Following the demise of the Soviet Union, the United States felt that it would always be the lone superpower and that its hegemony would not be challenged.
The failure of American policy in Iraq, followed by a chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, did not undercut Washington’s claim to global dominance.
When Russia demanded an end to NATO’s eastward expansion, even though previous US leaders had assured Moscow that Eastern Europe would not be included in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the USA, confident in its impunity, simply ignored Russia’s proposals.
When Moscow was compelled to initiate a special military operation in Ukraine to relocate the immediate threat away from its borders, the current US administration was enraged – no one could even contemplate issuing such a challenge at the time.
Washington, having pressed its allies, decided that by means of economic warfare, including open robbery and terrorist actions to undermine gas pipelines, it could force Russia to abandon its course and inflict a “strategic defeat” on it.
American hawks anticipated that by compelling Western Europeans to join the unprecedented campaign of sanctions, the Russian economy would collapse; many Western officials predicted that it “would be ripped to bits” and Russian citizens would revolt against Putin.
When this promise failed and the Russian Federation managed to adjust and even started to return to economic growth, the neocons in Washington decided to arm the Ukrainian regime with the latest weapons, including missiles, tanks, aircrafts, and so on, with the goal of fighting Russia down to the last Ukrainian and defeating the Russian army on the battlefield.
The defeat of Ukrainian armed formations in Artemovsk (Bakhmut) marked a serious change in the balance of forces in the theater of operations. At the same time, Western propaganda attempts to convince the global South, i.e. developing countries, that Russia is the aggressor and Ukraine is the victim are failing. The Economist, a reputable British publication, which cannot be suspected of pro Russian sympathies, reported that “ today most countries refuse to heed the US’s call to enforce sanctions on Russia.” “The Biden doctrine fails to rebut the narrative of American decline.”
In this regard, the magazine concludes that Joe Biden’s global vision is too timid and pessimistic. This is not surprising, since today’s Western elites are short-sighted and tend to mistake wishful thinking for reality. Characteristically, the official approval ratings of all the leaders of the G7 countries are noticeably below 50%. Even the American media noted that most voters were constantly dissatisfied with the Administration’sactions. For instance, according to the Observer (the UK), the reasons for Biden’s disappointing position are the problems of the national debt, inflation, crime, and the fears of citizens due to his age.
The Al Jazeera website noted on May 30 that Washington’s miscalculations in the Ukraine conflict could have devastating consequences for the entire world.
According to Bloomberg, Chinese diplomacy and Beijing’s investment in infrastructure, along with Russian supplies of weapons, nuclear technology and fertilizers, outweigh Western appeals.
Al Arabiya TV argued that the recurring political circus around the US debt ceiling will weaken the dollar in the long run as confidence is further eroded. In fact, the US party system is putting politics on hold and taking the world hostage… Petty squabbles between political parties in the United States can threaten the livelihoods of billions of people around the world.
Developing countries are becoming increasingly conscious that Western powers’ existing status is founded on plundering their natural wealth and neocolonial exploitation of their resources. According to Saudi Arabia’s daily newspaper Arab News, average per capita income is more than 50 times higher in rich countries than in low-income countries, and the World Bank estimates it will take more than a century to close the income gap if current growth rates continue.
The countries of the global South are aware that Western policies are designed to perpetuate this inequality: even the UN Secretary-General has admitted that half of the earth’s wealth belongs to 26 people, while the vast majority live in poverty. According to António Guterres, the G7 countries received $280 billion from the IMF, while the African states received only $34 billion. Meanwhile, the G7 countries have a population of 772 million, while the African continent has 1.3 billion people.
More and more people in developing countries are coming to believe that the myriad of global problems facing humanity require the Western powers to reconsider their line, for “ignoring Russia’s geopolitical influence and perspectives has only exacerbated tensions, prolonged conflicts and prevented the achievement of common goals and peace.”
According to the Saudi press, the exclusion of Russia from the G7 decreases the potential for constructive dialogue and cooperation on topical issues. Russia’s involvement might allow discussions on a variety of critical issues, including the Ukrainian conflict, cybersecurity, and global economic stability.
The fact that the USA and its allies prioritize equipping Ukraine with different types of weapons and training personnel for offensive operations proves that they are not interested in making peace. So Ukraine could be Biden’s fateful moment.
The developing countries believe that G7 should reconsider its approach.
All attempts by Western powers to force developing countries to adopt anti-Russian sanctions, whether through pressure, threats, or intrigue, have failed. China, India, Brazil, and other countries of the global South, with their own interests in mind, are in favor of an early end to the war and peace negotiations.
At the same time, these states are trying to escape from the Western tutelage and, above all, to reduce their dependence on the dollar: more and more loudly sound the call to move in trade to the calculation of national currencies.
The following fact is quite telling: The Iraq’s Interior Ministry recently announced a ban on the use of the US dollar in personal and commercial transactions, a move aimed at strengthening the Iraqi dinar, the country’s national currency. This action is consistent with the new course in various Middle Eastern countries seeking to reduce their dependence on the dollar.
This trend will only gain momentum in the foreseeable future. In this sense, the growing number of Asian, African and Latin American states that would like to join the BRICS is very telling. Currently, 30 states have already stated this wish.
Veniamin Popov, Director of the Center for the Partnership of Civilizations at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Candidate of Historical Sciences, exclusively for the online journal “New Eastern Outlook”.