US-led NATO opposes any solution to Ukraine crisis, seeks absolute power: Iranian analyst

An Iranian academic and political analyst says the United States and other NATO countries have weaponized Ukraine against Russia while not allowing any solution to go into force as they seek absolute power.

In an interview with RT on Tuesday, Mohammad Marandi said if the United States had left Ukraine alone, the East-European country could have been a bridge between Russia and Western Europe.

“[Ukraine] could have been prosperous and it could have helped create greater prosperity for the whole area,” Marandi said.

However, he continued, because NATO countries want absolute power, they cannot think in those terms.

“Unfortunately, the United States and NATO have weaponized Ukraine against Russia; they carried out a violent coup; they allowed protesters to be burned alive and nothing happened afterward; and they’ve been pushing NATO eastwards since the end of the Cold War despite numerous promises to do otherwise,” he noted.

Marandi, a Tehran University professor, said the same desire for absolute power is also the case in the Middle East, citing Washington’s support for the Israeli regime’s ethnic cleansing in Palestine, the US invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, and its policy of dividing Syria as examples.

If they are so upset about what’s going on in Ukraine, he stated, they should look at their own actions in Latin America, in Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua, where they subjugate the populations to sanctions to crush them in order to regain power.

Russia and the West are at odds over Ukraine. Western countries accuse Russia of preparing for an invasion of Ukraine by amassing 150,000 troops and armaments near the border with that country. Russia has rejected the claim, saying the military build-up is defensive in nature.

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‘Sanctions on Russia inevitable’

In his RT interview, Marandi said that when the Americans and the Europeans “create this horrific situation where they don’t allow solutions to be used, then the whole equation changes.”

It’s unclear what will happen from now on, he said, but added that he does not believe that the US is going to start searching for solutions.

Hinting at NATO’s interventions across the globe, the political commentator said as long as there is no change in the mentality of NATO regimes, there won’t be any solution on the horizon for either Ukraine or any other part of the world.

He also pointed to US sanctions on Russia, saying, “I have no doubt that the US would have implemented sanctions against Russia anyway. And that is the problem that the United States has.”

“[The US] uses sanctions as a weapon that targets ordinary people. And no matter what you do, you’re going to be sanctioned,” Marandi remarked.

“So when countries see that the United States is going to treat them like an enemy anyway, they have no incentive to respond differently towards the US,” he added.

Biden says ‘this is the beginning of a Russian invasion’ as he announces sanctions

Biden announces sanctions on Russia after its moves against Ukraine, calling them “flagrant violation of international law.”

US President Joe Biden announced on Tuesday that Washington would sanction Russian sovereign debt and Russian elites as well as their family members.

A day earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics as independent and afterward ordered troops into the Donbas region. 

Biden called Russia’s actions in Donetsk and Lugansk, collectively known as the Donbas, the “beginning of an invasion.”

‘US exceptionalism outwits adherents’

Also on Tuesday, Marandi responded to a question raised in a tweet by former US ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul, who had asked: “If Country X sends soldiers and tanks into Country Y without an invitation, what is that called?”

“You mean like in Syria, Iraq, Libya Afghanistan, Cuba, Yemen,...?” Marandi retorted.

The political analyst added, “He’s a former US ambassador & an ‘academic’ at Stanford University. Eurocentrism & American Exceptionalism twist people’s mind so much that they really don’t seem to see their foolishness.”

McFaul’s tweet also drew many more witty responses. One user said the word he was looking for was “US foreign policy.” Another pointed to Washington’s forever wars, saying, “Let’s ask people in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Cuba, Vietnam, Chile, Japan, Korea, Mexico, ... again.”

“Pretty sure it was called ‘liberation’ and ‘spreading democracy’ when the US did it in Iraq and Libya. I suppose you’d call it something else when someone else does it?” asked a user.

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