years,” he said.

He further alleged that a former governor was working to introduce a political associate who had served as Accountant-General of Nasarawa State into the political equation, with the alleged objective of destabilising the PDP and weakening its chances by ensuring that the party fields a less competitive candidate in 2027.

“The plan, as we understand it, is to destabilise the PDP and make sure the party presents a weak candidate, thereby creating an advantage for the former governor’s preferred candidate. But all those efforts have proved abortive because the national leadership of the PDP stood its ground and refused to lose its best bet for the 2027 governorship election,” Ovie said.

The PDP chieftain said the resolve of the national leadership to retain Ombugadu had demonstrated the confidence the party had in his capacity to win the governorship election, despite what he described as attempts by some political actors to frustrate his ambition.

Ovie urged political parties and their leaders to resolve their internal differences instead of concentrating their efforts on Ombugadu, whom he compared to David in the Bible, saying he remained focused despite betrayal and opposition from those close to him.

“Ombugadu is like David in the Bible. Even when his brothers forsook him, he remained focused. Today, despite the people who have betrayed him, he remains focused and has a blueprint that can rescue Nasarawa State,” he said.

He said political parties should concentrate on presenting their programmes and convincing voters about how they intend to address the challenges confronting the state rather than expending their energy on attempts to stop Ombugadu.

“Political parties should fix their problems instead of wasting their strength fighting Ombugadu. Let everybody bring their blueprint before the people and explain what they intend to do for Nasarawa State,” he said.

Ovie maintained that the 2027 election should be about ideas, competence and the future of Nasarawa State, rather than attempts to manipulate political structures or undermine individuals perceived to enjoy strong grassroots support.

He urged the people of the state, particularly the Eggon community, to remain politically vigilant and resist what he described as efforts to make them settle for less, insisting that voters would ultimately determine who enjoys their confidence at the polls.
Reduce repeated references to Ombugadu

News

200 widows benefit from empowerment outreach in Plateau

Published

1 day ago

September 15, 2026

milcah

By Israel Adamu, Jos

Two hundred widows from communities across Langtang North Central State Constituency of Plateau State have benefited from an empowerment outreach organised by Gimbiya Gani Nandir Lar under the Jagoran Talakawa movement.

The outreach, held at Pilgani in Langtang North Local Government Area, was aimed at supporting vulnerable women and drawing attention to the challenges faced by widows, particularly those struggling to provide food, pay school fees and meet other basic needs for their families.

The organiser, Nandir Lar, who is the All Progressives Congress, APC, candidate for Langtang North Central State Constituency, said the gesture was motivated by compassion and concern for vulnerable members of the society.

She stressed that the outreach was not a political programme but an expression of love and support for humanity.

Nandir Lar said: “The plight of widows may not always make headlines, but their struggles are real, painful and deserving of our collective attention.

“This is simply an expression of compassion and love for humanity. It is not a political programme.

“Our constituency is home to people with diverse needs, including mothers, widows and young people who are seeking opportunities to improve their lives.”

Former Provost of the Federal College of Education, Pankshin, Amos Chirfat, commended the initiative, saying it had brought smiles to the faces of vulnerable women in the constituency.

Minority Leader of the Langtang North Legislative Council, Dirya Sheni, also commended Nandir Lar for supporting widows and other vulnerable members of the community.

At the end of the outreach, each of the 200 beneficiaries received a 10-kilogramme bag of corn flour, seasoning and N10,000 cash

News

SCUML, REDAN Strengthen Collaboration on Anti -Money Laundering Compliance

Published

1 day ago

September 15, 2026

milcah

By Francis Wilfred

The Special Control Unit against Money Laundering (SCUML), and the Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (REDAN) have expressed commitment to ensure a full compliance with the Anti Money Laundering/Counter Finance on Terrorism/Counter Proliferation Financing, (AML/CFT/CPF) laws within the Nigeria’s real estate sector.

They made the resolve during a stakeholders’ engagement held on Thursday, September 10, 2026

The engagement focused on Mutual Evaluation readiness, risk-based supervision, beneficial ownership transparency, customer due diligence, internal controls and stronger collaboration between SCUML and the real estate sector.

Assistant Commander of the EFCC, ACE 1 Ibinabo Amachree, speaking on behalf of SCUML highlighted the strategic role of real estate operators in protecting the integrity of Nigeria’s financial system, particularly given the sector’s vulnerability to money laundering and other financial crime risks.

Amachree encouraged REDAN members to move beyond registration to ensure that compliance is embedded in their day-to-day operations. He mentioned the areas to include: understanding institutional risks, knowing customers and beneficial owners, identifying politically exposed persons, conducting appropriate sanctions screening, maintaining effective internal controls and meeting applicable reporting obligations

He, therefore, reaffirmed readiness to working closely with REDAN and other stakeholders to improve compliance, build capacity and promote a stronger culture of accountability across the real estate sector

“The message is clear: effective compliance is not just about meeting regulatory requirements; it is about protecting businesses, strengthening the real estate sector and safeguarding the integrity of Nigeria’s financial system”, she said.

In his remarks, the Chairman of REDAN, Lagos state, Mr Tony Kolawole pledged readiness to partner with SCUML in ensuring compliance with AML/CFT/CPF in the real estate sector to uphold financial integrity.

The engagement also provided an opportunity for REDAN members to share practical regulatory and operational challenges affecting the sector, reinforcing the importance of continuous dialogue between regulators and industry stakeholders.