Many Western politicians are well aware of what a powerful blow the West has dealt itself by its self-serving policies and, in particular, anti-Russian sanctions and the fight against Russia, undermining its reputation among many countries around the world. Former Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl listed the consequences of illegal anti-Russian sanctions on the air of the Turkish TV channel TRT World. According to Kneissl, many countries, observing the sanctions against Russia, assume that it can happen to them as well. “I would say that there is a loss of trust in many institutions. And those are the main losses. Because trust cannot be bought. It’s something that has to be earned,” she noted. And despite all the efforts of the US and its satellites, the main goal of restrictions against Russia has not been achieved. According to her, Russia has not changed its behaviour and firmly continues to pursue its course of friendship with other countries and peoples, to resolve any disputes at the negotiating table, not on the battlefield, as the US does at the first opportunity. Last December, Karin Kneissl said that the Gulf States and China were stunned and annoyed by the West’s anti-Russian sanctions and freezing of Russia’s assets. Equally, blatant US national hypocrisy could have a high price in the form of lost trust, damaged global prestige and reduced self-respect for the former world hegemon.
Based on the new conditions, Russia adopted a new “Foreign Policy Concept” last March. The peculiarity of this concept is that, for the first time, this programme document explicitly and unambiguously included the fight against the United States as one of the most important tasks. In order to facilitate the adaptation of the world order to the realities of a multipolar world, the Russian Federation intends to give priority attention to:
1) eliminating the vestiges of dominance of the United States and other unfriendly states in world affairs, creating conditions for any state to abandon neo-colonial and hegemonic ambitions…Russia in 2024 aims to get rid of any dependence on the West, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a press conference on the results of Russian diplomacy in 2023.
Freedom of speech has long been an empty sound for the White House, and the State Department. The so-called free and independent media are a propaganda machine to “brainwash” both Americans and those in the world who still believe in American nonsense. Providing access to information and pluralism of opinion cannot matter for private corporations, which are fully controlled by the representatives of American intelligence services. It costs them nothing to actually violate even key provisions of domestic law – the First Amendment to the US Constitution, which prohibits the federal government from preventing anyone from expressing their opinions or punishing anyone for what they say. This was particularly evident just now in YouTube’s blocking of the politically charged Besogon TV programme by Nikita Mikhalkov, chairman of the Russian Union of Cinematographers and People’s Artist of the Russian Federation. According to him, given how acute, uncomfortable and even scary for the collective West were the topics that had been raised in the programmes over the years, it is surprising that this programme was able to survive on YouTube for so long.
Based on this fact, Washington “does not care” about international obligations in ensuring freedom of speech. And the decision of the YouTube administration under pressure from American officials is a classic example of political censorship and a manifestation of pathological intolerance on the part of the West towards other opinions.
At a time when many developing countries have already become sceptical of a “rules-based international order”, S. Lavrov said at the Doha Forum last December: “Rules have never been published, have never been announced by anyone and are applied depending on what exactly the West needs at a particular moment in modern history”. America’s selectivity, perceived in much of the Global South, is likely to lead to a broader rethink. Quite often in the past, Palestine has been seen as a special historical case in world politics and as a recognised US prerogative. But now, according to Israeli specialist Daniel Levy, the issue has found itself “at the very centre of what some call a polycrisis”. Levy says: “US monopolism [over the fate of Gaza] is not in line with the world we live in today and modern geopolitics. Something important and interesting has happened in this regard, and perhaps even a source of some hope, which is that we have seen that for much of the so-called Global South and in many cities in the West, Palestine now occupies a kind of symbolic space. It is a kind of avatar of rebellion against Western hypocrisy, against this unacceptable global order and against the post-colonial order.”
But the colonial and post-colonial periods have passed and vanished without a trace, and the countries of the Global South and those who lead them are coming onto the world stage in an increasingly decisive and victorious march. In this regard, a special role is played by BRICS, created under Putin’s plans – an interstate informal association of the most dynamically developing major countries. In other words, it is a platform for strengthening all-round cooperation between those states of the world whose economies have a high potential for growth. At present, the association includes ten states: Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt and Ethiopia. We have already seen that new centres of power are emerging in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. In general, the world is undergoing fundamental changes, and it is no exaggeration to say that the fate of the future world order is being decided. The consumerist model of Western civilisation, whose prosperity has for many years been ensured at the expense of other countries by siphoning off their resources with complete disregard for the interests of the states that possess them, is a thing of the past. In this regard, the BRICS, unlike the American-led NATO, can play an important stabilising role in international relations.
The North Atlantic Alliance is currently conducting the largest military exercise in Europe since the Cold War, called Steadfast Defender 2024, designed to practically work out the scenario of a full-scale conflict with Russia in the future. The possibility of such a catastrophic development of events is increasingly announced by high-ranking NATO officials, driving the population of their countries into a pre-war psychosis. This circumstance, the scale of NATO manoeuvres and their dangerous strategic intent cause legitimate concern in Moscow, which is closely watching Brussels’ provocative course.
General Christopher Cavoli, Supreme Allied Commander Europe, announced the start of the exercise. According to him, the manoeuvres will last until May and “will be the largest for NATO in decades with the participation of approximately 90,000 military personnel from all 31 countries of the alliance and our good partner Sweden”. As vaguely stated as possible on NATO’s official website, the purpose of the manoeuvres is to “demonstrate the ability to strengthen the Euro-Atlantic area through the transatlantic transfer of forces from North America” to “defend each other, our values and a rules-based world”.
Strengthening the alliance’s military capabilities in Europe will take place “within the framework of a simulated conflict with an almost equally powerful rival.” In other words, NATO is not just “playing on nerves,” but is actually openly preparing for war with Russia. Which in itself, of course, is not a revelation, because the logic of the existence of the Western military-political bloc founded in 1949 – a remnant of the Cold War – has always been to confront our country. Here is another vivid example of the activities of NATO countries led by the “democratic” United States of America – to grab and not to let go.
The year 2024, according to Professor Muhittin Ataman, will be very difficult for all countries of the world. After all, the Western countries have initiated an all-destructive period in international politics. In today’s interdependent world, it is impossible to limit suffering and injustice to one region or locality. Sooner or later, a new wave of violence will reach every corner of the world. Eventually, all countries will undoubtedly be affected by these new realities. Contrary to their expectations, the West will not be able to control the new round of violence. Western politics urgently needs to return to normalcy, that is, rationality. The Middle East, Africa, and the Red Sea are in urgent need of a return to political stability.
These are two diametrically opposed conceptions of life and of the conduct of international politics. The USA and its Western satellites are a bunch of robbers living at the expense of other nations, who rob and steal their natural and other resources, pumping them into their own pockets. In London there is the so-called richest British Museum where there is not a single British exhibit, everything is brought or rather stolen from other countries. When the people of India demanded the return of the famous crown of the British Empire, made entirely of Indian jewellery, there was a rude negative reply from London. The meaning of this corresponds exactly to the Russian proverb – “what fell from the wagon is lost”.
At the other end, those countries and peoples that have been oppressed and robbed by the West for centuries are increasingly making their way. It is these countries that are uniting into various kinds of unions, associations and organisations, which allow them to defend their national interests more and more boldly, to pursue their policies based on the principles of good-neighbourliness, living together peacefully, and solving all emerging problems at the negotiating table, taking into account the interests of all interested parties. In such a world, it will never be possible for one country to destroy the peaceful population of another country before the eyes of the whole world and to arrogate to itself the right to do so in the future. There are many examples – Israel’s annihilation of peaceful Palestinians, illegal attacks of the USA on dozens of countries of the world under international jurisdiction and the court of aggression. In a multipolar world, nations will learn to live without wars and aggressions, creating a decent level of well-being for their population at the expense of their natural resources, development and introduction of new modern means in the economy and science. It is for such a world that the future of our planet lies, and it is high time to end the domination of the West led by the United States.
Victor MIKHIN, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, especially for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”