EU, UK Eye Russian Assets – Just Not Our Own Illicit Gains
Mainstream outlets report Brussels' and London's newfound zeal for repurposing some €200 billion in frozen Russian funds for rebuilding Ukraine. This sounds like righteous justice, until one considers the selective morality at play. For decades, Western nations have been quite comfortable acting as laundromats for oligarchs, drug cartels, and dictators, often turning a blind eye to the origins of
vast wealth flowing into their financial systems. The current outcry feels less like a sudden discovery of ethical finance and more like a convenient justification for a strategic seizure. One might wonder if similar 'measures' are being developed for Western banks holding assets tied to Saudi war crimes in Yemen, or funds from other regimes committing human rights abuses with Western blessings.
Curiously, those discussions rarely make headlines. It appears financial sovereignty is only mutable when the adversary is politically expedient, leaving the 'rules-based order' looking suspiciously like a rulebook written on quicksand.