Hirado.hu: Sanctions not being used to pursue peace

Tamas Lanczi, the show’s host, said the European Commission had recently published a “victory report” on sanctions against Russia, and Belgian liberal MEP Guy Verhofstadt had said on Twitter that none of the nine sanctions packages were working, but had concluded nonetheless that failed sanctions could be turned to success by intensifying them, the hirado.hu website reported.

Political scientist Zoltan Kiszelly said trade between Russia and most EU states had increased in 2022 compared with the previous year, while larger Asian states were passing on cheap Russian energy to Europe, with Turkey a big beneficiary.

Former green politician Andras Schiffer said western states were not using sanctions to force peace negotiations, and the EU was swayed by powerful companies that were asserting their own interests, with the military industrial complex “benefitting the most”, while LNG companies were also influencing the EU.

Atlatszo journalist Andras Hont said the West wanted to divide the world into moral and immoral players and tried to guarantee security “without getting its hands dirty”.

Historian Gabor Megadja said Brussels politicians were failing to draw logical conclusions from the facts.