From: rking164@comcast.net   
      
   U.S. counterproductive practices are making troubles for political settlement   
   of Ukraine crisis   
   By Zhong Sheng (People's Daily) 09:01, March 31, 2022   
   NATO recently convened a summit as the Ukraine crisis entered its second   
   month. Promoting peace and talks for an early ceasefire should have been a   
   priority for the U.S.-led alliance. However, the messages sent by the summit   
   were disappointing.   
      
   As the initiator of the crisis, the U.S. did not introspect about its   
   responsibilities or try to prevent the war from further escalating. On the   
   contrary, it was passing the buck and claimed that it would provide massive   
   weapons for Ukraine and impose    
   further sanctions against Russia.   
      
   This is merely pouring oil on the flames. It will erect greater obstacles to   
   resolving the crisis through political means and bring bigger consequences for   
   world and regional peace and prosperity. What the U.S. has done bears little   
   resemblance to the    
   responsibilities that a major country should shoulder. It was purely motivated   
   by the habitual practice of a hegemonic country to reach its hegemonic goals   
   through making crises.   
      
   Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger once said that to be an enemy   
   of America can be dangerous, but to be a friend is fatal, which has been   
   proven right repeatedly by the crises the country started and escalated around   
   the world.   
      
   The following thread clearly illustrates the development of the Ukraine crisis   
   - the U.S. made a cheap promise of NATO membership to Ukraine to trap the   
   latter into confrontations with Russia, and then funded Ukraine hundreds of   
   millions of dollars of    
   military aid while shouting to be preserving peace. Such practice only   
   exemplified the hypocrisy of the U.S.   
      
   The direction in which the Ukraine crisis developed is highly dependent on   
   what the U.S. does. Former U.S. congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard said that the war   
   between Russia and Ukraine could have been avoided had the U.S. promised to   
   not allow Ukraine to join    
   the NATO.   
      
   However, this is not what the U.S. did. The U.S.-led military alliance   
   expanded eastward five times, moving its strategic border to Russia’s   
   gateway. This indicated that the U.S. has no intention of deescalating the   
   conflict between Russia and Ukraine,    
   but rather wishes to exacerbate it. The U.S. is taking Ukraine as a pawn on   
   its geopolitical chess board, so as to contain Russia, suffocate Europe's   
   strategic independence, and shore up its collapsing hegemony in Europe.   
      
   For the European allies of the U.S., they are paying a tangible price for the   
   war, such as the Russia-Ukraine conflict at their doorsteps, inflows of   
   refugees, and energy shortage. However, the U.S. that boasts rich gas and   
   petroleum resources and sits    
   on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, is profiting handsomely from the   
   upheaval. After the World War II, the U.S. has always purported to be a   
   guardian of world peace, but as a matter of fact, it's more of a guardian of   
   its private interests as a    
   country that worships "America first."   
      
   Putting the blame on other countries to safeguard its own hegemony is a usual   
   practice of the U.S. From the onset of the Ukraine crisis, the U.S. accused   
   China of not preventing the war knowing it was inevitable, made nonsense that   
   Russia requested    
   military assistance from China, and hypocritically called on all countries   
   including China to safeguard international order.   
      
   On the Ukraine issue, China speaks for justice and works for peace with a   
   long-term vision. It is always playing a constructive role. It supports all   
   efforts that are conducive to easing the situation and seeking political   
   settlement and opposes any act    
   that is counterproductive to reaching diplomatic resolution or even leads to   
   escalation.   
      
   By smearing and defaming China, the U.S. just aims to pass the duck and   
   contain China. The U.S. practices reflect that the country, driven by Cold War   
   mentality, is acting like a hegemon, a bully and boss of the world. The U.S.   
   should understand that to    
   resolve the Ukraine crisis, talks and negotiations are necessary. Defining   
   "rule-based international order" with unilateral standards and forcing other   
   countries to pick a side will never work.   
      
   The U.S. never cares about the general interests of the world as it pursues   
   its own hegemony. At present, countries around the world are already having a   
   hard time coping with the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuring economic development   
   and livelihood.    
   However, the U.S. is ignoring global stability and the work and life of   
   billions of people around the world, arbitrarily imposing all-round and   
   undifferentiated sanctions against Russia. It even claimed that if other   
   countries do not cooperate with it on    
   the sanctions, it may implement retaliatory measures.   
      
   Such an abuse of sanctions is a common practice of the U.S. Just in the past   
   20 years, the number of U.S. sanctions has increased tenfold. However, the   
   world is not getting any better because of these sanctions.   
      
   A recent Newsweek article pointed out that sanctions on Russia would fail   
   without diplomacy. The White House knows the point, too, but it is still   
   imposing sanctions, not to ease the situation, but to economically contain   
   Russia in the long run.   
      
   Both history and reality have proved that sanctions will not result in peace   
   and security, but only lose-lose or no-win situations. They will only   
   aggravate the sluggish world economy and further exacerbate separation and   
   confrontation.   
      
   To create space for peace and political settlement should be an obligation of   
   all responsible countries, especially the major ones. If the U.S. really wants   
   to alleviate tensions in Ukraine, it should refrain from pouring oil on the   
   flames, stop wielding    
   the big stick of sanctions, stop slandering other countries, and stand with   
   justice and peace.   
      
   (Zhong Sheng is a pen name often used by People's Daily to express its views   
   on foreign policy and international affairs.)    
      
   (Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun)   
      
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