Afrasianet - Mounir Shafiq - The main reason behind the outbreak of the war in Ukraine lies in the US strategy that expanded NATO to include most of the Warsaw Pact countries and a number of former Soviet republics.

This led it to provide Ukraine with weapons that Russia considered a threat to its national security. Russia had called for the neutralization of Ukraine, so that it would remain a friend of Russia, America and Europe.

But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, prompted by the United States, refused this, and drafted a constitution for Ukraine aimed at joining the Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

That is why those who believe that Russia resorted to launching a military operation in Ukraine, for reasons related to the motive of occupying Ukraine, as part of an expansionist policy, are mistaken.

The crisis, which lasted for more than seven years (since 2014) between Russia on the one hand, and both America and the Ukrainian government, revolved around Ukraine’s inclusion in NATO, or its neutrality as Russia demands.

The war that broke out in Ukraine culminated years of the Russian-American conflict.

And America, before its outbreak, had confirmed that the war would inevitably take place on the part of Russia, because it was sure that its armament of Ukraine could not be passed by Russia, due to its serious impact on its national security.

But when the Biden administration declares, at the same time, that its number one enemy is China, and moves to aggravate the relationship between China and Taiwan, this means that it has moved into a new global phase marked by a war against Russia through Ukraine, and is preparing for a similar, or similar, war with China.

This turned the global situation, economically, politically and militarily, upside down.

The economy was the most affected in terms of rising commodity prices, spreading uncertainty in the course of international trade, and the standard of living even in the West itself. Nine months have passed since the war in Ukraine, without a single movement trying to put an end to it or limit its escalation.

On the contrary, America and Europe have stepped up arming the Ukrainian army whenever its field situation declines.

That is why Russia began to strike at the infrastructure, while the harsh winter began its rapid advance, which required more electricity, and so far half of the electric power stations have been disrupted.

What does it mean to continue the war and escalate it after nine months, despite the human and material losses it has caused, and the damage it is causing?

In spite of the devastation it warns of through conventional weapons, as well as approaching the doorways of limited nuclear power, which can be entered into the unlimited?

When the war began, it took the form of a Russian military operation, but today whoever follows the scene of the flow of weapons from America, Britain and Europe, to participate in the war against Russia, sees that war emerging from being Russian-Ukrainian, to becoming an American-European world war against Russia. Here, the European military intervention, especially the German and French, needs an in-depth reading of this participation with America in fueling the war, at a time when the two countries expressed, through several official positions, severe criticism of the American policies, which acted and are acting with the highest degrees of selfishness, in the economic benefit over Calculating the European economy, but rather reaping the gains from Europe itself?

Europe is economically contradictory to America, and it cannot be underestimated or underestimated in causing damage to Europe, but it is almost identical to it in terms of military support for Ukraine, and in its political position against Russia and China.

This duplication and contradiction is contrary to the "nature of things" as they say, or contrary to the basics in military, economic and political affairs.

It is true that the importance of the economy declines when the political and military conflict progresses, but in the American-European case there is a problem in the selfish American behavior towards the European economy, at a time when they are fighting a joint war, which obliges America to take into account the status of an ally on whom it imposed a war in which it did not consult it.

And he began to lose economically, not only for the necessities of the war, but also for America’s direct exploitation of him, and he is turning to buying oil and gas from it, instead of Russian oil and gas, for example, and in many other fields.

The question is: Is this equation sustainable in Europe, if the war is prolonged and does not become a direct war waged by Germany, France and Italy?

Perhaps the coming winter, and what will result from the war in Ukraine, in terms of military results on the one hand, and human life consequences on living on the other hand, will decide the fate of this contradiction or its continuation, as they will indicate the next course of the world, in the short and medium term.

Then how if America escalated with China and involved it, in one way or another, in a military, economic or political war, as is the case with Russia, given that Russia is China's major military ally?

Therefore, what is required is to remove Russia from the conflict in order to devote itself to the latent war against China, because China is the candidate to become the world's largest country No. 1, to replace America in the position. Staying in the position of the No. 1 major country in relation to America is a matter of life and death.

In short, the basis of the problem is embodied in controlling the world, as it relates to unlimited global plunder, through the role that the dollar plays in commercial and financial transactions in the entire world.

Therefore, the loss of this role is not accepted by America, before it reaches the brink of total destruction, which is reflected in the current American strategy, starting with the war in Ukraine.