In yet another example of the ‘blame game’ spawned by the collective west, Britain’s Conservative party chairman, Nadhim Zahawi, recently drew ridicule after claiming that nurses going on strike and demanding inflation-matching pay rises was “exactly what Putin wants to see.”
'Blame Putin' has increasingly become a go-to mantra for the so-called collective west, as it struggles with its economic woes and policy failings. Why bother to dig deep into the reasons behind one's own shortcomings when there is a readily designated scapegoat - Russia's President Vladimir Putin?
In one latest incident, more ridiculous than offensive, the chairman of the British conservatives, Nadhim Zahawi, found himself mocked after comments made in connection with the strike action mulled by the UK’s nurses. After years of diminishing real-term wages, the latter were seeking to rectify this by locking in an increase in pay that goes 5 percent above inflation. The nurses threatened to go on strike on December 15 and 20 unless the government complied.
Nadhim Zahawi, refusing to look any further, opted deflect blame, saying that strikes by UK nurses was “exactly what Putin wants to see.” The lame attempt to link the government's failings with economic and political fallout from NATO’s ongoing proxy war against Russia in Ukraine immediately set Zahawi in the crosshairs, with commentators suggesting that “Putin Derangement Syndrome is getting out of control."
But while this last instance of the “blame game” may seem ludicrous, in effect, throughout the past few months, Russian President Vladimir Putin has been labeled as responsible for a plethora of grievances and policy shortcomings plaguing the so-called collective west.
Putin’s ‘War’
In an impassioned verbal outburst at the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in late September, US President Joe Biden lashed out at President Vladimir Putin for Russia's “war on Ukraine”.
According to Biden, Russia "invaded its neighbour," and "shamelessly violated" the core tenets of the UN charter by launching a special military operation in Ukraine. He also referred to the then upcoming referendums to join Russia in the Donbass republics, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions a "sham." The rhetoric had come from the president of a country that was itself complicit in violating the UN charter, as when it attacked Yugoslavia in 1999.
Furthermore, Washington had been determined to fan the flames of the Ukraine conflict, helping stage a coup in Ukraine in 2014 and aiding the overthrow of the elected government there. At the UNGA Joe Biden blamed "Putin's war," totally disregarding the fact that Russia had been forced to act to stop an invasion by the Ukrainian forces in February-March 2022.
In July, Russia, Ukraine and Turkey signed an UN-brokered deal to secure a humanitarian corridor via the Black Sea to allow exports of food and fertilizers. Moscow has repeatedly said, however, that the deal is not effective in bringing grain and fertilizer to developing countries, as European nations take a big share of the deliveries. Russia noted that sanctions continue hindering its grain and fertilizer exports even though the deal is supposed to guarantee their free flow to global markets.
The Russian President weighed in on the 'blame game' he had found himself at the heart of.
As Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko during a televised meeting with Putin in the Black Sea resort of Sochi in May 2022 underscored, western sanctions had served to give both countries the impetus to focus on self-development, he added that the elites of the West were deluded about the causes of their economic woes.
"On the economy, thanks are really due to them (in the West) as they have given us such a push to our own development... What is happening over there is that they really underestimated it by reading their own media. They got inflation yet the truth is 'Putin is to blame', 'Putin is to blame for everything'," Lukashenko said.
Vladimir Putin menanggapi dengan menyindir, "Kami akan berbicara serius dengan mereka."
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