On Monday, 4 APR 22, on the 93rd EPISODE, of New Paradigms with Sargis Sangari, Flavius Mihaies, an Independent Journalist, returns for the Part II of our discussion to deep dive into the implications of the escalating sanctions the West imposed on #Russia since the beginning of the current conflict in #Ukraine. In addition, he answers whether sanctions against Russia will end the War in Ukraine. Flavius’s ground experience in war-torn #Syria under U.S. economic sanctions and his #European perspective highlight critical issues and topics that most analysts do not possess.

Russia became the most sanctioned country globally since the West’s earliest round of #sanctions on February 23, 2022. Flavius asked whether other world’s most sanctioned countries–#Iran, #Syria, #North Korea, #Venezuela–ever changed their behavior as the sanctions intended?

From a European perspective, Flavius pointed out, the precarious nature of the current #economic and #financial sanctions against Russia lies in Ms. Ursula Von Der Leyen, President of the #EuropeanCommission’s decision, on behalf of European Union (# EU) members, not only to sanction Russia but also to provide armed support to the #Ukrainianarmy.

Was it within the Commission president’s power to act on behalf of the E.U.? Flavius noted that voices in Europe have deemed it beyond Ms. Ursula Von Der Leyen’s mandate to take such a decision on behalf of the E.U.; it usurped E.U. members’ democratic right to take such actions. It also created a risk for E.U. countries to become belligerents in a conflict against Russia. In addition, encouraged by the #US, #Germany, and other European countries have been seeking for #Qatar to replace Russia as their gas supplier.

Flacius asks: Would replacing Russia with Qatar as Europe’s dominant energy provider be a sound geopolitical decision? Flavius pointed out the role of Qatar in fueling and exacerbating the conflict in Syria by funding #jihadist groups, some of which the U.S. and its allies eventually had to fight and defeat in Syria and #Iraq.

Finally, Flavius observed that the implications of the West’s ban on Russian media, including Russia Today (#RT), have not been fully understood and discussed.

In an information context where most if not all Western media declared their support for Ukraine, the other view and the other side of this conflict is missing or is forbidden to air, like RT, which leaves you with the question, what about the freedom of the press especially since the replacement for RT is a #CCP funded news outlet that now is providing the opposite view of the conflict for the West.

Furthermore, this ban creates a precedent that could backfire for the West’s media in the future.

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