The West’s strategy in Ukraine and attempts to crush the Russian economy have failed, representing a “defeat for all”, former Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said.
Commenting on the state of the American-led NATO alliance’s proxy war against Moscow, the former Italian leader said that the strategy of pouring “continuous military supplies” into Ukraine and “the logic of escalation” has failed to deliver on the stated goals of the globalist leaders in Europe and Washington.
Writing on Facebook, Conte said that after a year and a half since Vladimir Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine, it is “time to conduct an honest analysis” of the war in Ukraine, rather than succumbing to the “optimistic assessments that have since prevailed on the Western Front, fueled by superficial warist propaganda that is deafening.”
Rather than seeing the “expected Russian military defeat,” the opposite has happened, the Italian said, noting: “There has been no defeat of the Russian army in Bakhmut, there has been no weakening of its military and paramilitary units, there has been nothing to retreat under the Ukrainian counteroffensive. The prospect of internal destabilization has crashed in the face of Putin’s strengthening leadership and growing internal consensus.”
Conte went on to say that the economic and financial sanctions imposed by the U.S. and EU on Moscow have also failed to push Russia towards bankruptcy or isolate the country economically, with Putin succeeding in using the BRICS economic grouping to expand its international influence.
He pointed to the lack of leadership from Brussels, in particular, saying that the conflict has shown the “inability of the European Union to elaborate an effective common strategy and to express an autonomous leadership, political and economic, highlighting, on the contrary, the subservience of our governors to the United States.”
The number of troops killed or wounded since last year’s invasion of Ukraine has reached nearly half a million, according to U.S. officials. https://t.co/rawis6TAEV
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) August 20, 2023
For the former Italian PM, the “defeat for all” includes also Moscow, however, with Conte writing that instead of an expected quick victory over the much smaller and less powerful Ukraine, Putin has “found himself involved in an expensive conflict in all respects, with the personal accusation of committing crimes against humanity and the prospect of compromising his role on the international level.”
“After a year and a half of war, what is the reality that prevails over all these simplistic predictions pumped by war propaganda? The reality is 500 thousand deaths on both fronts. The reality is over 6 million Ukrainian refugees who left their country. The reality is entire cities and vast territories completely destroyed that we will have to help rebuild in the coming years, with a European financial commitment, estimated in the initial stage alone at €50 billion.”
The post from Mr Conte, who led Italy from 2019 to 2021, laid out a contrast between his Five Star Movement (M5S) party and the hawkish position espoused by his successor Giorgia Meloni.
Despite being politically aligned with pro-peace populists across Europe and even within her own coalition government, such as Deputy PM Matteo Salvini, Meloni has taken a hardline on Russia more in line with the neo-liberal consensus in Berlin, Brussels, and Paris.
The continued support for the war effort in Ukraine, while her country is suffering under high gas prices and inflation, could further destabilise the Meloni government, which has already been facing heavy criticism for its failure to confront the growing migrant crisis in the Mediterranean.
‘Abhorrent’ Invasion of Ukraine Caused by EU, NATO Expansion: Faragehttps://t.co/PY3UAw7Cmy
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) February 24, 2023