🌏🌍 The Middle East Crisis through an Asian Prism

On November 27, the Valdai Club hosted an expert discussion on the Asian vision of the Middle East crisis.

💬 Moderator Oleg Barabanov, programme director of the Valdai Club, noted that since the Middle East is part of Asia as a larger region, the political, economic and humanitarian consequences of the Middle East conflict cannot but affect all Asian countries.

💬 Rakesh Bhadauria, Major General (ret.), Director of the Centre for Strategic Studies and Modelling of the Joint Institute of Defence Studies of India (New Delhi), called the crisis in the Middle East a legacy of colonial times. Describing India's position, he noted that it has good relations with both Israel and Palestine, but that India condemns harm to civilians on both sides and attaches importance primarily to human suffering as a result of the conflict. According to him, it is now important to prevent the expansion of the confrontation, because if it grows, then the entire Global South will be involved and, in addition, energy security will be at risk.

💬 Rahakundini Bakrie Connie, Lecturer at Jenderal Achmad Yani University in Indonesia, called for a search for a political solution within the framework of the UN. She emphasized that Indonesia, as both a Muslim country and a trading partner of Israel, favours a peace process with the active participation of Russia. In her opinion, in order to establish peace in the Middle East, it would be useful to return to the idea of a Middle East Quartet consisting of the European Union, the UN, the United States and Russia, in order to provide mediation efforts. However, the confrontation between Russia and the Western countries makes this unlikely.

💬 John Gong, Professor, Vice President of Research and Strategy at the University of International Business and Economics – Israel (UIBE – Israel), briefly outlined the situation around the Gaza Strip and the main trends in Israeli politics at the moment, noting that the consequences of what is happening will have a long-term impact on the world in the future. Speaking about China's position, he pointed out that it is gradually changing and becoming more balanced. At first, Beijing did not directly condemn Hamas, but later it put forward a draft resolution that contained a condemnation. Nevertheless, Israel considers the Chinese position to be rather pro-Palestinian, the analyst admitted, adding that, in his opinion, China seeks to maintain neutrality and achieve a truce between the parties, advocating the two-state principle.

💬 Raza Muhammad, President of the Institute of Policy Studies, Islamabad, presented the Pakistani perspective on the issue. He said Pakistan has always supported the Palestinian people and called Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip unacceptable, underscoring that what is happening there is a full-blown humanitarian disaster. In his opinion, ultimately everything depends on the position of two countries – the United States and Israel. Until they decide to end this conflict, there is nothing the world can do.

https://valdaiclub.com/events/posts/articles/the-middle-east-crisis-through-an-asian-prism/

#Norms_and_Values #Palestine #Israel #AsiaPacific

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📆 ANNOUNCEMENT: On December 1 at 12:00 Moscow Time (GMT+3), the Valdai Club will host an expert discussion dedicated to the results of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Skopje with the participation of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov @MFARussia.

The 30th OSCE Ministerial Council is taking place from November 30 to December 1 in the capital of North Macedonia, which currently chairs the OSCE. Last year, during the Polish presidency, Sergey Lavrov was unable to take part in the meeting of foreign ministers, since most European countries, including Poland, had banned flights from Russia.

Today the Russian leadership is concerned about the state of affairs in the OSCE. The organisation, according to Alexander Lukashevich, the Russian permanent representative to the OSCE, is struggling for survival. Apart from to personnel and financial issues, the selection of the chairman for 2024 remains the most important problem. Russia is not ready to consider NATO countries for this role. They, in turn, accuse Russia of blocking the work of the Organisation.

Nevertheless, everyone is aware of the importance of holding a full-fledged CMFA meeting. This year, North Macedonia invited Russia to a meeting in its capital, although a number of countries announced a boycott.

❓Will the participation of the Russian Foreign Minister in the OSCE Ministerial Council be a step towards rethinking European policy towards Russia?
❓What is the Russian role in the organisation today?
❓How did the process of selecting candidates for the chairmanship transpire?
❓Is a consensus possible?
❓What can we expect from the OSCE next year?

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

🎙️ Speakers:

🗣 Fyodor Lukyanov, Research Director of the Valdai Discussion Club

🇷🇺 Dmitry Suslov, Deputy Director and Research Fellow at the Scientific and Educational Centre for Comprehensive European and International Studies, Faculty of World Economy and International Politics, National Research University Higher School of Economics

🇪🇪 Rein Müllerson, honorary professor at Tallinn University (Estonia) 

Moderator:

🗣 Oleg Barabanov, Programme Director of the Valdai Discussion Club

https://valdaiclub.com/events/announcements/valdai-club-to-discuss-the-results-of-the-osce-ministerial-council-in-skopje/

Working languages: Russian, English.

ℹ️ Information for the media: Dear journalists, to be accredited for the event, please fill out the form on our website. If you have any questions about the event, call +79269307763.

Links to the live broadcast of the discussion will be posted on the on the website, VKontakte, Telegram and Dzen.

#Norms_and_Values #OSCE

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⏰ TODAY at 12:00 Moscow Time (GMT+3), the Valdai Club will host an expert discussion dedicated to the results of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Skopje with the participation of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

❓Will the participation of the Russian Foreign Minister in the OSCE Ministerial Council be a step towards rethinking European policy towards Russia?
❓What is the Russian role in the organisation today?
❓How did the process of selecting candidates for the chairmanship transpire?
❓Is a consensus possible?
❓What can we expect from the OSCE next year?

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

Links to the live broadcast of the discussion will be posted on the on the website, VKontakte, Telegram and Dzen.

#Norms_and_Values #OSCE

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UPD: The livestream is over. The video of the discussion is available via the same link. Stay tuned!

🎥 LIVE: at 12:00 Moscow Time (GMT+3), we are starting an expert discussion dedicated to the results of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Skopje with the participation of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

https://vk.com/video-214192832_456239153

#Norms_and_Values #OSCE

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🇦🇷 The Argentina of Javier Milei: A Return to the (Wild) 1990s?

Javier Milei was recently elected President of Argentina, having run with a campaign platform promising ultra-liberalisation of the economy, privatisation of major state-owned companies, closure of the Central Bank, and dollarisation of the economy.

Such policies, and their outcomes, are not essentially new for Latin American countries. Similar experiences were fully implemented during the Washington Consensus in the 1990s, including in Argentina itself during Carlos Menem’s government.

Nevertheless, Milei succeeded in orchestrating a campaign that resulted in his victory, emphasising the novelty of these measures and presenting them as the only possible means of overcoming the economic debacle that Argentina has been facing for decades. 

In the Argentine context, deep economic instability, high inflation rates, unemployment, and increasing poverty have fuelled a widespread sense of indignation among the population. It is noteworthy that, amid these challenging conditions, candidates offering simplistic and inadequate solutions to complex problems often garner significant support, Boris Perius Zabolotsky writes.

https://valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/argentina-of-javier-milei-a-return-to-the-wild/

#Norms_and_Values #JavierMilei #Argentina

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🌏 OSCE on Artificial Life Support or a Return to the CSCE?

On December 1, 2023, the Valdai Club hosted an expert discussion dedicated to the results of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) summit in Skopje. Moderator Oleg Barabanov invited participants to discuss the present and future of the OSCE in the context of the prospects for European security as a whole.

💬 Dmitry Suslov, Deputy Director of the Centre for Comprehensive European and International Studies at the Faculty of World Economy and International Politics at the Higher School of Economics, suggested that the OSCE would exist “on artificial life support” for some time, but in its current form it is doomed. The only chance for its salvation in the medium-term is a return to the format of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe and the liquidation of those institutions that were created after the Cold War and are under the full control of the West. The new CSCE should become a platform for dialogue between Russia and the collective West and for developing a new modus vivendi in the conditions of inevitable long-term confrontation, an arms race and the threat of a big war, he believes. However, this requires political will, which is completely absent so far.

💬 Fyodor Lukyanov, research director of the Valdai Discussion Club, called a return to the CSCE unlikely, since political conditions have radically changed. The CSCE was created in conditions of lasting peace to fix the existing balance of power and interests. Now there is no balance, there is no status quo, and probably no one can establish them. An important question, according to Lukyanov, is what European security is today, when European countries have ceased to be actors in this area. Many people talk about the need to transform the pan-European security system into a pan-Eurasian one, but this is hardly possible. In addition, the “centrality” of events taking place in Europe or Eurasia as a whole is inessential. Lukyanov believes that the OSCE is unlikely to disappear, but it is difficult to say what the meaning of its existence will be.

💬 Rein Müllerson, Professor Emeritus of Tallinn University, admitted that he has “mourning premonitions” regarding the OSCE. However, international organisations often continue to exist even when they have exhausted their functions. Back in the nineties, the OSCE was a “one-way street” and influenced only Eastern Europe and Russia, and Western countries did not pay attention to it. Now, even the opportunity to establish contacts and exchange information is not used. The organisation has turned into a platform for communication between like-minded people, but without any practical benefit. However, it will most likely exist for a long time, even if its efficiency is not even zero, but negative, Mullerson concluded.

https://valdaiclub.com/events/posts/articles/osce-on-artificial-life-support-or-a-return-to-the-csce/

#Norms_and_Values #OSCE

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📆 ANNOUNCEMENT: On December 11 at 12:00 noon Moscow time (GMT +3), the Valdai Club will host an expert discussion, titled “The young generation in an era of change: A dialogue between Russian and African NGOs”.

The role of the Global South is growing, and this applies not only to the Asia-Pacific region, but also to the African continent. Africa is increasingly asserting itself as an independent entity on the world stage, freeing itself from the influence of former metropolises and fighting for independent development. Thus, despite the pressure, African countries did not implement sanctions against Russia. In addition, at the New Delhi summit in September, the African Union became a permanent member of the Group of Twenty (G20).

Africa is the continent with the youngest and fastest-growing population. According to a UN forecast, by 2050 Africans will most likely make up more than a quarter of humanity. That is why the future of not only the continent, but the entire planet depends on what African youth will be like. In this context, strengthening ties between the younger generation of Russia and Africa is a particularly promising and dynamic area of cooperation.

❓How does the historical experience of mutual assistance affect relations with African countries today?
❓What role do education and the graduates of Russian universities play in cooperation with Africa?
❓How do African countries perceive Russia's confrontation with Western countries?
❓What social values can both Russians and Africans share?
❓What do you see as Russia's strengths in the information space and the public opinion of African countries?

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

🎙️ Speakers:

🇷🇺🇹🇿 Andrey Avetisyan, Ambassador of Russia to the Republic of Tanzania

🇷🇺 Andrey Maslov, Director, Centre for African Studies, HSE University

🇷🇺 Natalia Zaiser, Chair of the Board, Africa Business Initiative Union

🇷🇺 Leonid Protsenko, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology of Personality Development, Moscow Pedagogical State University

🇬🇭 Bening Ahmed, Secretary General of the Pan African Youth Union

🇪🇹 Jafar Geletu, Deputy Executive Director of the Institute of International Relations at the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

🇷🇺 Pavel Shevtsov, Deputy Head of Rossotrudnichestvo

Moderator:

🗣Oleg Barabanov, programme director of the Valdai Discussion Club

https://valdaiclub.com/events/announcements/valdai-club-to-discuss-dialogue-between-civil-societies-of-russia-and-africa/

Working languages: Russian, English.

ℹ️ Information for the media: Dear journalists, to be accredited for the event, please fill out the form on our website. If you have any questions about the event, call +79269307763. 

Links to the live broadcast of the open sessions will be posted on all online platforms of the Valdai Club: on the website, VKontakte, Telegram and Dzen.

#Norms_and_Values #Africa #society

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⏰ TODAY at 12:00 noon Moscow time (GMT +3), the Valdai Club will host an expert discussion, titled “The young generation in an era of change: A dialogue between Russian and African NGOs”.

❓How does the historical experience of mutual assistance affect relations with African countries today?
❓What role do education and the graduates of Russian universities play in cooperation with Africa?
❓How do African countries perceive Russia's confrontation with Western countries?
❓What social values can both Russians and Africans share?
❓What do you see as Russia's strengths in the information space and the public opinion of African countries?

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

Links to the live broadcast of the open sessions will be posted on all online platforms of the Valdai Club: on the website, VKontakte, Telegram and Dzen.

#Norms_and_Values #Africa #society

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🎥 LIVE: at 12:00 noon Moscow time (GMT +3), the Valdai Club we are starting an expert discussion, titled “The young generation in an era of change: A dialogue between Russian and African NGOs”.

https://vk.com/video-214192832_456239154

#Norms_and_Values #Africa #society

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🇷🇺🌍 Russian-African Cooperation: In Search of a Youth Format

On December 11, 2023, the Valdai Club hosted an expert discussion titled “The Young Generation in an Era of Change: Dialogue Between the Civil Societies of Russia and Africa”. The moderator was Oleg Barabanov, programme director of the Valdai Club. 

💬 Pavel Shevtsov, deputy head of Rossotrudnichestvo, emphasised that Russia, when working with foreign audiences, should first of seek to work with young people, who in the near future will become decision-makers, shaping the foreign policy of their countries. He called graduates of Soviet and Russian universities in Africa the “golden fund” of Russia. “The future belongs to the African continent, we are one hundred percent sure of this. This is a continent that is gaining strength,” Shevtsov added.

💬 Andrei Avetisyan, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Russia to the Republic of Tanzania, called the issue of the role of youth in Russian-African interaction extremely timely and relevant. In his opinion, African countries now face the problem of gaining economic independence. Neither their former European metropolises nor the United States are interested in these countries' development, and they are trying to impose their agenda on them. African youth play an important role in this fight and are becoming increasingly active. Ties in the educational sphere are extremely important, but it is also necessary to develop business and cultural ties, focusing on youth, Avetisyan noted.

💬 The issue of civil society interaction has been brewing in the international field for some time now, and the geopolitical events that have led to a new paradigm of relations have only increased its relevance, said Natalia Zaiser, Chair of the Board of the African Business Initiative Union. She considers mutual low awareness to be an important problem. “The Russian-African agenda is still dominated by a situation where there’s a lack of knowledge both on the Russian side about the African continent and in Africa about Russia,” she noted, adding that Russian-African relations should be perceived as “a two-way street.”

💬 Andrei Maslov, director of the Centre for African Studies at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, noted that the Soviet Union had a good experience interacting with Africa, but the USSR worked practically without competitors, because the West was not ready to train African personnel in such numbers. Now Russia is encountering fierce competition, and this means that it will not be possible to use the quantitative factor; it is necessary to train the best, those who will occupy leading positions in their countries.

💬 Leonid Protsenko, Associate Professor of the Department of Psychology of Personality Development at Moscow Pedagogical State University, examined the topic of discussion from a theoretical perspective. He pointed out that strategic vectors for working with youth have not yet been set in Russia. “When a strategy is blurred, there are a lot of different tactics that don’t lead to much movement,” he explained. It is necessary to create conditions, motivation, and prerequisites for exploring other regions. After this, conditions can be created for the interaction of communities and space for the next level of exchange.

https://valdaiclub.com/events/posts/articles/russian-african-cooperation-in-search-of-a-youth-format/

#Norms_and_Values #Africa #society

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📆 ANNOUNCEMENT: On December 19, 2023 at 12:00 noon, the Valdai Club will host an expert discussion dedicated to Russia's chairmanship of BRICS in 2024 together with the presentation of the new Valdai Club report, titled " Global Inequality: Will the BRICS Countries Succeed in ‘Steering’ the Global Economy?"

The BRICS association has moved to a new stage of its development. Its expansion by inviting Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, the UAE, Egypt and Iran into the community opens the way to the gradual creation of a different world system. It may not be based on the antagonistic principles of the balance of power or a zero-sum game, but on qualitatively different approaches.

The countries of the world majority are increasingly showing themselves as independent subjects of international relations, freeing themselves from the influence of former metropolises and insisting on independent development. The BRICS can become for them a prototype of a new international architecture, free from the influence of Western coalitions.

In 2024, Russia will chair the new BRICS+ format. The key event of the Russian presidency will obviously be the meeting of heads of state, the BRICS summit, which will be held in Kazan. Before the summit in South Africa, 23 countries announced their desire to join the community.

❓Should we expect decisions on further expansion next year?
❓Which states can be called the main contenders for joining BRICS?
❓What are the prospects for deepening integration and institutionalising the association?
❓What are Russia’s priorities as chair?
❓Will new settlement mechanisms outside the Western financial infrastructure be discussed?
❓How will the confrontation between Russia and the West affect the BRICS summit?

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

🎙️ Speakers:

🇷🇺 Maria Apanovich, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Demographic and Migration Policy, MGIMO, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia

🇿🇦 Nirmala Dorasamy, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Public Management and Economics, Durban University of Technology, South Africa 

🇪🇬 Sherif Ged, Chairman of the Egyptian Alumni Association (Egypt)

🇮🇷 Manoochehr Moradi, Senior expert, IPIS; Former ambassador of Iran in Ukraine (2018-2022)

Moderator:

🗣 Oleg Barabanov, programme director of the Valdai Discussion Club

https://valdaiclub.com/events/announcements/valdai-club-to-discuss-russia-s-chairmanship-of-brics/

Working languages: Russian, English.

ℹ️ Information for the media: Dear journalists, to be accredited for the event, please fill out the form on our website. If you have any questions about the event, call +79269307763. 

Links to the live broadcast of the open sessions will be posted on all online platforms of the Valdai Club: on the website, X (formerly Twitter), VKontakte, Telegram and Dzen.

#Norms_and_Values #valdai_report #BRICS

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🎥 LIVE: at 12:00 noon, the Valdai Club will host an expert discussion dedicated to Russia's chairmanship of BRICS in 2024 together with the presentation of the new Valdai Club report, titled " Global Inequality: Will the BRICS Countries Succeed in ‘Steering’ the Global Economy?"

https://vk.com/video-214192832_456239155

#Norms_and_Values #valdai_report #BRICS

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🇨🇩🇷🇼 On December 20, 2023, if nothing extraordinary happens, presidential elections will be held in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Unfortunately, the presence of UN peacekeeping forces in itself entails a security threat. The example of Rwanda and other countries speaks for itself.

Today, the forces of the East African Community and the UN peacekeeping forces, in our opinion, should leave the DRC and give way to the forces of the Community of Southern African Countries, Valence Maniragena writes.

https://valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/rwandan-context-for-the-dr-congo-elections/

#Norms_and_Values #Africa #DRC #Rwanda #neocolonialism

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🌍 Since the year 2020, eight governments in francophone Africa have been overthrown by the military, adding up to a disturbing trend of coups in the continent.

To put it into context, since the 1950s there has been a total of 486 coup attempts; 214 of these attempted coups have taken place in Africa, out of which 106 have been successful.

Beyond the statistics, however, two questions often emerge with regards to the coups.

1️⃣The first question is whether these coups are a result of internal failures, especially of governance institutions within these countries, or a consequence of an international system that is increasingly becoming illiberal. Perhaps even more disturbing is whether these coups are as a result of both internal and external factors.

2️⃣ The second question is whether these coups are capable of providing solutions to the challenges facing the people in the countries where they have been carried out. The justification for this question stems from the pronouncements of coup leaders themselves. There is no doubt that anyone or any institution that promises to rapidly address these problems is likely to get the support of the people.

The recent coups in West Africa are not likely to spread beyond the region, given their unique historical and foreign relations. It, however, finds that should the new governments fail to urgently fulfil their promises, the search for alternative leadership is likely to commence, Israel Nyaburi Nyadera writes.

https://valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/hope-amidst-uncertainty-reflections/

#Norms_and_Values #coups #Africa

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🇦🇷 Libertarian economist Javier Milei's victory in Argentina has had a significant impact on at least two major issues in Latin America:

🔹 a new geopolitical realignment in the region that could have repercussions on the world stage,

🔹 and the relative rise of the United States and the old power core of the Global North, striving, one way or another, to stop the inevitable fall of their hegemony within the framework of current historical and spatial changes in the world order.

Milei may be aligned with Washington on ideological grounds. This is beneficial for the United States for four reasons:

1️⃣ It helps revive the Monroe Doctrine. December 2, 2023 marked the bicentennial anniversary of this American strategy, the goal of which is to dominate the Americas, appropriate its resources and oust any potential foreign rival (today this means China).

2️⃣ It weakens Brazil’s leftist president, Lula da Silva. A friendly government in Argentina would be a great relief to the leader of the Workers' Party. Moreover, against the backdrop of the hegemonic struggle between powers in the modern world, it would be extremely beneficial for Brazil and Argentina to be on the same page in order for them to coordinate policies with respect to trade, investment, world prices, as well as guaranteeing certain principles of autonomy and sovereignty in international platforms.

3️⃣ It reorganizes the balance of power in the region. Until December 9, 2023, the four most influential and economically significant countries in South America—Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, and Venezuela—were led by leftist governments. Argentina has made a 180-degree turn, aligning with the libertarian right.

4️⃣ Argentina lost a great opportunity to join BRICS+ on January 1, 2024, an organisation that marks a certain strengthening of the positions of regional forces and represents a serious opportunity for the redistribution of world power. Such defections harm not only Argentina, but also the BRICS+ project itself.

It will soon become clear what results Milei's new foreign policy will lead to, writes Telma Luzzani.

https://valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/argentina-perestroika-under-the-new-government/

#Norms_and_Values #Argentina #UnitedStates

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