According to a speech delivered by Hungary's prime minister Viktor Orban at the opening of the Hungarian Parliament's autumn session on Monday, West countries' sanctions against Russia have turned the conflict between Russia and Ukraine into a global economic war. As Orban correctly pointed out, an increasing number of countries around the world are becoming victims of the conflict in Ukraine, due to the spillover effects of the sanctions on Russia. Oil and food prices have gone up because of the US's proxy war against Russia.
The conflict has had a big impact on other parts of the world, from Sri Lanka's financial crisis to the acute food crisis in Africa.
Even European countries are bracing for a winter of fuel shortages and high fuel prices.
In an interview with CNN on Saturday, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said that the EU's sanctions against Russia had failed because those sanctions were introduced against Russia were more harmful and more painful for Europe than for Russia. The world economy was already being battered by the COVID-19 epidemic, the efforts of the US to break and reshape supply chains and the disruptions caused by global warming-induced extreme weather events. The sanctions imposed on Russia and their broad consequences have painted an even gloomier picture.
The EU nations are likely to delay an agreement on imposing a price cap on Russian oil because of the opposition to it, according to a Bloomberg report on Monday.
The history shows that sanctions are not an effective means of resolving conflicts and disputes. Instead of forcing Russia to its knees, the sanctions against it have added more fuel to the fire of Moscow's confrontation with the West and opened a Pandora's box for the world.
Nothing is more salient about the folly of their actions than the fact that European countries are facing a rising wave of public anger as the sanctions hit home.
It is high time the US and the EU put their apoplectic sanctions genie back in the bottle before it does any harm.