After the end of the Cold War, the United States and other Western countries began to promote a brilliant idea. By linking themselves economically with their enemies, they wanted to avoid the grim cycle of conflict between the big powers.. This is why Germany has been encouraging gas and oil imports from Russia over the past decades, despite the fact that Vladimir Putin has stepped up his aggression against its neighbors..

Edward Alden, a member of the Foreign Affairs Council and a professor at Western Washington University, writes about this on the pages of the Washington Post.. Europe and the US increased trade with China, expanding ties with it. At this time, Beijing itself was turning into the world's largest exporter and supplier of critical goods.. The German philosopher Immanuel Kant said that “the power of money is probably the most reliable of all forces”. And it will force countries to " For several decades, Western countries seem to have believed this..

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However, now it seems to be a very naive belief.. Putin invaded Ukraine despite unequivocal threats from the West that Russia would be immediately isolated from the global economy through sanctions. China, under Xi Jinping, has destroyed democracy and freedom of the press in Hong Kong, is threatening Taiwan with its military, and has entered into an alliance with Russia to challenge the US-led world order.. Rather than curb the ambitions of authoritarian leaders, their growing wealth has only persuaded them to come into conflict with Western democracy.. It turns out that economic integration was a catastrophic failure.?

The so-called " She assumed that economic interests should naturally interfere with war. Western leaders hoped that trade would not only temper the ambitions of their rivals, but also nurture a middle class that would demand democratic reform in their countries.. In Germany, there was a special term for such a policy - " Berlin stubbornly stuck to this approach, even as wealthier Russia and China unleashed increasingly brutal repression.. German-Russian trade grew by about 6% annually from 1995 to 2021. EU trade with China reaches $828 billion. And this is even more than between Europe and the USA.

Similarly, the US welcomed China's accession to the WTO in 2001.. Robert Zoellick, Undersecretary of State in the George W. Bush administration, said in 2005 that China's integration into the global economy has been "

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There were many reasons to think so, because China seemed to be conducting serious reforms in the 1990s and 2000s.. Putin also encouraged investment when he became president of Russia in 2000.. But economic growth ceased to be a priority for Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping when they decided that their historic mission was to revive “national greatness.”. And Western politicians were too convinced that these leaders could not contain the power of capitalism.. President Bill Clinton ridiculed Beijing's attempts to take control of the internet, comparing it to trying to " But China still built the largest censorship system in history..

However, despite all the terrible events, according to the author, it is still too early to say that Kant was wrong about the " The strength of Russian weapons has already shown its defectiveness in Ukraine. But the success of money has never been so revealing. Sanctions against Russia cut off access to hundreds of billions of dollars of its foreign exchange reserves. The ruble has practically lost all value outside of Russian territory. Russian production: from steel to cars, stopped due to the cessation of imports of Western spare parts and technologies. Access to foreign markets blocked. Russian citizens lost access to Western goods and services. Western companies: from McDonald's and H\u0026M to Visa and Mastercard - left the country. Thousands of Russians fled the country. It was a very powerful outflow of educated people from Russia. The Institute of International Finance predicts that the Russian economy will shrink by 18% by the end of 2023. Thus Russia will lose 15 years of its economic growth.

China, which only a month ago declared " Beijing implements Western sanctions. However, despite this, he still loses capital. Investors, looking at massive losses in Russia, have begun to reassess the risks in authoritarian countries. If China were to impose the same sanctions, it would have much more ways to respond than Moscow. The Chinese economy is more diversified. Its trade with the countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations is now greater than with the US or Europe.. Beijing has invested heavily in developing countries as part of the Belt and Road Initiative. And now all the countries that received Chinese money may not want to comply with Western sanctions.. In addition, China enjoys a virtual monopoly in some critical sectors, such as the processing of rare earth metals.. But it still depends on the advanced technologies of the West, in particular semiconductor and industrial equipment.. In an economic conflict, his vulnerabilities outweigh his strength..

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Naturally, the economic rapprochement of the West with China and Russia pursued not only the goal of securing peace. The business made a lot of money. But that's the whole point. Economic interdependence only sustains peace if the cost of disconnecting is too high. And it is very important that all parties recognize this..

If the West can remain united on the issue of sanctions imposed in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russia will suffer very large and long-term losses.. This unity is already being tested. Pressure grows in Europe to stop gas and oil imports after the massacre in Bucha by the Russian army. Germany fears its economy will fall into recession without Russian supplies. But a show of unity will make Xi Jinping think twice before following in Putin's footsteps.. To avoid exhausting itself, the US and its allies must work together to find a way to make economic vulnerabilities as unilateral as possible.. The Biden administration is doing the right thing by pushing for the return of strategic manufacturing to American territory, in particular semiconductors and batteries for electric vehicles, while blocking the supply of advanced American technologies to China and Russia..

Washington cooperates with Europe in search of an alternative to Russian gas and oil.

The Biden administration must also put aside narrow " Also, the US and Europe should ensure that the damage from sanctions does not hurt developing countries..

It can be said for sure that Kant's ideals survived the blow.. The line between economic independence and peace has turned out to be rather crooked at best.. But the power of money has been underscored by the West's tough backlash.. Showing countries the economic cost of war is one of the best ways to keep the peace..