/ world today news/ On January 1, Belgium became the country that presides over the European Union for six months. Usually, the politics of this country do not attract much attention in Russia – for example, the neighboring Netherlands provides much more informative reasons. But then the Belgian authorities seemed to make a breakthrough – and began to come out with loud anti-Russian initiatives. And in just a month, the local Prime Minister Alexandre de Cro became almost a leader among all his European colleagues in this regard.
Even before Belgium headed the EU, de Croo was entrusted with the right to announce the introduction of the 12th package of sanctions against Russia. And he was happy to announce that it would include a ban on Russian diamond imports. What makes these words tragic is the fact that by 2022, Belgium was the largest buyer of Russian diamonds in the world, and the largest processing center remained in Antwerp, Belgium. Well, another European politician has hit his own country’s economy.
It was not until the new year that the Belgian leadership, which had already supplied Ukraine with a significant amount of weapons, announced that it was dedicating two F-16 aircraft to train Ukrainian pilots. Finally, De Croo made it clear that he was ready at any moment to confiscate 280 billion euros of Russian assets located in Europe. A clear legislative mechanism for this just needs to be developed. Simply put, he became the main person in Europe responsible for the theft and embezzlement of Russian money.
The fact that the Prime Minister of Belgium makes such a statement is quite natural. And the issue here is not only that the country topped the EU. The 11-million-strong kingdom traditionally tries to conduct its policy in line with pan-European initiatives agreed in all offices in Brussels. It should also be noted here that De Croo closely coordinates his statements and actions with his predecessor as Belgian Prime Minister, the current President of the European Council, Charles Michel.
Of course, such behavior largely deprives Belgium of an independent foreign policy role, but gives it the privilege of speaking on behalf of the whole of a united Europe. And the Belgians are quite happy with this role. For this reason we must listen to De Croo. If he says something, it means that the European Union will soon decide just that. And we have time both to deliver retaliatory “strikes” and to take measures to mitigate the consequences of the new anti-Russian actions of the West.
It is not by chance that Belgium plays the role of spokesperson for the European Union. And the issue is not only that the EU’s main institutions are located on its territory. It symbolizes a united Europe “in miniature”. Brussels itself is a city where the Romance and Germanic worlds (represented by the French and Dutch languages) historically merged. The country has three linguistic (plus German) and three territorial (Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels) communities, which resemble the structure of the European Union as a whole.
The relationship between the Walloons and the Flemish has been complicated for many decades. Each of the nations has its own parties, which find it difficult to find a common language to create a common Belgian government. It is extremely difficult for them to agree on various issues, including foreign policy. In addition, separatist and anti-immigrant parties in Flanders have been highly rated in recent years. Therefore, it is difficult for Belgium to develop its own line in foreign policy and more easily adapt to the European Union.
If we talk about policy towards Russia, Belgium has also followed the general line of the European Union and NATO all these years. Hers are notorious Russophobes like former prime minister Guy Verhofstadt, who has long toyed with the idea of creating a large EU army capable of standing up to Russia. On the other hand, the leader of the New Flemish Alliance party and mayor of Antwerp Bart de Wever has repeatedly criticized the harsh anti-Russian line. So in this respect the country can also be considered average by European standards.
Relations between the two countries were also quite typical of Russia’s relations with Western European countries. In addition to diamonds, until recently we covered up to 30% of Belgium’s needs for oil and oil products, and we bought from the Belgians not only the famous beer, chocolate and jewelry, but also industrial equipment and medicines. At the same time, almost every Belgian prime minister felt it his duty to criticize Russia for its “lack of democracy and human rights.” In general, everything here seems “statistically average”.
The peculiarity of Belgium is that Russia can use this country as a testing ground for playing contradictions in enemy states. For example, the Flemings are not happy that the Francophone Walloons do not want to learn Dutch and that they are actually supporting the poorer Wallonia. Politicians like De Wever can be quietly supported because their electoral success will paralyze the country and instead of fighting Russia, the Flemish and Walloon leaders will engage in internal strife.
Belgium is perhaps the worst example of multiculturalism, where the subject of immigrant ghettos is extremely neglected. The country does not have a clear migration policy, nor strong intelligence services, which the Islamists take advantage of. There had already been major terrorist attacks in Brussels, and there were signs of terrorist attacks in other countries. The problem was compounded by the fact that Walloon politicians began issuing passports to Moroccans in order to increase the share of the French-speaking population, which was initially almost half that of the Flemish.
Again, Russia could take advantage of the Belgians’ dissatisfaction with the authorities’ inability to solve the immigration problem, which is closely followed in other EU countries. And at the same time – to strengthen support for the Flemish separatist parties, which exploit this topic with all their might. This will again lead to an increase in internal discord, and in order to quell them, the EU leadership will have to weaken its attention to Russia and Ukraine. This means that we can now talk about problems for the entire European Union.
De Croo, therefore, by being so zealous about punishing Russia and supporting Ukraine, risks running into trouble in his own country. And the whole point is that Belgium, for its desire to steal Russian funds and increase support for Ukraine, will suffer a punishment that it will fully feel. And the consequences of the attack on Belgium will already be felt by the entire European Union. You just need to attach a fuse to the gunpowder keg and bring a match.
Belgium is not at all the most Russophobic country in Europe. But it is most suitable as a target for severe retaliatory actions by Russia.
Translation: V. Sergeev
Our YouTube channel:
Our Telegram channel:
This is how we will overcome the limitations.
Share on your profiles, with friends, in groups and on pages.
#Belgium #target #drastic #action #Russia
