Ukraine a pawn in U.S. strategy to weaken EU, says expert

MEXICO CITY, April 18 (Xinhua) -- The conflict in Ukraine is poised to cripple the European Union (EU) and its unified currency the euro as policymakers in Washington intended, said a column published recently by Cuba's state daily Granma.

Faced with its own decline, the United States is working to bring down other potential global heavyweights by pushing an unnecessary and costly conflict that could have political and economic repercussions for years to come, international relations expert and columnist Jorge Casals Llano wrote in an article headlined "Ukraine in the American anti-European and deglobalization strategy."

U.S. strategists have planned the crisis in Ukraine to "try to stop the imperial decline and the rise of poles of power capable of challenging it for global hegemony, including Europe," he said.

It is increasingly clear that Europe has nothing to gain and much to lose from the conflict spearheaded by the U.S.-led North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), he noted.

In dealing with the United States, "we must always keep in mind the phrase attributed to John Foster Dulles ...'the United States of America does not have friends; it has interests,'" he said.