Scholar: Truss Appeasing Zelensky & Biden While US Doesn't Even Treat UK as Equal

Newly elected British Prime Minister Liz Truss talked to US President Joe Biden on her first day in office. However, Biden was the second leader to speak with the UK PM, while the first was Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Having been sworn-in as UK prime minister, Liz Truss broke from tradition and made her first phone call to Volodymyr Zelensky instead of Joe Biden. She reiterated to the Ukrainian president that he had her full backing, and that Ukraine could depend on the UK's assistance "for the long term." Truss particularly underscored that "it was essential Ukraine succeeds and Russia fails."

Then she held a conversation with Joe Biden, with the two focusing on "the extreme economic problems caused by Putin's war," according to Downing Street. No 10 specified that Biden and Truss "reinforced their commitment to strengthening global liberty, tackling the risks posed by autocracies and ensuring Putin fails in Ukraine."

"The phone calls made by Liz Truss to President Joe Biden and President Zelensky with regards to Ukraine are simply proving the fact that she's willing to continue with this disastrous foreign policy imposed by the United States on the United Kingdom regarding prolonging the conflict in Ukraine and weakening Russia," says Adriel Kasonta, London-based foreign affairs analyst, founder of AK Consultancy, and former chairman of the International Affairs Committee at the Bow Group, the oldest conservative think tank in the UK.

Truss' two phone calls speak volumes as they indicate that the British prime minister rushed to pledge allegiance to the goals of the US and Ukraine while being unable to support her own country's national interests, according to Kasonta.

"She will do whatever it takes to please both President Zelensky and President Biden," the London-based analyst remarks. "And I'm quite sure that she's much more concerned in pleasing President Zelensky than pleasing President Biden because President Zelensky now is the de facto leader of the so-called free world, because he's calling the shots. He's putting pressure on various different Western governments. And he is in the position to, for instance, pen an opinion piece for The Wall Street Journal as happened quite recently, asking for more money as if the money that has been sent to Ukraine so far wasn't enough."

It is now obvious that Truss won't change the course set by Boris Johnson with regard to supporting Ukraine, the scholar highlights, suggesting that the conflict will continue for a very long time not only to the detriment of Ukrainians, but all of Europe that has become hostage to Washington's hegemonic ambitions.

Truss Ready to Take on Russia & China at Expense of UK Economy

While Truss pledged more support to Kiev, the question arises as to how the British PM will manage to raise the stakes in Ukraine and solve the unfolding economic crisis in the UK.

The outlet i News cited Elliot Hentov, head of macro policy State Street Global Advisors, as saying that Truss could be the shortest-serving British prime minister in 60 years as the UK teeters on the brink of deep recession, with the Ukraine crisis, COVID, and Brexit continuing to negatively affect the country. Furthermore, Truss' potentially short tenure may result in the Conservative Party losing its grip on power at the next general election, according to him.

"The combination of economic recession, higher unemployment and lower real wages does not bode well for the political survival of any government," Hentov said. "The stagflation recession of 2022-2023 will hit household finances hard. Household real purchasing power is forecast to be lower by year-end 2023 than in 2007 before the financial crisis."

For its part, a South China Morning Post editorial has called upon Truss to adopt "a more balanced view on engagement and trade with Beijing," which could help the UK to survive the forthcoming perfect storm.

While it is unclear whether Truss has weighed up the worst-case scenario, she does not appear willing to reverse her warmongering course with regard to Russia or China, according to Kasonta.

"We know that the [UK is] entering a recession," the London-based analyst says. "We know from numerous newspapers like Bloomberg that Liz Truss will be disastrous for the economy amidst the cost of living crisis and inflation. But Liz Truss and her political entourage are not concerned with the well-being of this country. She's concerned with the Western hegemony. And we have to have a broader perspective of what is happening in Europe, in the United States and in Ukraine, that the US-led collective West is not there in Ukraine to help the Ukrainian people… They are there to maintain the hegemonic position of the United States, which is the leader of the Western world."

Likewise, the UK is in line with the US when it comes to containing China's rise, according to the analyst. He explains that Britain, a former empire, cannot take on Russia or China on its own and therefore it has teamed up with Washington. Both Anglo-Saxon powers are seeking to maintain their privileged position through weakening Russia and preventing China from becoming the largest economy in the world, according to Kasonta.

"They are used to the fact that they are ruling the world, that they are setting the so-called rules," Kasonta says. "They are not living according to the international law standards. They are living according to the rules-based system, which means that they are setting the rules which they very often are not following themselves… [A]lthough their economies will get a severe hit, both in the United Kingdom and the United States… [They] will continue this dangerous path, even though it might lead to a nuclear exchange both in in Ukraine and in Taiwan, because the dominance is the name of the game."

US Ready to Sacrifice Everyone, Including UK

Still, the problem is that the US is eager to sacrifice any world power, including Britain, in order to prevail in this fight to sustain its dominance, according to Kasonta. The "special relationship" mantra is nothing short of lip service, because the US doesn't treat the UK as an equal, he notes.

"[The US] use this, you know, political marketing campaign of special relationship when it is useful to their ambitions and geopolitical goals," the London-based foreign affairs analyst says. "But when it comes to trade, for instance, why haven't we seen a trade deal after Brexit so much wanted by the Brexiteers coming to fruition between the United Kingdom and the United States? Obviously, for any self-respecting Englishman or Englishwoman, the conditions laid out by the United States with regards to a trade deal with the United Kingdom are unacceptable."

Eventually, "the so-called trade deal was put on hold because now they believe that they have much more concern and much more important things to do, which is to contain China and to weaken Russia," he continued.

Meanwhile, the UK-US trade deal is just one of many pressing issues. For instance, another problem is that "British businesses are aware that they can hardly compete with American corporations, with companies with much greater economic heft," Kasonta says. So far, the divisions between the United Kingdom and the United States have been put on hold, but they still require a solution, according to the scholar.

As the UK and the EU are struggling with almost two-digit inflation and a currency slump against the US dollar, Washington is eager to sacrifice other economies by pitting them against Russia and China.

"I'm not sure whether Japan will be crazy enough to sacrifice entire Asia and the entire world on the altar of US hegemony," Kasonta says. "I'm not sure whether India will be willing to sacrifice the development and well-being of their citizens, of their people on the altar of the people who used to colonize them... I do hope that sanity will prevail and the non-Western world will unite and do whatever it takes to prevent this madness."

He argues that the multipolar world order is much fairer than the Western-centric system, in which only few were winners and the rest of the world got nothing. In contrast, the multipolar order would see India, China, as well as African, Middle Eastern countries, and Latin American states being treated as equal sovereigns and having an equal share in global governance and redistribution of wealth on the global stage, according to him.