Asian Tribune July 1, 2022

English Page
Issue 310 (9) Asian Tribune July 1, 2022
Editorial
G7 & the war
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson
has rightly accused Russia of war crimes
after a missile strike on a crowded shopping
centre in Ukraine which killed 18
people and wounded over 59. He lashed
out at Russian President Vladimir Putin’s
“cruelty and barbarism”. In a joint statement
issued on Monday, G7 leaders also
remained “steadfast in our solidarity with
Ukraine, and reaffirm our unwavering
commitment to support the Government
and people of Ukraine in their courageous
defence of their country’s sovereignty
and territorial integrity, and in their fight
for a peaceful, prosperous and democratic
future”. This will enthuse Ukrainian
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy who,
along with other Ukrainians, has been
fighting valiantly against the much bigger
and more powerful Russia. The US-led
West’s support for the besieged eastern
European nation has been admirable; so
also is the way they weaponised their financial
dominance and used it against
Moscow. Besides, their support to Ukraine
by way of arming it with the latest arms
and armaments is praiseworthy. The
same, however, cannot be said about its
effectiveness. Despite months of debilitating
sanctions against Russia, its war
machine is still buzzing. After over a century,
Russia has defaulted over a $100-
million payment — not because it doesn’t
have money but because it is not allowed
to pay its creditors. The default is likely
to hurt the creditors rather than Moscow;
it won’t surely hurt Putin enough to force
him to call off the war.
G7 leaders are deploying other means
to augment pressure on the Kremlin.
They have agreed to study placing global
price caps on imports of Russian energy
to curb Moscow’s ability to fund its
invasion of Ukraine and to contribute up
to $5 billion to address global food insecurity,
according to a Reuters report.
However, they cannot be absolved of their
role, though indirect, of enriching and
thus emboldening Putin to such an extent
that he could dare to attack Ukraine.
Rich nations, swayed by the rhetoric of
climate activists, became so obsessed
with checking the use of fossil fuels that
they discouraged production in their own
jurisdictions. Under US President Joe
Biden, for instance, the US has become
a net energy importer, though his predecessor
Donald Trump had ensured energy
independence. This happened because
Biden’s Democratic Party has increasingly
been influenced by the radical
Left. Last year, Biden had also allowed
Russia to sell oil to Europe. This is not to
say that concerns about the environment
should be ignored, but the action should
be calibrated, not rash. Developed nations
didn’t realise that though climate
change can end the world in a century, a
nuclear war can do that in a day. Yes,
that’s a possibility! Frustrated that a small
nation is not surrendering, Putin may
decide to escalate his war. That may have
calamitous consequences, not just for
Ukraine and Europe but the entire world.
G7 must ensure that its actions against
Russia are not just effective but also nonescalatory.
Yash Sharma
We should celebrate Independence Month
India at G7 Summit & its Ukraine stand
Editorial Team
Prof . Harjinder Walia,
Ph.D (Journalism)
Former Head of Journalism
Punjabi Universty Patiala. (Punjab) India
Patron
Yash Sharma,
M.Sc (Hons), DMM
Publisher & Editor in Chief
780-200-0246
Sat Paul Kaushal
Associate Editor, Calgary
403 903 8500
Raghbir Bilaspuri
Bureau Chief ( Punjabi)
Sunny Sharma
Bureau Chief (English)
Atul Seth, CPA,CGA
Financial & Management Consultant
Tejinder Singh Bhateja
Advisor(Marketing)
587 889 2340
Anita Sharma
M.A.(Hindi)
Bureau Chief (Hindi)
www.asiantribune.ca.