«Russia is a powerful and diplomatically fortunate force· she does not pose a threat to its neighbors or to Europe. But her defensive position must be impressive enough, to prevent any possible aggression against her» (Tsar Nicholas I).
May 29, 2019
By Ioannis Fritzalas – Geopolitical Analyst
The world community is going through one of the most crucial and nodal periods in the history of humanity. All it takes is a single glimpse on the developments, concerning the Ukraine, Syria, Iran, Venezuela and Turkey, namely the five main pieces in the mosaic of the international competition between the United States and the strategic partnership of the Russian Federation and China. Whatever the ideological/political direction of the observer of the international developments may be, a clear and objective outlook of the situation does not allow controversies: the strategic monarchy of the United States is in the process of its decomposition, inaugurating the inception of a new historical period for mankind, the so-called post-western era.
The gradual emergence of a multipolar international system and the formation of new centers of economic and political power perplex both the structure and the interpretation of international relations. Beyond any doubt, the global power and development potential is becoming decentralized, and is shifting towards the Asia-Pacific Region, eroding the global economic and political dominance of the traditional western powers, reinforcing alternative centers of power, under the influence of the Russian Federation and China.
Obviously, the structure of the international status quo, based on the strategic monopoly of the USA, is in serious jeopardy, for the first time since the initiation of the post-soviet era. A contingent collapse of the American militaristic empire , followed by the social instability and political violence, that Prof. Peter Turchin has predicted for the USA and Western Europe, will presumably bring about unpredictable consequences at global level (including the revision of the existing political boundaries), aiming at the deterrence of the impending multipolar world order and the states that support it, as well as the destabilization of the Russian Federation and the containment of its recovery in the international scene, as a leading global power.
Furthermore, we cannot underestimate the extent of the undermining of Russia’s vital interests by the West, as well as the subsequent escalation of the polarization between the two warring sides. According to the Foreign Policy Concept of the Russian Federation, the attempts made by western powers to maintain their positions in the world, including by imposing their point of view on global processes and conducting a policy to contain alternative centers of power, are detrimental to the long-term interests of all sides, run counter to the growing need for cooperation and lead to both a greater instability in international relations and growing turbulence on the global and regional levels.
The – undoubtedly – failed Euroatlantic architecture keeps adopting an obsolete Cold War mentality, which does not represent the strategic conception of a rational decision maker, but the irrational “modus operandi” of an obscure international elite (established on the “unholy collusion” between the US military-industrial complex and the anti-Semitic Saudi-Zionist alliance) that determines the political direction of the West, through the manipulation of its technocratic leaders, with the aim to preserve privileges that are against the global prosperity, freedom, stability and peace.
The dynamic recovery of the Russian Federation, which, according to the last leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, may conclude in the establishment of a union of the former Soviet states, in the former borders, with the same members and on the basis of free will, poses a serious threat to the perpetuation of those privileges.
It is not surprising, therefore, that the core of the contemporary Western political and geopolitical worldview is the widespread Russophobic prejudice, according to which Putin’s Russia is an enemy of the European system of values and the Western civilization. Could it be right? The necessity for a deeper understanding of both the Russian foreign policy and the strategic culture in general is more timely than ever.
In order to draw a definite conclusion, we need to acknowledge and examine the fundamental priorities of the Russian foreign policy and strategy. In accordance with the Foreign Policy Concept Of The Russian Federation and the Russian National Security Strategy, the key priorities set by the Russian leadership, within the framework of an integrated strategic planning, are indicatively the following:
