POLL: Citizens of the European Union Support Peace Over Saber-Rattling Against Russia
Jose Nino
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According to a poll released by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), Europeans want the conflict in Ukraine to come to a close.
With an unprecedented energy crisis putting Europe’s working class at risk of mass impoverishment, many Europeans are beginning to question the merits of the current proxy war against Russia.
This poll was released on June 15, 2022 which showed that a growing number of people want the Russo-Ukrainian conflict to end. Moreover, they want the conflict to end even if it means that Ukraine has to make territorial concessions.
According to the survey’s findings, many of the people who want to take a hard line against Russia have reservations about escalating an economic war against Russia. What makes them hesitant about ramping up tensions are the economic costs of the sanctions the EU has imposed on Russia, which are blowing up in the EU’s face.
According to RT, this poll was carried out in the middle of May and involved 10 European nations.
The researchers who carried out the poll put the respondents in four categories on the type of outcome they desire from the Russo-Ukrainian conflict.
Those in the “peace” category want the conflict to be over and made up 35% of those surveyed. The “justice” category wants to defeat Russia at all costs. They made up 22% of those surveyed.
“Swing voters” had more nuanced views. They want to punish Russia but are somewhat cognizant of the risks connected to imposing sanctions on Russia. They constitute 20% of the individuals surveyed. The remaining 23% of individuals polled fell into the “rest” category.
The ECFR cautioned that as European populations grow more fatigued about the Russo-Ukrainian conflict and start feeling the real world effects of rising energy and food crises, the “peace” camp will grow even larger. Such a development doesn’t augur well for the EU leadership classes’ anti-Russia project.
The poll revealed that the “peace” camp had a strong presence in nearly all the countries surveyed with exception of Poland, where the “justice” camp was the predominant view. Italy had the strongest pro-peace sentiments at 52%.
In countries like the United Kingdom, the “peace” and “justice” categories were nearly evenly split (22% to 21%). “Swing” voters reached 32%.
The majority of Europeans blame Russia for starting the conflict in Ukraine and believe that Russia presents the largest obstacle to peace.
In the “justice”, “swing”, and “rest” camps, there’s strong support for assisting Ukraine, from providing economic and military aid to dangling the prospect of NATO and EU memberships to Ukraine.
The “peace” camp was the exception here, which expressed its opposition to establishing a “no-fly” zone in Ukraine, stationing additional NATO military assets in Eastern Europe, or letting Ukraine join NATO. Furthermore, this camp is against increasing defense spending in their respective nations.
Eastern European nations, who historically have been part of Imperial Russia, the Soviet Union, or the Warsaw Pact, tend to have more hawkish views towards Russia. Though there are some nuances to their anti-Russian sentiments.
For example, the Poles strongly support increasing the country’s military capacity (52% to 21%). In countries like Romania, 31% of the population supported bolstering the military, while 36% were against it.
Similarly, Germany and Italy have solid opposition to increased militarization. In the former’s case, 41% support increased militarization while 32% are opposed to it. In the Italian case, 14% supported increased militarization and 63% were opposed to it.
Overall, there is growing dissent within Europe regarding the proxy war the Collective West is waging against Russia. When Europeans realize that Russia is not on the verge of prosecuting a continental Blitzkrieg and their pocketbooks are getting pummeled by the sanctions and embargoes being launched against Russia, their support for this pointless proxy war will quickly evaporate. The same goes for Americans.
Let’s hope that Western ruling classes pick up on this. If they don’t, they’ll be in for a major beating at the polls.
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