West concerned about Russian power: Activist

Press TV has conducted an interview with Joe Catron, an activist and journalist from New York, to get his take on Germany’s demand for a unified stance among G7 member states against Russia over the Ukraine crisis.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: Now, when it comes to the question of Russia and the situation vis-à-vis eastern Ukraine, it is interesting how Germany as well as the EU continue to pressure Russia, which continues to say that it is not a party to the conflict.

Catron: It certainly is and it’s a very interesting dynamic that we see these two superpowers have been part of the global block which has been the de facto sole superpower in the world several decades now and they see this monopoly on power slowly slipping out of their hands. And I think on one hand they haven’t urged to try to stem that transition to a multi-polar world. On the other hand, some of them certainly realized that they almost certainly cannot. It’s an inevitable process, but it’s a particularly ironic perhaps even … to see these powers, the United States and Germany, joining in this effort considering there are the two largest supporters of Israel and its repeated massacres and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. So, there are various humanitarian pretexts and excuses for their position ring a little hollow.

Press TV: So you would say, even if the situation in eastern Ukraine became calm, Russia will still continue to be isolated at least as far as the sanctions go by the EU and the US?

Catorn: It’s hard to say about the sanctions in particular. I’m not sure what the West would do, if they didn’t have that pretext for imposing sanctions, but I think it’s very clear that the Western powers see Russia as an open coming rival for reasons that extend far beyond Ukraine or even Syria. They have to do with its overall role in the world and the amount of influence it can exercise which has been rising ... for years.

ABN/NN

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