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📷 Today, on October 27, the plenary session featuring Russian President Vladimir Putin took place within the framework of the Valdai Club’s 19th Annual Meeting.

#VALDAI2022

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🎥 Is globalisation over?

Globalisation for the Americans meant exporting manufacturing to China and other low-cost places. US sanctions against Russia demonstrated not so much to Moscow, but to Beijing the risks of the US-led financial system, says Christian Whiton, Senior fellow at the Center for the National Interest.

#VALDAI2022 #valdai_podcast #globalisation

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🌐 The World Crumbles: What's Next? Fourth Day of the Annual Meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club

One thematic session was held on the last day of the 19th Annual Meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club, during which the Club's experts tried to formulate what lessons the military-political crisis of 2022 presents for the future.

Experts were unanimous in their assessments of the events that unfolded in Europe after February 24, 2022: a special Russian military operation in Ukraine provoked an all-out war of the West against Russia. The goal of the West is to inflict a military defeat on Russia and, by destroying its military power, to bring it into a state of “1990s minus”, which Western propaganda holds will succeed in “turning Russia into a normal country.”

According to one of the experts, the Russian operation has several goals. This is not only the elimination of the anti-Russian foothold within the country's borders, but also the preparation of Russia for a long existence in a crumbling world, the cleansing of pro-Western elements from the elite, as well as the final liberation of the world from the 500-year yoke of Western civilisation, and the return of rights to the "global majority".

Indeed, the institutions of global governance that arose after the Second World War were created to express the interests of the developed countries, which today account for a mere eighth of the world's population. After the end of the Cold War, the West abandoned agreements with Russia on acceptable coexistence, deciding to create an even more rigid system - the so-called "rules-based world order". However, according to one of the participants, this ‘new’ world order was a product of Western imperialism, grounded in the use of resources and cheap labour from poor countries.

According to one of the experts, confrontation between Russia and the West is inevitable, since the Western (primarily American) vision of the world does not imply the existence of alternative centres of power in the world. As long as Russia in any of its incarnations claims such a role, the West will always counteract by any means.

The annual meeting traditionally ended with a plenary session with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

https://valdaiclub.com/events/posts/articles/the-world-crumbles-what-s-next/

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🎞 The 19th Annual Meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club. Day 4

The key moment of the 19th Annual Meeting of the Valdai Club was the plenary session with the participation of the President of Russia. But before that, the last, tenth, session of the forum titled “The World That Crumbled: Lessons for the Future from the 2022 Military-Political Crisis”  was held. The conference ended with a plenary session with the participation of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

#VALDAI2022

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🪙 The world, including Russia since the early 1990s, has been accustomed for decades to the fact that there are only two types of currencies: hard currency and soft currency. In 2022, this unshakable currency dichotomy collapsed.

Now, no currency in the world, including the US dollar, is "hard" anymore in the sense of the original definition.

The large-scale unsecured issuance of major world currencies, record inflation and sharp changes in monetary policy, social and economic instability, political risks, and the weaponising of the EU and US financial systems through the use of sanctions and hybrid war have put an end to the firmness and strength of the dollar, euro, British pound and Japanese yen.

Meanwhile, the once “soft” currencies are gaining strength because they are backed by real industrial capacity (Chinese yuan) or commodities (Russian ruble), as well as politically stable regimes.

It is the Chinese yuan that is becoming the most popular “friendly” currency among both Russian entrepreneurs and citizens, who are converting their dollar savings into yuan. Demand growth is trending, and the position of the yuan in the Russian foreign exchange market is strengthening month by month, writes Alexander Losev,  financial expert, Member of Presidium of the Council on Foreign and Defence Policy (SVOP).

https://valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/the-yuan-as-the-leading-foreign-currency-in-the-ru/

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🌎🌍 The world was, and is, a colonial order.

It is divided into two great blocs in which the superior wealth of the Collective West comes from the economic plunder of the global South, achieved by the west’s monopoly of high-tech goods and its consignment, to four-fifth of the world of the status of the providers of raw materials and the products of cheap labour.

All that has happened compared with colonial era and that of high imperialism is that this economic oppression – always the material basis of this profoundly unjust division of the world - has been perfected to the point where formal conquest is kept in the back pocket, writes Alan Freeman, Co-Director, Geopolitical Economy Research Institute, for the 19th Annual Valdai Club Meeting

https://valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/world-capital-acts-globally-so-should-the-peoples/

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🇷🇺🌍 African countries and those in the global South have also come under greater diplomatic pressure from their European and US counterparts.

It is something that became a subject of discussion during US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s recent visit to South Africa, where Minister of International Relations Dr. Naledi Pandor expressed South Africa’s reservations regarding a US law that seeks to punish countries seen as having close relations with Russia.

In a changing geopolitical environment, African countries and those of the global South seeking to maintain cooperation with Russia will thus need to factor in these dynamics, which have been introduced to undermine relations in a similar manner that China’s engagement with Africa and the global South has been viewed with scepticism by counterparts in the West.

In order to achieve their development goals, African countries will largely seek to not get drawn into taking positions that may backfire against their strategic interests. They will thus seek to work with all external actors wanting to forge ties with the continent, and Russia and its African partners will need to build on their comparative advantages.

As an agricultural power, Russia could identify opportunities to boost Africa’s own production and enhance its food security. This would position Russia as a strategic partner in the pursuit of Africa’s green revolution and efforts to build a greater degree of resilience on the continent, writes Philani Mthembu, Executive Director at the Institute for Global Dialogue, South Africa, for the 19th Annual Meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club.

https://valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/russia-africa-and-the-global-south-enhancing/

#VALDAI2022 #Africa #GlobalSouth

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🌐 Recently the United Nations commemorated its 77th anniversary. The International Monetary Fund will be 77 years old in December, when the World Bank turns 76 years old.

These three institutions of world governance were established after a significant extermination of human life, the destruction of massive amounts of fixed capital, and social infrastructure.

While we are all, as a species-being, confronted by this crisis of existence and challenges of survival, it is the ‘geriatric’ institutions of global governance established in the second half of the 20th century that have governed us into this iniquitous situation.

If our current negative conditions are the outcomes of these institutions and their agencies, then we should and must reimagine a system of rules and governance structures that are actually capable of delivering the world that we want, need, and demand.

We should creatively destroy that which is ill-suited to our real requirements, and which persistently reproduces the hegemony of an absolute minority of people through advancing the narrow interests of a dominant fraction of capital in one country out of the multitude that constitute the world systems and the UN, writes Rasigan Maharajh, Director of the Institute for Economic Research on Innovation at the Tshwane University of Technology (South Africa) for the 19th Annual Meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club.

https://valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/we-should-creatively-destroy-that-which-is-ill-sui/

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🗺 It is not justifiable for any country to use the term of “rules based order” to manipulate the world when there is actually no such list of rules to be found anywhere under that title.

We can perhaps start with the following statement that “the act of alienating a country because it has a different culture and traditional values, or decoupling economic ties with a country because it has a different social and political system, or meddling with the internal affairs of another country simply because one wants to, or trying to simply separate the world into “them” and “us”, or relying still on gunboat diplomacy, these acts must be considered as uncivilised and unworthy and must hence be denounced and condemned by the international community.

What we must also admit is that in this fast changing world, seeking an absolute security may not be a realistic pursuit for any country including Russia, nor is it realistic for the US to expect itself to act as the world’s policeman forever. For either side of the conflict, pushing the envelope too hard or trying to drive the other side to the very corner will only lead to reckless reactions, thus bringing disasters to humanity. Disputes among nations are always better to be settled through peaceful negotiations and that’s where diplomacy comes into play.

China doesn’t have a history of practising colonialism or meddling with other countries’ internal affairs. This is why China believes in peaceful co-existence among nations and settlement of disputes are to be settled by peaceful negotiation rather than relying on force or gunboat diplomacy.

It is also unthinkable in today’s world for any country to dictate what the “rules” should be without the general consensus of all nations across the world, writes Nelson Wong, Vice Chairman of the Shanghai Centre for RimPac Strategic and International Studies, for the 19th Annual Meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club.

https://valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/china-in-the-times-of-global-disorder/

#VALDAI2022

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🇬🇧 Britain dreams of still being in the nineteenth century.

Today it is experiencing an economic and commercial crisis, the pound is weakening, it is unable to attract international capital to support development, and it has been hit by high inflation and increasingly serious social tensions.

More and more, its alliance with the United States is beginning to show the characteristics of a vassalage, writes Dario Velo, a Professor at Pavia University.

https://valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/the-crisis-of-english-sovereignty/

#Norms_and_Values #UK #GreatBritain

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🇮🇳 At the heart of India’s national interests lie the well-being of its citizens, national image and influence.

For accomplishing these lofty goals, it is paramount to develop Comprehensive National Power (CNP) and configure it to promote national interests. However, India’s comprehensive national development is predicated on a stable strategic environment.

Therefore, the principal goal of India’s foreign policy is to successfully navigate complex strategic environment in the quest of positioning India in a prominent place in the comity of nations.

We are living in a world where ‘Pax Americana’ has lost its sheen; gone are the days of unipolarity, pre-emption and American universalism. We are witnessing the rise of China, resurgence of Russia in Eurasia and growth of middle-level powers like India. The contours of a new diffused and polycentric world order are becoming dark. 

India is at the cusp of transiting from a balancing to a leading power, writes Major General (Ret.) B.K. Sharma, Director of the United Services Institution (India).

https://valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/india-s-foreign-policy-in-evolving-geopolitical/

#Asia_and_Eurasia #India

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🇬🇧 Rishi Sunak, who became the new leader of the Conservative party and prime minister, differs in many ways from his predecessors.

🔸 He is the youngest head of the British government in the last two centuries (he is 42 years old).

🔸 He is the owner of a large fortune and is among the 250 richest people in the country.

🔸 Sunak is a descendant of immigrants from India. In recent years, the descendants of immigrants, including those from former African and Asian colonies, have held high positions in the British government, but for the first time one has managed to reach the very top. 

Rishi Sunak undoubtedly faces a number of very serious problems, both current and long-term, and he will face a tough test of strength. First of all, there’s the economy. The country is experiencing a high level of inflation, the main sectors of the economy are in recession and all this is happening amid an energy crisis.

Britain’s foreign policy is also facing difficult challenges. Like all former empires, it is constantly searching for its place in a changing world.

After leaving the EU, London approved a new line — a “Global Britain”, which it has been trying to pursue in recent years. At the same time, special emphasis is placed on the Indo-Pacific region (the AUKUS alliance, the development of ties with India, Japan, etc.).

In the context of this policy, London also pursues a particularly hard line toward Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine. By providing significant assistance to Ukraine, Britain is trying to increase its importance in world affairs.

It is unlikely that Rishi Sunak will make significant adjustments to British foreign policy, writes Konstantin Khudolei, head of the Department of European Studies at the Faculty of International Relations at St. Petersburg State University.

https://valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/prime-minister-rishi-sunak-a-test-of-strength/

#RishiSunak #UK

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🇮🇳 Over the past decades, India’s foreign policy has been considered a model of strategic balancing: New Delhi has managed to maintain good relations with Moscow, Washington, Tehran, and London. This was all thanks to the seemingly indestructible liberal world order.

The events of recent years, and especially this year have taken India out of its comfort zone.

India felt quite comfortable in the previous reality; the new one puts it before a large number of challenges, which the Indian leadership has so far successfully overcome, once again demonstrating an exceptional ability not to quarrel with anyone more than necessary and to extract maximum profit from the conflicts between other great powers, writes Valdai Club expert Alexey Kupriyanov.

https://valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/india-s-foreign-policy-dilemmas/

#Asia_and_Eurasia #India

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🌏 Eurasian economic integration can become, in a sense, a “trench” — a relatively safe and resource-rich zone.

Within this zone countries could solve some of the most important tasks for preserving development.

However, the trenches need “bridges” among themselves — various trans-regional partnerships based on a system of maximally flexible agreements, linking various regional groupings, writes Valdai Club Programme Director Timofei Bordachev.

https://valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/trenches-and-bridges-of-eurasian-integration/

#Asia_and_Eurasia #EAEU

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🇧🇷🇷🇺 Relations between Brazil and Russia have historically been marked by periods of estrangement and rapprochement.

The US and its influence in Latin America has been a constant element in the relationship between the two countries. Hence, the nature of the relationship (rapprochement or distancing) between Moscow and Brasilia is a direct reflection of the political and ideological changes in the diplomatic landscape.

The current government of Jair Bolsonaro illustrates this trend. During the first years of Bolsonaro's administration, it leaned towards the United States; an automatic alignment with Washington's policymakers during Trump’s tenure. During this period, Brazil became a major non-NATO US ally and dismantled the main regional integration projects of previous governments, submitting Brazilian regional leadership to the Organisation of American States (OAS).

Brazil's pragmatism and regional leadership during the Lula administration were responsible for laying the foundations for a strategic relationship between Brazil and Russia.

Moscow’s position becomes even more relevant in the current context of Western sanctions against Russia, and Brazil must play an important role that can benefit both countries. For these reasons, Russia is not interested in a weakened Brazil, subordinated to the US. The Kremlin recognises Brazil as an important partner of Russia in Latin America and seeks to give Brazil a position as an indispensable ally in the design of the multipolar world.

The future of Brazil-Russia relations is also conditional upon the Russian ability to deal with the Western pressure that the new term of Lula da Silva will be subjected to, in addition to the Western diplomatic inability in building fruitful interlocution with Brasilia, writes Valdai Club expert Boris Perius Zabolotsky.

https://valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/brazil-and-russia-what-can-russia-expect-from/

#Norms_and_Values #Brazil #Lula #Bolsonaro

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📆 ANNOUNCEMENT: On November 9 at 11:00 a.m. Moscow time, the Valdai Club will host a discussion titled “Red vs. Blue: How Will the New Composition of Congress Affect US Policy?”

On November 8, 2022, the US midterm elections will be held. The current election campaign will largely determine the fate of the 2024 presidential election. The campaign to nominate candidates for the presidency of the United States may be launched soon after the midterm elections.

According to polls, the Republicans have a good chance of regaining a majority in the House of Representatives following the midterm elections. It is quite possible that they will take the majority in the Senate, but the outcome of the elections remains anyone’s guess.

Although US foreign policy is unlikely to change as a result of the elections, some of the emphasis in the US approach to the Ukrainian issue may be shifted. Thus, one of the likely consequences of the victory of the Republicans, according to the American media, could be a reduction in the weapons and financial assistance supplied to Ukraine by the United States.

What should we expect from a possible new or ongoing balance of power in the US Congress?
Will a potential shift in power affect US policy towards Ukraine?
Will it bring changes to Russian-American relations?

Participants of the discussion will try to answer these and other questions.

🎙 Speakers:

🇺🇸 Dimitri Simes, President, Center for the National Interest, Washington

🇷🇺 Dmitry Suslov, Deputy Director and Research Fellow, CCEMI, National Research University Higher School of Economics

Moderator:

🚩 Andrey Sushentsov, Programme director of the Valdai Discussion Club

https://valdaiclub.com/events/announcements/valdai-club-to-discuss-the-us-midterm-elections/

Working languages: Russian, English.

ℹ️ Information for the media: In order to be accredited to the event, fill out the form on our website. If you have any questions about the event, please call +7 926 930 77 63.

A link to the live broadcast of the discussion will be posted on all online platforms of the Valdai Club: on the websiteTwitterVKontakteTelegram and Zen.

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