The Global South AKA Zone B
The End of the Unipolar World
On February 24, 2022, the start of the special military operation in Ukraine marked the end of the unipolar world. Six months after the start of the Special Military Operation (SMO) by Russia in Ukraine, the geopolitical tectonic plates of the 21st century have been dislocated at astonishing speed and depth – with immense historical repercussions already at hand. Putin himself first spelled it out at the Munich Security Conference in 2007. Xi Jinping started to make it happen when he launched the New Silk Roads in 2013. The Empire struck back with Maidan in 2014. Russia counter-attacked coming to the aid of Syria in 2015. The Empire doubled down on Ukraine, with NATO weaponizing it non-stop for eight years. At the end of 2021, Moscow invited Washington for a serious dialogue on “indivisibility of security” in Europe. That was dismissed with a non-response response. Moscow took no time to confirm a trifecta was in the works: an imminent Kiev blitzkrieg against Donbass; Ukraine flirting with acquiring nuclear weapons; and the work of US bioweapon labs. That was the straw that broke the New Silk Road camel’s back.
A consistent analysis of Putin’s public interventions these past few months reveals that the Kremlin – as well as Security Council Yoda Nikolai Patrushev – fully realize how the politico/media goons and shock troops of the collective West are dictated by the rulers of the FIRE system (financialization, insurance, real estate), a de facto banking Mafia i.e., the 2 families.
As a direct consequence, they also realize how collective West public opinion is absolutely clueless, of their total captivity by the FIRE rulers, who cannot possibly tolerate any alternative narrative.
Russia broke the spell. But Moscow’s strategy is way more sophisticated than leveling Kiev with hypersonic missiles, something that could have been done at any moment starting six months ago, in a flash. What Moscow is doing is talking to virtually the whole Global South, bilaterally or to groups of actors, explaining how the world-system is changing right before our eyes, with the key actors of the future configured as BRI, SCO, EAEU, BRICS+, the Greater Eurasia Partnership.
And what we see is vast swathes of the Global South – or 85% of the world’s population – slowly but surely becoming ready to engage in expelling the FIRE Mafia from their national horizons, and ultimately taking them down: a long, tortuous battle that will imply multiple setbacks. The grinding down and de facto demilitarization of the imperial proxy army in Ukraine is driving the Empire’s handlers and its vassals literally nuts. The Global South though should never lose sight of the “Empire business”. The Empire of Lies excels in producing chaos and plunder, always supported by extortion, bribery of comprador elites, assassinations, and all that supervised by the humongous FIRE financial might. Every trick in the Divide and Rule book – and especially outside of the book – should be expected, at any moment. Never underestimate a bitter, wounded, deeply humiliated Declining Empire.
The unconditional dominance of the US and its allies is a thing of the past. The main reason for the graphic, thundering failure of the G20 Foreign Ministers summit in Bali is that the G7 – or NATOstan plus American colony Japan – could not force the BRICS plus major Global South players to isolate, sanction and/or demonize Russia.
On the contrary: multiple interpolations outside of the G20 spell out even more Eurasia-wide integration. Here are a few examples.
The first transit of Russian products to India via the International North-South Transportation Corridor (INSTC) is now in effect, crisscrossing Eurasia from Mumbai to the Baltic via Iranian ports (Chabahar or Bandar Abbas), the Caspian Sea, and Southern and Central Russia. Crucially, the route is shorter and cheaper than going through the Suez Canal.
In parallel, the head of the Iranian Central Bank, Ali Salehabadi, confirmed that a memorandum of interbank cooperation was signed between Tehran and Moscow. That means a viable alternative to SWIFT, and a direct consequence of Iran’s application to become a full BRICS member, announced at the recent summit in Beijing. The BRICS, since 2014, when the New Development Bank (NDB) was founded, have been busy building their own financial infrastructure, including the near future creation of a single reserve currency. As part of the process, the harmonization of Russian and Iranian banking systems is inevitable. Iran is also about to become a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) at the upcoming summit in Samarkand in September.
In parallel, Russia and Kazakhstan are solidifying their strategic partnership: Kazakhstan is a key member of BRI, EAEU and SCO. One key characteristic of the countries shown in red on the bottom (realistic) map is that all these countries have two crucial factors in common: a) they (mostly) lack real resources (since their civilizations were always built on imperialism, colonialism and plain robbery) b) they hate Russia so much that they are willing to take measures which hurt themselves much more than they hurt Russia.
What the Global South is Buying
Putin always makes it very clear that the decision to launch Operation Z – as a sort of pre-emptive “combined arms and police operation”, was carefully calculated, considering an array of material and socio-psychological vectors.
Geopolitically and geoeconomically, Russia and China are in the process of eating NATOstan alive – in more ways than one. Here, for instance, is a synthetic road map of how Beijing will address the next stage of high-quality development via capital-driven industrial upgrading, focused on optimization of supply chains, import substitution of hard technologies, and “invisible champions” of industry.
If the collective West is blinded by Russophobia, the governing success of the Chinese Communist Party – which in a matter of a few decades improved the lives of more people than anyone, anytime in History – drives it completely nuts.
BRI was launched by Xi Jinping in 2013. After Maidan in 2014, Putin launched the Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU) in 2015. Crucially, in May 2015, a Russia-China joint statement sealed the cooperation between BRI and EAEU, with a significant role assigned to the SCO.
Closer integration advanced via the St. Petersburg forum in 2016 and the BRI forum in 2017. The overall target: to create a new order in Asia, and across Eurasia, according to international law while maintaining the individual development strategies of each concerned country and respecting their national sovereignty.
That, in essence, is what most of the Global South is buying. It’s as if there’s a cross-border instinctual understanding that Russia-China, against serious odds and facing serious challenges, proceeding by trial and error, are at the vanguard of the Fair World Order, while the collective West, naked, dazed and confused, their masses completely zombified, is sucked into the maelstrom of psychological, moral and material disintegration. No question the pain dial will be ratcheted up, in more ways than one.
This small image tells the true story about the Ruble “turning into rubble” as “Biden” promised.
This is what we see now and which will probably continue well into 2023. The fact that the economic warfare waged against Russia or the promise of wonder-weapon has totally failed will never be admitted by these deeply psychopathic and terminally delusional people. And if they cannot double down ad infinitum in their actions, they sure will continue to double down in their rhetoric, just as the orchestra continued to play while the “unsinkable” Titanic was sinking.
Still, at least some of the regular folks in the West is smelling the roses, hence the dismal rating of ALL the western political leaders. The hostility of many US Americans even results in polls that suggest that many of them would want to secede from the other states, in this case Trump voters. Considering that Trump voters are, as a rule, far more patriotic than Woke-soaked US “liberals”, this is very telling. But also ironic: the USA wants to break up Russia and ends up breaking up itself. Karma?
Not only. Let’s look at the map which shows which countries did and did not impose “sanctions” on Russia:
Notice that pretty much the entire red zone is composed of countries that the West has invaded, robbed, devastated, enslaved, subverted, forcibly converted, bombed, economically “sanctioned” with blockades and blackmail (by means so-called “secondary sanctions” which is a euphemism for blackmail and extortion) and, more recently, upon which the full satanic insanity of Wokeness has been imposed. The population of these red countries, which I call “Zone B”, knows the true score and they mostly hate and despise the West. And that places all their comprador ruling elites in a very tricky situation: their US masters want them to declare total war on Russia while their population is mostly sympathetic to Russia. In the past, this would have been a no-brainer.
Washington, with its CIA-run death squads, aircraft carriers and seemingly infinite money printing capability was much more vital to these comprador elites than their own population. But now that death squads have been largely replaced with woked-out fairies which are only good at shooting unarmed civilians, now that US aircraft carriers don’t really frighten even countries like Iran, the DPRK or Venezuela and now that the entire Western-built international economic and financial system is collapsing, these comprador elites have to become much, much more careful lest they end up like the US stooges in Bolivia: out of power and in jail; or flee the country (the Sri Lanka Effect). Even Colombia seems to be slowly slipping away, as does Brazil.
First, let’s define our categories. In the EU we don’t really have any real “ruling class”, we only have puppets, pretend-rulers with no authority whatsoever. There is no European “defense policy” or any other meaningful evidence of common sense on any level. The EU is dead, clueless and totally in the control of the US Neocons. The writing is on the wall, and only those who deliberately shut their eyes fail to see it.
Russia & the Global South or ZONE B
The Global North (in blue) includes many countries in the Northern Hemisphere and also some, such as Australia and New Zealand that are located in the Southern Hemisphere. The Global South (in red) includes many countries in the southern hemisphere and some in the northern hemisphere.
The Global North aka “The Collective West” or “The International Community” is in blue. I call it ZONE A.
The Global South is in red. I call it ZONE B.
What is the Global North? The Global North does not refer to a geographic region in any traditional sense but rather to the relative power and wealth of countries in distinct parts of the world
Attempts to categorize the world order have been based more on politics and economics than geography.
In the late twentieth century, the Global North and South terminology replaced previous descriptors of the global order. It was generally agreed that the Global North would include the United States, Canada, England, nations of the European Union, as well as Singapore, Japan, South Korea, and even some countries in the southern hemisphere: Australia, and New Zealand. The Global South, on the other hand, would include formerly colonized countries in Africa and Latin America, as well as the Middle East, Brazil, India, and parts of Asia. Many of these countries are still marked by the social, cultural, and economic repercussions of colonialism, even after achieving national independence. The Global South remains home to the majority of the world’s population, but that population is relatively young and resource-rich, living in economically dependent nations.
China
By the way, the Chinese are also getting mighty fed up with the crazies in DC. Just prior to the launch of the Ukraine SMO (Special Military Operation), Putin went to Beijing to attend the Olympics, and concluded a strategic co-operation agreement with China. Putin covered his back. Once the war broke out, Washington pressured the Chinese to condemn Russia, and to support the sanctions against Russia. China did not agree. It was only when Nancy Pelosi made the trip to Taiwan, did Beijing openly come out in support of Russia. China knows full well that if Russia falls, then it is next. After all, they both share the same enemies. The foolish policies of Washington have achieved the opposite of what they hoped to accomplish- the Chinese-Russian Alliance is alive, active, and are working together to unite the Global South against the tyranny of the 2 families and their neo-liberal world order.
Blinken received a cold reception from the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
Wang telling Blinken, “just look at what the Russians did when they lost their patience with your antics.”
The expression “dead end” was recurrent during the Wang-Blinken meeting. So in the end the Global Times had to tell it like it really is: “The two sides are close to a showdown.”
Blinken and the US have now realized that there is no way to break up the alliance between Russia and China. Increasing the anxiety levels in the Rockefeller Empire, Chinese leader Xi Jinping is scheduled to travel to Saudi Arabia in the first week of September to meet with MBS. Talks will revolve around energy, technology, infrastructure, and currency issues. Speculation is that Saudi Arabia may accept Yuan for its oil sales to China. We will just have to wait and see. But, this trip has got Wall Street on edge.
India
India and Russia have had good relations between them, spanning decades. In during the late 2000s, Washington managed to draw India on its side against China. At around the same time, Russia and China admitted India and South Africa into the BRICS organization. A good move by Russia and China as this tie-up would slow down India’s drift into the US orbit.
India declared it is neutral in the conflict between Russia and NATO. It refused to condemn India. When the war started, Washington was going all out to pressure countries to oppose Russia and forego trade relations. Putin beat this move by offering oil and gas at a 30% discount; a brilliant move by Putin. This was an “offer that the Indian side could not refuse”. India began importing larger volumes of energy products and other resources from Russia. India Inc. made sure of that. This would mean higher profits for India Inc.
As India gets even closer to Russia across the whole spectrum of trade – including energy, diamonds, coal and a host of other Russian natural resources and goods, the US has found India re-aligning itself with the East, and drifting away from the Western orbit.
Geo-economic profits trumps geopolitics and ideology. Once again, Washington lost an ally who it was counting on. Even the reason that Washington used to pull India into its orbit- to take an anti-China stand is now on very shaky grounds.
South Africa & Africa
South Africa is a member of the BRICS organization. The country is a vassal state of London. When the war broke out in February, Many countries in Africa were pressured to condemn Russia. South Africa and a few other African countries declined. The pressure built up over the next few months, until Blinken paid a visit to South Africa in early August. The South African foreign minister, very diplomatically, told him to buzz off – “We don’t like to be bullied”. And the West just lost another ally/vassal.
People don’t forget that the West was Africa’s slave master, and imposed tyranny, while looting the continent dry. Very little was done by the colonial powers in terms of building up these nations.
In addition, from the 1950s on, Russia hosted and helped those African leaders fighting for justice and independence. Many nationalist leaders and other Africans were educated in Moscow and Beijing. In short, Russia and China stood by the Africans. These are things one doesn’t forget. Now, these same leaders are asked to turn their backs on Russia. Under threats and blackmail, African leaders have stood their ground. In fact, Africa is thrilled to see that, finally, someone is standing up to these bullies.
China also has been of great help in building infrastructure across Africa, with no interference in the local affairs of these countries; as compared to Western aid, and their terms and conditions, not to mention their gross interference in the internal affairs of these countries.
Take the case of Mali. In 2013, France sent a military force to protect the country from terrorism. But, the Mali government found that the French presence was only making the terrorist groups stronger- due to the covert help of the French. In addition, Mali was being looted of its resources- principally gold. There were many instances of French military officers and diplomats caught smuggling gold out of the country, and here we are talking in TONS, not KILOS! Out of frustration, Mali asked the Kremlin for help, and the Wagner Group came to the rescue. Within two years, the Russians turned the situation around. The last French troops were kicked out of Mali at the end of August 2022. Mali regained its sovereignty.
Other French colonies are also using the Wagner Group to remove French presence in several other African countries, such as the CAR, Benin and Niger. The French will fight hard to hang onto Niger, due to the fact that France obtains all of its uranium from Niger, and at “give-away” prices. This uranium provides the fuel for France’s 24/5 nuclear power plants, which, in turn provide 75% of France’s electricity. No Niger-no Uranium.
Then Macron paid a visit to Algeria, to plead for gas. And Macron insulted Africa with his racist rant, while in Algeria. “Africa’s Role In The New Cold War” is destined to be that of a major battleground between the Collective West and the Global South precisely because its people refuse to be subjugated any longer by the former after having ruthlessly been exploited by them for half a millennium. France, which is among the most powerful of the Collective West’s hegemons in Africa and even surpasses the US’ influence in some parts of the continent, isn’t even hiding its neo-colonial intentions anymore after Macron ripped off his mask and started insulting Africans’ intelligence in the extremely racist way that he just did. The so-called “battle for hearts and minds” has already been won by the Global South’s multipolar Great Powers like Russia and China, who are helping to liberate all African countries with no strings attached.
They’d never dare disrespect their partners, let alone in the crude way that Macron just did, especially because they themselves have been victimized by similar forms of verbal abuse. Africans are well aware not only of those two and others’ proud anti-colonial histories, but also of just how sincerely they respect all others in contrast to the behavior exemplified by Western leaders like the French one and his peers. Macron’s racist insult of all Africans’ intelligence isn’t just rude, but also suggests that the Collective West is done “playing nice” after having abandoned all pretenses of their pretend “politeness” that they unconvincingly attempted to practice in the past. As Western “thought leaders” never tire of reminding everyone, “might makes right” in their eyes, hence why they’re now sowing chaos across Africa. This isn’t speculation either but documented fact after Mali recently accused France of supporting those Al Qaeda-connected terrorists that declared war on its Russian partner in late June.
Macron made a major mistake though by letting his mask slip after spewing his racist innuendo about Africans supposedly lacking the intelligence to not be manipulated by foreign powers. The shameless ethno-nationalist supremacy associated with his hateful remark will result in Africans doubling down on their anti-imperialist and Pan-Africanism activism since no self-respecting person would ever capitulate in the face of such blatantly racist pressure and thus voluntarily submit themselves to being dominated by their abuser. Far from helping the Collective West’s hegemonic cause like his twisted mind imagined that his crude insult would supposedly do, the French leader’s public embrace of racist tropes against Africans will only serve to accelerate the decline of the US-led West’s hegemony over that continent.
Africa has re-aligned with the East.
Grain & Food Deals
Many African and Arab countries import grain and other food products from Russia. These became a casualty of the Western sanctions on Russia. Washington was hoping to use this opportunity to regime-change many of these governments, and replace them with vassals and puppets. This will help American multinational to loot Africa even more. In addition to which a bonus factor comes into play. Were these to happen, many African and Arab nations will find themselves in America’s grip.
The Kremlin knew what was at stake. And Foreign Minister Lavrov did a remarkable job of lifting the blockade on the exports of Russian grain and food. This would be a win for Moscow, and a loss for Washington.
Turkey
Turkey is a NATO member. Has the 2nd largest army in NATO. Turkey’s leader Erdogan is a smart geopolitical player. He is a pro-western leader and a strong nationalist. When the US attempted a coup against Erdogan in 2016, relations between the 2 became icy. At one point in the coup, Erdogan was flying back to Ankara, while under threat from Turkish fighter jets trying to shoot him down. Putin came to his aid at the last minute, thus saving Erdogan from being assassinated.
In the aftermath of the coup, Turkey distanced itself from the US, and became closer to Russia. When the war in Ukraine broke out, and the results of the first 2 months showed the West to be a paper tiger, Erdogan and Russia began working even more closely, and at the end of July, Russia and Turkey sealed a strategic agreement, covering many issues.
This made Washington very upset. US diplomats went to Turkey with their usual bullying and threats, all to no avail. Washington has now lost Turkey as an ally. Don’t forget, Turkey occupies a very strategic place on the Eurasian chess board. A loss for the US is a gain for Turkey. Erdogan has met with Putin more times than other leader since the start of the war. On Tuesday, 30th August, another meeting between them is scheduled.
Saudi Arabia
The relationship between Saudi and the US has had its ups and downs over the decades. When MBS became the Crown Prince, and refused to follow US policy, but rather an independent policy, the relationship broke down. Details are in our previous articles, https://behindthenews.co.za/the-us-saudi-nexus-part-6-of-a-6-part-series/ US policies against Saudi drove MBS into even closer relations with Russia and China.
When war broke out, and the resulting energy sanctions against Russia began to cause oil prices to rise, Washington pleaded with MBS to raise production. No chance, as Biden had insulted MBS very publicly. In international diplomacy, this is not done. And the Saudis don’t forget. At the end of July, Biden flew to Saudi and was publicly humiliated in ways that no American leader had ever experience.
First, he landed in Jeddah instead of Riyadh. Second, he was greeted by the governor of Jeddah-instead of by the king. And at the meeting, MBS was blunt with Biden, and stated that Saudi cannot increase oil production, and will not have spare oil for another 5 years. At the dinner reception that followed this meeting, Biden and the American delegation were hosted by low level Saudi officials. MBS and his father the King had departed for Riyadh. This was another super humiliation for the US. What a humiliating come-down for the US. Biden left Saudi with his tails between his legs. The world of the Global South saw this, and rejoiced.
Prior to this meeting, and a day after, MBS called Putin, and explained all that happened. They both had a good laugh. The US had forever lost its most important and strategic ally in the region, and where Saudi goes, so do the rest of the Gulf States.
One by one, all of America’s allies are deserting, and shifting their focus to the East. Oil, the most strategic of all commodities, is showing its power, once again. As Kissinger once said, “If you can control the oil flows of the world, then you can control the destinies of nations”. This was so apt in today’s times. And Next week, China’s leader Xi Jinping is visiting Saudi Arabia – his first external trip in three years. The Rockefeller Empire is waiting tensely to see what further blows will hit America’s strategic position.
Iran
Iran has been under Western sanctions since 1979. It has survived with many difficulties. It has grown stronger militarily, and has become the largest military power in the region.
With the outbreak of the Ukraine war, Iran has been quietly helping Russia, and teaching them, how to circumvent sanctions. Russia is now doing oil swaps with Iran. In June Iran and Russia signed a $40 billion deal for Russia to help with Iran’s gas sector. In addition, Russia has been helping Iran in the military and defense sector.
The North-South corridor is a multimodal network of maritime, rail and road transport between Russia and India, with a shipping hub in Iran. The corridor is not subject to sanctions imposed against Russia and Iran as the West allows it to rival China’s Belt and Road Initiative. None-the-less, the North-South corridor is not under the influence of Western countries and is a purely Eurasian project.
This corridor will not only be a global artery that further integrates these countries and their economies, but will act as a geopolitical tool to strengthen a multipolar world order. It is predicted that up to 30 million tons of goods will be transported through the corridor every year and will help these countries bypass sanctions.
The memorandum is important for Russia’s bilateral trade with Azerbaijan and Iran, as well as connecting with Persian Gulf countries, India and even Southeast Asia. With Russia now the most sanctioned country in the world and closed off from European ports for Russian ships, along with the impossibility of obtaining goods from Western Europe, Moscow’s Eastward pivot has been established. In this way, the creation of alternative transport routes is important for Russia’s economic interests.
By signing the memorandum, the three states initiated a process of creating a common corridor for the delivery of various goods and started creating a single logistics and customs window for smooth, stable and fast delivery of goods. This will improve logistics between countries and Russia is anticipated to start receiving South and Southeast Asian products that are much more cost effective compared to their Western counterparts.
To explain, the US-led West’s unprecedented sanctions counterproductively crippled the economic-financial basis of America’s declining unipolar hegemony, which coincided with Russia teaming up with India and Iran to forge a third pole of influence in the present bi-multipolar intermediary phase of the above-mentioned systemic transition to more complex multipolarity (“multiplexity”).
These two factors irreversibly altered the course of the New Cold War: the US’ unipolar hegemonic decline became inevitable while India helped Russia preemptively avert any potentially disproportionate dependence on China.
These two multipolar powers are major players in that trade, especially the natural gas one. Their speculative plans for an oil swap deal that prompted such panic from Politico carry with them the potential to ensure reliable revenue generation for both while also helping their partners.
The Russian and Iranian economies will mutually benefit by selling discounted resources on the global market while countries like India will accelerate their rise as multipolar Great Powers through the purchase of these exports. Their trilateral axis will continue becoming a force to be reckoned with, especially if the first two coordinate their natural gas activities seeing as how they account for the largest such reserves in the world. It’s therefore not difficult to foresee that the global energy industry could eventually be revolutionized by the Russian-Iranian Strategic Partnership, which could in turn deal a deathblow to the so-called “petrodollar”, especially in the scenario of Saudi Arabia selling oil to China and others in yuan.
Bottom line, the combination of Iran-China and Russia is a geopolitical nightmare for Washington. All three nations have been victims of Washington and the Collective West. And now, they have banded together to re-write the rules on the oil and gas trade. Iran and Russia hold the 2 largest gas reserves, and with LNG in such big demand, expect Iran and Russia to flex their muscles with the West.
The combination of Russia and Saudi in the OPEC+ alliance has created the possibility of shifting the outcome of the oil markets to favor producers instead of Wall Street pricing power and the deadly embrace of the petro-dollar. This is best seen with Russian oil sales to the Global South.
Geoeconomically, Russia can afford to sell its oil with fat discounts to any Global South customer, not to mention strategic partners China and India. Cost of extraction reaches a maximum of $15 per barrel, with a national budget based on $40-45 for a barrel of Urals. A new Russian benchmark is imminent, as well as oil in rubles following the wildly successful gas for rubles.
Payment Systems
The West did the East a big favor by cutting off Iran and Russia from SWIFT. Now, the Global South is moving onto non-western payment systems. Angola may join the Mir payment system, developed by Russia in response to Western sanctions, and allow the use of MIR cards in the country,
The envoy also said that the two nations may switch to mutual settlements in national currencies, adding that the Russian ruble could easily be used for this purpose.
Russia started developing its own national payment system when the US targeted it with sanctions in 2014. Back then clients of several Russian banks were temporarily unable to use Visa and MasterCard due to the restrictions. Since the introduction of the new system, Russian banks have already issued more than 129 million MIR cards. They are currently accepted in Turkey, Vietnam, Armenia, South Korea, Uzbekistan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Earlier this month, Indian media reported that the country’s ATMs and terminals may soon start accepting Russian MIR debit and credit cards, while Russia was planning to reciprocate and begin accepting Indian RuPay. In July, the head of the economic department of the UAE Embassy in Moscow, Ahmed Al-Ketb, said the nations had started negotiating an agreement that would allow the use of the Mir payment system cards in the Gulf state.
The Blowback against Western Companies in Russia
The West itself appears to be the party most harmed by the sanctions it has chosen to impose against Russia. As well known, the US, UK and EU are facing a wave of inflation with all-time highs. And in the same sense, the business world is collapsing in Western countries. The business losses with the end of participation of some Western companies in the Russian market are extremely significant and are causing serious problems for the economy of many countries, with losses accumulating exorbitant amounts.
It is estimated that American, European, British, and Japanese companies have already lost more than 70 billion dollars since February. The losses are a consequence of the packages of sanctions imposed by Western countries on Moscow in response to the start of the special military operation in Ukraine. Many corporations withdrew from Russia or had their activities frozen, losing insertion in the powerful market of consumption, work and raw materials offered by Russia.
As for market sectors in which Russian consumption was of interest to Western companies, there are even fewer losses. The corporations that withdrew from Russia left their physical production structures there, which could be used by Moscow, generating employment for the Russian population, internal circulation of capital and economic progress. For example, McDonald’s lost more than one billion dollars with its adherence to anti-Russian measures, but its withdrawal from the local market made room for the nationalization of the company’s production structures, and a Russian national company was created to sell fast food for Russian citizens. The same is currently happening with other Western companies that have left the Russian market. In short, the West lost a rich consumer market and handed over to Moscow all the necessary means for Russians themselves to supply their population with such goods and services. Currently, there are still plans to completely ban the entry of Russian citizens into Europe, which according to estimates will generate losses of more than 20 billion euros, harming the entire European market.
Only one in three UN members back new anti-Russia resolution
Ukraine’s latest proposal to condemn Russia has attracted the backing of just 58 out of 193 UN member states, a far cry from the number that symbolically supported Kiev in the General Assembly in March.
Kislitsa’s resolution also fell short of the support Kiev had back in March, right after the start of the Russian military operation. At the March 2 General Assembly session, 141 member countries – or 73% of the UN – voted for a nonbinding resolution to condemn Moscow.
This week, however, that support stood at 30%, with no African, Persian Gulf or BRICS countries on board – and only two Latin American governments, Colombia and Guatemala, standing with Ukraine.
The propaganda machine in the US is fueled by the ignorance of the American public, who still believe, with hand on heart, that the US government is on their side and motivated by altruism. However, the rest of the world is not so naïve, as more and more countries are waking up to the fallout of US policy.
The Lavrov Dance
As for news surrounding Sergei Lavrov’s visits to Arab countries in, the Arab League, and African countries continue and can only be described as a stunning victory and a complete triumph for diplomacy. This was in late July and early August.
Russian Foreign Ministry Media official Maria Zakharova reports that “US officials tried to persuade everybody (and of course themselves) that Russia is “completely isolated” and “separated” from the rest of the world. These officials have been running around trying to convince everyone not to take photos with Mr. Lavrov, so that they can support their thesis for a domestic audience, that Russia is isolated. Another US ploy unmasked! From Mr Putin’s meeting with Ali Khamenei in Tehran, several European leaders said to Ali Khamenei, that they totally oppose NATO expansion eastward and (in particular) towards Russia. However, when they (European leaders) were questioned about the reason behind this expansion, they answered that it is an American demand.”
Of course, trying to isolate Russia by not taking photos with Mr Lavrov, did not go anywhere. In diplomatic circles, contacts are usually peer to peer, in other words, a foreign minister will be met by a foreign minister. For these visits, Lavrov is being welcomed with full honors in each country and in each case being met by the President of the country. This is rare to see and is a triumph, coming so soon after Mr Putin’s successful visit to Iran.
These diplomatic coups will then filter through to the highest levels and we can expect to see more overt support for Russia in the UN and its organs. In reality, the situation on the ground in the world is changing.
“We are at the beginning of a new era, which would be a movement towards real multilateralism, not to the multilateralism, which the West tries to impose on the basis of the exceptional role of the Western civilization in the modern world. And I think the movement is unstoppable.” [Quote: Lavrov]
A key vector is whether Russia stands a chance of winning the information war with the collective West. That will never happen inside the Collective West (Zone A) – even as success after success is ramping up across the Global South (ZONE B).
The success of the BRI and the imminent expansion of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is evidence that global changes are going in a different direction to the old western dominated model. That model has been frankly exploitative, working to the benefit of the rich few at the expense of the vast majority of nations. Putin accused the western elites of using chaos to promote globalisation by creating wars and imposing alien methods upon others. Russia and China have been at the forefront of opposition to this old system of western domination and that’s precisely the main reason why they have been targeted by the West. The process of creating a new multipolar world order is actively opposed by the West, who see quite clearly that such changes as are sought by the developing nations would spell the end of their domination. They unsurprisingly oppose the removal of their historical domination. They wish rather to maintain their grip on the old neo-colonial order.
In this he has the clear backing of China that has its own record of experience with colonial domination to remind it that the West is in fact a predatory beast that will shut the life out of a country in pursuit of its own self-interest, The two nations, Russia and China, have now joined forces in what amounts to a fundamental realignment of the world.
A key point to note is that there are five major centers of power in the world. This is where the most critical decisions are made that affect every individual in the world today. These are New York, London, Moscow, Beijing and Riyadh. In one way or another, the rest of the world is tied into these five centers of power.
That so many nations have joined the BRI and are clamouring to join other alternative systems such as the SCO speaks volumes as to how they are sick and tired of the long history of colonial exploitation and are demanding a different way of doing things where their interests are paramount. For the first time in centuries they are staking a claim to be part of a new system and Russia and China are leading the way in that new system.
The West clearly does not like what is happening. One may rest assured that they will fight tooth and nail to defend their old privileges. It may now be too late. They have only themselves to blame. The SMO is making steady and relentless progress and these diplomatic successes will filter through to the Ukraine and the eventual ending of the carnage there. We will have to wait and see the shape that the exact resolution takes. Moscow will dictate these terms.
Our next article deals with the fall of Dollar Hegemony. Stay tuned, folks!
Thank you for the updates. I’m still confused how this will pan out if the world becomes multipolar as this concept fits into WEF where they say the world will be split into 5 I think regions. Both China and Russia embraced the plandemic protocols too and we already know how advanced they are with social engineering using social credit scores and facial recognition which the west seem to want to adopt. Are you sure the SMO is not just another tentacle to collapse europe and then get the digital or biodigital ID’s rolled out quicker. Videos of 6build 6ack 6etter Ukraine are coming out showing SMART cities concept.