Ibne Siraj :
Russian President Vladimir Putin has raised his another finger pointing to the West in negation to import of food items from the United States and the European Union (EU) in retaliation to their economic sanctions against Russia. When the West started poking its nose into the Ukraine issue after Crimea opted to join Russia, the United States and its pets finding no other way imposed hardcore economic sections against Russia obviously to weaken Putin’s empire by isolating it from rest of the world. In the past, the US and its allies have done the same thing against so many countries including Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, several Arab countries and North Korea, where thousands of children died of malnutrition as the West stopped exporting milk there. This time, the West’s stiff sanctions against Russia is being challenged as Moscow has escalated an economic battle with a ban on all food imports from the US and on fruit and vegetables imports from the European Union, dropping any pretense these might be for food safety reasons. The import ban has come after Putin has ordered retaliation for Western sanctions against Moscow through a decree on August 7 this year.
Putin signed the decree halting imports of agricultural products from countries that have imposed sanctions on Russia, ordering to come up with a list of imports to be banned for a year. This implies a sharp retaliation, which would be “quite substantial” to badly affect the US poultry also. In the past, Russia banned a variety of US foods, citing health and safety concerns, but the recent action makes its language on terms similar to that of the US and the EU. It is expected that the Russian ban on the US and the EU’s food items and vegetables would divert its consumers to the same items being produced in Latin America.
Moscow is likely to soon discuss an option to increase food imports from Ecuador, Brazil, Chile and Argentina. It is also a good chance for Bangladesh to start a discussion with Moscow to export chickens and vegetables to Russia, where the demand for both the items is high. As Dhaka-Moscow relations are based on a tested friendship, the government should soon initiate talks with Moscow to further enhance its bilateral trade with Russia. Bangladesh economy is sure to witness a moderate rise if Bangladeshi chickens and vegetables could be exported for the Russian consumers by taking the advantage of Moscow’s ban on the West’s foods.
Until now, smaller or poorer countries have featured prominently among those targeted by the Russian response. Moscow has already suspended beef and cattle imports from Romania, citing an outbreak of mad cow disease, and banned Ukrainian juice and dairy produce, Polish vegetables and Australian beef. By targeting Western food exports, Putin aims to “ensure the safety of Russia” as his decree appears to formalize the bans on products from the EU and the Western-leaning Ukraine and Moldova over the recent weeks.
Following the EU’s latest sanctions, Russia banned imports of most fruit and vegetable products from Poland after unveiling sanitary “violations,” striking a blow to the Polish economy and raising the prices of some products like apples in the domestic market. To avoid empty spaces on the shelves of Russian supermarkets, which could dampen Russians’ patriotic fervor, the government has scrambled to bolster trade ties with politically neutral countries such as Brazil and Turkey. Russia’s state food safety watchdog, the Federal Veterinary and Phytosanitary Inspection Service, agreed with Brazil recently to significantly raise imports of dairy and animal products.
The European Union in late July imposed its harshest sanctions yet on Russia over its alleged support of the rebels, barring major state-owned banks from EU debt markets and cutting off supplies of dual technologies and advanced oil equipment.
The United States promptly stepped up its own sanctions, followed by Japan and Canada, which have also opposed Russia’s role in Ukraine. The recent Western sanctions, the harshest in decades, are meant to stun Russia’s economy. But one person’s loss is another one’s gain and this is also true for companies and countries in a globalized world. Following the US’s example, the European Union recently imposed broad economic sanctions against Russia over its alleged troublemaking in Ukraine. Russia’s mammoth state banks were barred from raising money in Europe, and curbs were made on exports of dual technologies and advanced oil equipment. Not to be outdone, Moscow began firing back with bans on EU food imports, hitting products like Polish apples, Spanish beef and Greek cabbage.
According to the analysts, the global economy will not benefit from this new economic war in the long term as the sanctions are not a zero-sum game and everybody stands to lose in this scenario.
But in the shorter term, some economic players stand to gain, including Hong Kong lenders, Turkish borrowers, Chinese drill rig makers and, possibly, at a later point, even certain domestic enterprises in Russia, the analysts said. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Moscow’s embargo on the West’s foods and vegetables would exempt only baby food and last one year unless “our partners demonstrate a constructive approach” with regards to sanctioning Russia.
“I hope that the economic pragmatism of our partners will win over lousy political motives,” he said but the overall situation does not speak of the fact that the West and its allies would be obsessed by any sweet word from Moscow in near future. However, the EU to be worst hit by the Moscow’s ban has dubbed the measures as “clearly politically motivated” and may take Russia’s ban to the World Trade Organization (WTO). On the other hand, the United States has largely dismissed the impact of Russia’s decision on the US exports. The sanctions and counter sanctions imposed by both the East and the West against each other stands out with the fact that Barrack Obama has to be the worst US president ever. Instead of negotiating like a statesman with his Russian counterpart over the Ukraine issue, he is trying to act like the schoolyard bully. Being a bully only works if someone is strong, which he is not. The EU leaders are even more stupid for going along with him on this issue and Putin has clearly started losing his patience he should have, because the West has already gone far off its limit. Putin has made the only correct decision answering to an aggressive policy of the US and the EU. More precisely, tits for tats mean losers from both sides of the divide. Individual citizens and businesses of the affected countries will suffer from these sanctions and counter sanctions. Hence, those who are not involved in the tits for tats game will make gains from the diversion of markets. If any politician thinks that sanctions work, he or she must be a man below average understanding. North Korea still survives, so is Iran. If the mainstream media from certain country opines that Russia is being isolated, that’s a delusion. Russia has two big friendly neighbors as well as many other non-aligned countries, which are not interested in archaic geopolitics. These countries will continue to trade with Russia.
(Ibne Siraj is a regular contributor to The New Nation)
