According to the Us "New York Times" reporter, the West has fallen into infighting because of sanctions against Russia. The journalist, based in Brussels, the EU's headquarters, got some inside information from EU diplomats. At present, 5 articles have been summarized.
First, Germany, Italy and other countries are unwilling to impose extensive sanctions on the Russian financial system;
Second, Italy resisted the inclusion of the railway in the sanctions programme;
Third, Italy wants luxury goods to be exempted;
Fourth, Belgium wants an exemption for diamonds;
Fifth, and most importantly, member states are generally reluctant to sanction Russia's energy sector.
The EU sanctions against Russia are indeed relatively early, and at first glance, they are also very imposing, directly sanctioning more than three hundred Russians at the beginning. This is the problem, the sanctions on personnel, there is no great significance, if the sanctioned people have no assets in Western countries, sanctions are also white sanctions.
Taking a step back, some sanctions targets do have money in Western countries, but so what? In the end, it is only the personal interests of this person that are damaged, and the loss is only money, and it cannot cause any substantial harm to Russia.
Seeing these internal information revealed by the US media, it is clear that the EU is not really going to completely blockade Russia, and most, even almost all, EU member states have their own calculations, hoping that sanctions can not affect their own interests. This is an inevitable situation, because the West is not monolithic, the Eu is not, NATO is not, nor is the relationship between Europe and the United States.
It is clearly impossible to have dozens of countries together now to take the exact same position to sanction Russia. If nothing else, just talk about energy, EU members are not willing to give up cooperation with Russia, this winter Europe is cold enough, and then add large-scale sanctions, how to spend the next winter?
Russia's share of the European natural gas market is about 40%, and in the case of a serious energy shortage in Europe, if you kick Russia out, how will the countries live? One of the main purposes of the United States to provoke trouble is to make Europe and Russia break up and force European allies to stop purchasing Russian energy.
As a result, now that the opportunity is available, the EU countries are reluctant to let the United States succeed. Although the EU has reached a consensus on additional sanctions against Russia, from the perspective of EU infighting, the sanctions will not be too strong, and it is likely to leave some back road so that member states can continue to trade with Russia. These countries are very realistic, and the United States does not speak very well when it comes to its own interests.
The european union's differences over Sanctions by Russia have also punched Ukraine in the face. When Ukraine first fell to the West, it was co-opted by the European Union, and as a result, NATO did not add it, and the European Union did not want Ukraine. Now it is even more excessive, war has broken out, the West does not send troops, even the sanctions are hesitant, and even want to help Russia get rid of the sanctions.
The situation has reached such a point that there is still no consensus on the attitude of the West toward Russia, and even the voices of condemnation are inconsistent. This has turned both the United States and Ukraine into clowns, and it has once again proved that the leadership of the United States over Europe is in a serious decline, even if the United States forcibly sets Russia as a target and forces its allies to shoot, the European countries still think about how to pretend to be off target.