"Crusade," which failed

The West, which declared a total hybrid war on Russia, has dispelled its reputation as a reliable partner with its predatory actions, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Saturday at the 30th Assembly of the Foreign and Defense Policy Council, a correspondent for The Moscow Post reports.

The minister said that political correctness, decency, rules, legal norms were discarded. The culture of the abolition of all Russian is applied. This campaign has not spared our diplomats either. Even in the darkest years of the Cold War, we do not recall such a massive synchronized expulsion of diplomats. This destroys the general atmosphere of relations with the West.

What are your plans for Mr. Fix?

We cannot decide in any way: what do those who have recently been called partners want to do with Russia. If a partner is unreliable, can they be trusted? Especially if he openly declares that he intends to inflict a "strategic defeat" on Russia?

For diplomats and politicians of the level and experience of Sergei Lavrov, answering these questions without reservations can negatively mean crossing out much of the main thing on which post-Soviet diplomacy was built. Maybe the most significant thing that years have been given in bilateral relations and in multilateral platforms, including the UN.

As Lavrov noted, "in the current situation, there is a serious restructuring of the thinking of many of our comrades in all spheres of Russian life."

The first question that follows the conclusion "cannot be trusted" will concern the problems of war and peace, mutual deterrence, coexistence, which in Soviet times was usually called peaceful, but with the addition of "two systems." In the new conditions, Russia is opposed by the system of the collective West, but Moscow does not have a similar system yet. But it is emerging in different multilateral formats, such as the Union State, the CSTO, the SCO, the BRICS, trilateral meetings with China and India.

If coexistence is not peaceful, then it is either war, or secret preparation for such, or plans to destroy by new means, while existing weapons remain under mutual control. Sergey Lavrov called it a total hybrid war. How to talk about strategic stability or SNV-4 with this "baggage"? There are more questions today than answers. At stake is not so much the fate of the world community as the future of Russia. The community may remain silent, may support, but will not stand up.

Lavrov asks: "Are the Americans today able to actually follow the key principle of the UN Charter, which states that the United Nations are based on the sovereign equality of states." And he himself suggests that NATO "as the vanguard of the community of democracies" may pretend to replace the UN? Moreover, the European Union in security issues is gradually also "merging" with NATO.

"The EU is finally losing signs of independence, obediently embedding itself in Anglo-Saxon plans to establish the very same unipolar world order, sacrificing the quality of life of Europeans, their indigenous interests to please the United States. Remember how in December 2013 V. Nuland, during a conversation with the US Ambassador to Kyiv in the midst of the Maidan, determined the place of the EU in Washington's plans to reformat Ukraine. This prediction came true in its entirety, "the minister said.

"Crusade," which failed

Surprisingly, Russia, despite all the tragic lessons of the past, did not forget to be amazed at the "Russophobic outbursts," by which Minister Lavrov, apparently, meant not only the current antics of Poles, Czechs and Germans, but also British conspiracies, enemy invasions and other provocations and misfortunes, which from time immemorial arranged for Russia "so-called civilized countries."

Among the minister's main statements highlighted by the TASS agency, it is noteworthy that, according to Lavrov, "it is difficult to predict how long this will all last, but it is clear that everyone will feel the consequences without exception."

First of all, this, apparently, applies to Russia itself, which today, according to the minister, determines its place outside the "golden billion."

Or to Ukraine, which was turned into an instrument to contain the peaceful development of the Russian Federation in the context of the course to "perpetuate" the unipolar world order, the minister said.

The conflict in Ukraine has hurt everyone, including the United States itself, Katrina vanden Huvel, publisher and editor of The Nation magazine, wrote in the Washington Post on May 13. She noted that talking about the weakening of Russia is irresponsible.

Bloomberg notes that tensions in world markets have worsened with a reduction in the flows of Russian oil products - diesel, fuel oil and naphtha. The ruble has become the best global currency, demand for Russian wheat remains strong.

"Russia's statement on the repayment of external debt in rubles and the use of the ruble as a settlement currency when exporting energy and strategic resources to" unfriendly countries and regions "shook the monopoly position of the dollar in the global trading and financial system," the Global Times said on May 13.

Writing in Foreign Policy on May 14, Michael Hirsch, a former publisher of Politico magazine, asks: "Why Biden's anti-Putin crusade for democracy is failing." The US itself has descended to the level of "defective democracy," he says.

The West has chosen the wrong sanctions strategy against Russia, writes "Freezing Russia's foreign exchange reserves undermines confidence in the very international system that the West protects," Project Syndicate notes.

Finally, The Wall Street Journal noted in a May 12 issue that "Western economies are barely coping with high oil and gas prices - and won't get any easier in the near future. Europe is in a vulnerable position due to rising energy prices. "

Give know how to hand over

Russia, the United States, China and all others understand that today the question is being decided whether the world order will become fair, democratic and polycentric. Or this small group of countries will be able to impose on the international community the neocolonial division of the world into those who consider themselves "exceptional," and on the rest - those who are destined to fulfill the will of the "chosen ones," Lavrov said.

The "rules-based order" provides for neither democracy nor pluralism even within the "collective West." We are talking about the revival of strict bloc discipline, the unconditional subordination of the "allies" to the dictates of Washington, - said the minister.

Sergei Lavrov also raised the question of the dictate of the West in the world economy, bearing in mind both sanctions and the possibility of Washington and Brussels to put pressure on those who disagree, including secondary sanctions. The problem for Russia is acute and the answers lie in the field of economics.

On May 12, the Russian President said during a meeting on economic issues: "It is obvious that due to objective economic laws, the continuation of the sanctions obsession, if allowed to be said, will inevitably lead to the most difficult, difficult consequences for the European Union, for its citizens, as well as for the poorest states of the world that are already facing the risks of hunger."

Vladimir Putin's speech was devoted to issues of economic sovereignty, technological and food security. Among the main provisions, the president highlighted:

- vacant niches in the domestic market

- waiting for a harvest of 130 million tons, including 87 million tons of wheat

- gradual slowdown in inflation

- growth of the budgetary system capabilities and surplus of the consolidated budget

- record balance of the foreign trade balance and strengthening of the ruble.

Among the issues requiring resolution, Vladimir Putin called the lag in domestic demand, a reduction in the amount of funds in the accounts of enterprises and citizens, maintaining consumer demand, increasing opportunities for business and regions of the country, saturating the economy with liquidity, postponing payments on insurance premiums.

The place of Russia instead of the Western "empire of lies"

And returning to the speech of Sergei Lavrov: "Further rapprochement with our like-minded people outside the former" golden billion "is an absolutely inevitable process that is mutual in nature. Russian-Chinese relations are the best in their history.

A particularly privileged strategic partnership with India, Algeria, Egypt is deepening. Relations with the Gulf countries are reaching a new level. The same is true of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, other countries in the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

We are aware that at the current turning point (this adjective is "asking for language"), the place of Russia and everyone else in the future architecture of the world order is determined, "the minister concluded.

As Sergei Lavrov said: "Western politicians need to understand that their attempts to isolate our country are doomed. Many experts already recognize this. So far, however, it is quiet, on the sidelines, because it is not politically correct to say "such" aloud. But it's happening. Outside the West, it is argued that the world is becoming more diverse. There's no hiding from that. More and more countries are striving for real freedom of choice, ways of development and participation in integration projects. An increasing number of states in Asia, Africa, Latin America are not ready to compromise their national interests, to drag "chestnuts from the fire" for the former metropolis. The vast majority of our partners, who have felt the colonial, racist habits of the West, do not join the anti-Russian sanctions. The West, which, in the words of President V.V. Putin, has become an "empire of lies," has long been perceived as a kind of "ideal" of democracy, freedom and prosperity. "

Photo: https://www.tvc.ru / https://news.un.org