"After Russia, Washington to ratchet up pressure on China"
Professor Glenn Diesen for Caliber.Az

INTERVIEWS  10 August 2022 - 14:25

The West rejected pan-European security agreements signed in the early 1990s and instead proposed to create a new Europe, which Russia will not join, Glenn Diesen, professor at the University of Southeast Norway, told Caliber.Az, commenting on the current stage of Russia's confrontation with the US and Western Europe.

"And the West has really strengthened its security by reducing it in Russia. All in accordance with the ideology of liberal internationalism, which argues that Russia can pose a threat to the West, while NATO is not seen as a threat to Russia, because the organization simply promotes liberal values," the expert noted.

At the same time, according to Diesen, the economic hegemon, i.e. the West, is interested in increasing confidence in the international economic system under its control.

"However, this international system is failing," the Norwegian professor believes. - An economic hegemon, now in relative decline, is likely to use its tools to weaken successfully developing rivals. Unsustainable debt in the US and the EU has gradually reduced the advantages of the dollar and the euro, while the misappropriation of assets in Iran, Syria, Venezuela, and Afghanistan has undermined confidence in the entire Western-centric financial system.

Deterring rivals, such as Russia and China, leads to the militarization of transport corridors, and the reluctance of the International Monetary Fund to cooperate with China has prompted Beijing to create parallel institutions, such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. Former US President Donald Trump's economic war against China, which continued under Biden, weakened faith in the reliability of US suppliers of technology and industrial products. But Beijing's response was to gain significant technological sovereignty and reorganize the supply chain outside the United States," the political scientist stressed.

At the same time, he draws attention to the fact that the extensive sanctions imposed on Russia are also negatively affecting the rest of the world - in the form of energy and food crises, inflation, and general economic decline.

"The funds of the Russian Central Bank have been frozen, and the EU is even discussing the permanent confiscation of these deposits. At the same time, the West's desire to abandon Russian energy is forcing Russia to redirect all of its energy exports to the East. And countries that do not comply with unilateral Western sanctions face economic pressure. Apparently, China is next in line, because Washington actively promotes the idea of dividing the world into two blocks - a democratic (the collective West) and authoritarian (Russia, China, and their allies)," the expert suggests.

However, Diesen is sure that Russia no longer aspires to Greater Europe where it used to supply natural resources for industry, and from where it used to import the latest technologies and industrial products. The Greater Eurasian Partnership is no longer an instrument to diversify economic relations.

As for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), according to our interlocutor, the organization continues to strive for further development and is likely to admit Iran as a new member in September. The BRICS countries want to play a more important role in the global economy, for which they are expanding the organization and are already ready to accept Argentina and Iran as members.

"It has to be said that the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) has developed slowly against their background," the professor noted.

Diesen concluded by suggesting that in the foreseeable future, Russian weapons will be aimed at the West, while Russia will begin to strengthen its economic ties more and more in the East.

Caliber.Az