The United States and its allies have initiated weakening and isolating Moscow as a long-term strategy since the beginning of war between Russia and Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
Jake Sullivan, National Security Advisor of the United States, said on April 10 that Washington pursues an independent Ukraine and a weakened Russia.
The Washington Post newspaper reported that the Western strategy is far broaden than targeting Vladimir Putin as Russian President, adding that new national defense strategy focuses on Russian challenge in Europe as well as Chinese threat.
Apparently, the hostile attitude towards Russia has faded American Republican politician’s abhorrence toward North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The issue is one of the few subjects that both main parties in the US back the Biden administration’s policies.
The NATO member states from the US to western neighbors of Russia have adopted a common stance towards Kremlin.
-- Gas shortages in the US
President Joe Biden’s dream to isolate and weaken Russia has caused costs and repercussions for American people. Biden acknowledged that Russian incursion into Ukraine is the root cause of gas price hike in the US.
In an unprecedented measure, the US president ordered release of one million barrels of oil per day from the country’s strategic reserve to curb gas prices.
The nationwide average for regular gas is $4.10 a gallon, showing 43 percent increase in comparison to prices in last year.
-- Highest inflation rate
The United States Department of Labor declared on April 13 that inflation rate has increased 8.5 percent in one year, indicating the highest inflation in the US in 40 years.
The cost of foodstuff, fuel, housing and other basic needs hiked, nullifying the impact of earnings jump.
An official report shows that the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 1.2 percent in March on a seasonally adjusted basis after rising 0.8 percent in February.
Foreign Policy reported that despite warnings made by American intelligence agencies on potential Russian attack on Ukraine, the decline in agricultural products export stunned the US.
-- From World War I and II to Iraq and Afghanistan
Hypothesis website analyzed that the US was established 239 years ago but grappled with different wars for 222 years out of this period.
The US spent more than two trillion dollars in Iraq war, according the Associated Press.
The American news agency also reported that the 20-year war in Afghanistan cost 6.5 trillion dollars.
-- End of Ukraine war; when and at what cost?
Western leaders cannot predict the exact date of end of Ukraine war as well as its costs for the whole world.
Washington Post quoted Alexander Russell "Sandy" Vershbow, an American diplomat and former Deputy Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, as saying that there is no way to decide on changes until the end of the conflict, there are some questions: Will the conflict come to an end? Will it continue with a fragile ceasefire or will it continue in a situation of no war no peace for years?
However, American political scientist Stephen Walt is of the opinion that the war in Ukraine will end sooner or later, but nobody knows how, when and by the means of what resolution.
Walt added that the war is an important event, because it can show the end of unipolarity.
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