Latest news with #ResponsibleStatecraft
India Gazette
15 hours ago
- Business
- India Gazette
Bone-crushing Russia sanctions bill could crush US trade Politico
Washington risks isolating itself from top world economies, including key European allies, according to the outlet The passage of a new US sanctions package on Russia could disrupt America's relationships with its biggest trade partners and isolate it from the world's leading economies, Politico reported on Saturday. The proposed bill includes a steep 500% tariff on imports from any country that continues to buy oil, gas, uranium, or other key commodities from Moscow. Among those most affected would be India and China, which together account for approximately 70% of Russian energy exports. Several other nations that import Russian energy and uranium could also be subject to the bill's penalties. Imposing 500% tariffs on Chinese-made imports would likely trigger a surge in consumer prices, severely disrupt supply chains, and potentially push US unemployment to levels associated with a recession, Politico noted. The sanctions could be described as targeting the US itself since the country continues to rely on enriched uranium imports from Russia for its nuclear power sector. And it could effectively isolate the US from many of the world's leading economies, including its European allies, the article says. US Senator Rand Paul wrote in the publication Responsible Statecraft that the bill "essentially amounts to an embargo" and could trigger "economic calamity on a scale never before seen in our country." He added that such punitive measures are unlikely to change Moscow's core strategic goals and only further entrench the US in a "failing" foreign policy approach. The sanctions bill was introduced in early April by a bipartisan group of senators led by Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal. In addition to 500% tariffs, the measure includes secondary sanctions targeting countries that maintain commercial ties with Moscow. Graham recently proposed amendments to exempt countries providing military aid to Ukraine from the tariffs. The change would shield the EU, which continues to import gas from Russia. The senator described the bill as "one of the most draconian sanctions bills ever written" and the sanctions as "bone-crushing." Russia has consistently criticized Western sanctions, calling them illegal, and maintains that they have failed to inflict lasting economic damage. In March, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that a total of 28,595 sanctions had been imposed on Russian companies and individuals in recent years - more than the total number on all other countries combined. According to the president, the West sought to eliminate Russia as a competitor, but its economy has only grown more resilient under pressure. (
Russia Today
16 hours ago
- Business
- Russia Today
‘Bone-crushing' Russia sanctions bill could crush US trade
The passage of a new US sanctions package on Russia could disrupt America's relationships with its biggest trade partners and isolate it from the world's leading economies, Politico reported on Saturday. The proposed bill includes a steep 500% tariff on imports from any country that continues to buy oil, gas, uranium, or other key commodities from Moscow. Among those most affected would be India and China, which together account for approximately 70% of Russian energy exports. Several other nations that import Russian energy and uranium could also be subject to the bill's penalties. Imposing 500% tariffs on Chinese-made imports would likely trigger a surge in consumer prices, severely disrupt supply chains, and potentially push US unemployment to levels associated with a recession, Politico noted. The sanctions could be described as targeting the US itself since the country continues to rely on enriched uranium imports from Russia for its nuclear power sector. And it could effectively isolate the US from many of the world's leading economies, including its European allies, the article says. US Senator Rand Paul wrote in the publication Responsible Statecraft that the bill 'essentially amounts to an embargo' and could trigger 'economic calamity on a scale never before seen in our country.' He added that such punitive measures are unlikely to change Moscow's core strategic goals and only further entrench the US in a 'failing' foreign policy approach. The sanctions bill was introduced in early April by a bipartisan group of senators led by Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal. In addition to 500% tariffs, the measure includes secondary sanctions targeting countries that maintain commercial ties with Moscow. Graham recently proposed amendments to exempt countries providing military aid to Ukraine from the tariffs. The change would shield the EU, which continues to import gas from Russia. The senator described the bill as 'one of the most draconian sanctions bills ever written' and the sanctions as 'bone-crushing.' Russia has consistently criticized Western sanctions, calling them illegal, and maintains that they have failed to inflict lasting economic damage. In March, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that a total of 28,595 sanctions had been imposed on Russian companies and individuals in recent years – more than the total number on all other countries combined. According to the president, the West sought to eliminate Russia as a competitor, but its economy has only grown more resilient under pressure.
Yemen Online
20-04-2025
- Politics
- Yemen Online
Officials: US 'open' to supporting a Yemen ground operation
Aden - Amid its persistent, so-far largely ineffective aerial campaign against Yemen's Houthis, the U.S. may now move to support Yemen's internationally recognized government in a ground operation against them. Indeed, the WSJ reported yesterday that the 'U.S. is open to supporting a ground operation by local forces' in Yemen. U.S. officials told the WSJ, however, that the U.S. hasn't finalized a decision to do so, nor is it leading relevant ground operation talks. However, the paper reported that American private contractors are providing advice to Yemeni factions. Speculation of some sort of anti-Houthi ground campaign in Yemen has bubbled up for weeks, sparking fears that the country's civil war, made dormant by a 2022 ceasefire that largely held after its lapse months later, could reignite. CNN reported on April 6, for example, that Yemen ground operation preparations were underway, and could 'involve Saudi and US naval support in an attempt to retake the port of Hodeidah." And Aida Chavez previously reported in the Intercept on March 17 that 'U.S.-backed proxy forces in Yemen are likely to restart their ground operations against the Houthis — proxies that will almost certainly be receiving U.S. intelligence and other support." 'The idea that Trump may provide U.S. support to reignite this civil war is horrifying, because it will be extremely bloody,' Dr. Annelle Sheline, Research Fellow in the Middle East program at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, told Responsible Statecraft. 'Such a war would further immiserate the Yemeni population, already the poorest in the Middle East. In 2018, the UN declared Yemen to be the world's worst humanitarian crisis, with 22 million people at risk of starvation due to the war. Restarting the civil war would again put millions of people at risk of famine,' she said. Publicly, U.S. officials have remained tight-lipped on possible involvement in on-the-ground operations in Yemen. 'I can't talk about that stuff from the podium, but we have ways of conducting sensitive site exploitations without ground troops on the ground,' Sean Parnell, United States Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs and Chief Pentagon Spokesman, said about possible U.S. involvement in ground operations in Yemen during a March 17 Pentagon press briefing. Asked early last week about possible U.S. support for a ground operation in Yemen, likewise, a defense official told Responsible Statecraft on background that details surrounding possible future operations could not be disclosed 'due to operational security to ensure the safety and security of…service members.' The DoD and CENTCOM public affairs did not respond to requests for comment regarding yesterday's WSJ reporting. Possible U.S. assistance in a new Aden-led ground campaign may not only be deadly; if previous involvement in Yemen is of any indication, it may well prove ineffective. "Under Presidents Obama, Trump, and Biden, the U.S. provided significant support to the Saudi-led coalition that fought a war to oust the Houthis from 2015 to 2022,' Sheline explained. 'Even with a massive air campaign as well as a ground invasion led by the Saudis and UAE in southern Yemen, the anti-Houthi coalition was unsuccessful, partly due to the infighting among the Yemeni members, who beyond their antipathy towards the Houthis, agreed on little else.' If the U.S. wants the Houthis' Red Sea ship attacks to stop, rather, they might take the Houthis' stated objectives for their attacks — namely, pressuring Israel to end its onslaught of Gaza — into account. 'The Houthis have consistently said that they will end their attacks on ships traversing the Red Sea when Israel ends its war on Gaza. During the period of the ceasefire from mid January to early March, the Houthis upheld this commitment and did not attack ships,' Sheline explained. 'It was only after Israel violated the ceasefire by preventing any aid from entering Gaza after March 2 that the Houthis declared that they would again attack Israeli ships, and subsequently, the Trump administration bombed them (as people may recall from Signalgate).'
