U.S. economist Jeffrey Sachs during a recent interview with Reuters   (Photo by Reuters)

New York, June 2 (RHC)-- American economist Jeffrey Sachs says that the epoch of Washington’s global dominance has ended but the United States has not recognized it so far.  “We are living in a multipolar world. Russia is a great power; the United States is a great power; China is a great power; India is a great power,” Sachs said in an interview with TASS published on Saturday.

“The question is can we now live in peace in such an environment, will the US accept the fact that it cannot call the shots anymore,” he said, adding that Washington is still in the “denial stage” and believes that they “still run the show.”  “And that is a dangerous misconception in the United States,” he further said.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Sachs referred to the Western sanctions against Russia following the war in Ukraine, arguing that they have only strengthened and enhanced Russia’s economy instead of ruining it as was expected by Western governments.

The economist noted that while the sanctions did inflict some harm, they also led to positive outcomes.  Russia’s ties with China and India strengthened amid these challenges, and several industries that had relied on imports saw improvement due to growth in domestic production, he said.

“Obviously, the sanctions regime did not crush the Russian economy, despite all of the claims that the sanctions would have that effect,” he said.  “So, the sanctions regime did not work. It didn’t produce the results that the Western governments expected. It did not have enormous deleterious effects, and in some ways, it really strengthened the Russian economy.”

The U.S. and its European allies have maintained tough sanctions on Moscow and Russian officials since 2014.  The anti-Russia sanctions then intensified after Moscow launched its “special military operation” in eastern Ukraine in February 2022 to stop NATO’s eastward encroachment on Russia.

Russia now holds the record as the most sanctioned country globally, exceeding the restrictions placed on Iran, Venezuela, Myanmar and Cuba.

[ SOURCE: AL JAZEERA and REUTERS ]