nationalinterest.org/feature/russia…. Oh my, the Russian and the Chinese ambassadors publish a joint op-ed against the forthcoming Summit for Democracy. Some juicy reading here, people.
So the basic premise is that the US should not hold such a summit because it will create unneeded ideological dividing lines.
BTW, the notion of "de-ideologizing" international politics goes back to Gorbachev. It was the cornerstone of his new thinking. By this he meant the rejection of Marxist-Leninist dogma that previously underpinned Soviet foreign policy. This here is also straight out of Gorbachev:
This here, though, will make you choke on your coffee. True, everyone knows that China has democracy with Chinese characteristics. It is also known as "dictatorship." Gorbachev flew of the window at this point. Also worth marking this paragraph as "fraud".
The next paragraph extols the virtues of Russia's democracy, which, to be sure, at least has elections (though of course everyone knows that they are fake). I don't mind the Chinese Ambassador lying about the nature of the Chinese system. Do mind the Russian ambassador's lies.
The next paragraph reflects Putin's long-time preoccupation with the "democratisation" of international relations, which is kind of ironic given how desperately Russia hangs on to its Security Council seat, and how it peddles "spheres of influence" in IR.
Everyone knows that fighting corruption is obviously anti-democratic 😂.
The key paragraph. We know that this is what they are most afraid of.
Interesting for a country that just recently annexed a part of another to talk about international law and the purposes of UN Charter.
And the conclusion. In general, as @Nigelgd1 points out, it's not the content that's interesting (we've seen it all before) but it's interesting to see the Russians and the Chinese acting together against "value-based diplomacy."
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
An interesting set of arguments. Not sure I fully agree. While I would agree that Lukashenko is anything but Putin’s puppet, Russia’s signaling on Belarus has been ambiguous. Instead of working to diffuse the crisis, it has issued statements that only embolden Lukashenko.
A good example of that is Patrushev’s interview to AIF; anyone looking for evidence of full Russian complicity doesn’t need to look any further. (But NB contrary statements by Putin himself in relation to gas, indicative of his frustration with Lukashenko).
On the agency of DNR/LNR, an interesting question. I would not overstate this agency given their complete dependence - political, economic, military - on Russia. In other words, if Russia ever needed to sell out its clients in Donbas, Putin could do it at very low cost.
A thought-provoking article by @scharap, where he argues the US should arm-twist Ukraine to meet Russia's demands on Donbas: politico.com/news/magazine/…. I see it has triggered an interesting debate among experts. My take is as follows: 👇🏿
For a start, we need to agree on what Putin's aims in Ukraine are. That's a 64,000 question but let's just say there are two possibilities. 1) He is intent on annexing Ukraine. Why? Well, say has set his mind on 'gathering the lands', etc, which he would see as his legacy.
If this is the case (and in my view this is extremely unlikely) - but for the argument's sake we'll say it's a possibility - then making concessions to Russia on Donbas will hardly satisfy Putin - it'll just feed his appetite. If he is going for broke, he is going for broke.
This here is not a very intelligent idea. Under international law, one either recognises a country or one does not. When you recognise a country, you recognise its government, whoever happens to run it. Democrats, dictators, kings, anyone.
So, it won't fly in strictly legal terms but will of course annoy the Russians for little gain. I doubt, in fact, that this resolution will ever pass but it's already making rounds in the Russian media. The Kremlin will milk it dry for the purposes of domestic legitimacy.
You'll ask: how can Putin be legitimised by "non-recognition"? This is because "non-recognition" is a form of recognition - Putin is recognised as the "other", the "enemy". One can, in fact, derive domestic legitimacy from being seen as America's adversary.
A rather nasty move by the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. He ordered the publication of his exchange of letters with his German and French counterparts @HeikoMaas and @JY_LeDrian. mid.ru/documents/1018….
Letters concern the prospect of having a Normandy meeting on the conflict in Ukraine. Lavrov refused to participate after Germany and France refused to endorse his proposed final document, which Ukraine would have to sign, and which contains questionable propositions.
For example, Ukraine would have to cancel some of its laws (on the national language, education, and rights of minorities). Ukraine would also be required to deal directly with the de facto authorities in Donbas and Luhansk (which is a long-standing Russian goal).
A very interesting interview with Bertrand Russell (recorded in 1961 at his house in North Wales), where he talks about his life, and sets out his views on issues ranging from sex life to education to nuclear war. .
Many of the things he says appear unduly pessimistic in retrospect. For example, he predicts that there would not be one person left alive by the end of the century. He repeatedly calls for Britain's withdrawal from NATO, which he sees as just an extension of US imperialism.
Other points seem right on the money (knowing what we know of the Cold War today). For example, he sees ideology as playing a decidedly secondary role to the struggle for power and claims things would have been much the same if the Russian tsars were still around.
An interesting op-ed by Joseph Nye, where he argues that the parallel between the Cold War and the current state of US-China rivalry is misplaced. The analogy is "lazy and dangerous", says the title. nytimes.com/2021/11/02/opi…. Here's why Nye is wrong 👇🏿...
According to Nye, the key difference was that during the Cold War the Soviet Union was a direct ideological and military threat to the United States, so containment was a feasible objective. Let's unpack this.
At no point during the Cold War was the Soviet Union a direct ideological threat to the United States. To argue that it was a direct ideological threat would be to imply that the Communists could come power in the U.S. or, broadly speaking, in the West, through the ballot.