【International Observation】
The Russian-Ukrainian conflict has been going on for more than two months. In the meantime, the United States and Western countries have not only tightened their internal huddles, but also extended their hands to the rest of the world, or co-opted or pressured the developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America to join the West in encircling Russia. Since late April, many Third World countries have emerged as a follow-up to Western leaders and interest groups. They either spend a lot of money or promise various preferential economic and trade conditions, and the drunken man has only one intention - to encircle Russia.
Recently, India has suddenly become a hot "fragrant food" in the West. On April 21, British Prime Minister Johnson took the lead in visiting India and announced an investment and export agreement worth more than 1 billion pounds with India. As soon as Johnson stepped forward, European Commission President von der Leyen followed. Analysts pointed out that von der Leyen's trip to New Delhi aims to further consolidate the strategic partnership between the EU and its "important fulcrum of the Indo-Pacific strategy" India, and to "loosen" the traditional friendly relations between India and Russia. During his two-day visit to New Delhi, von der Leyen not only held bilateral talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but also attended the "Reissiner Dialogue," which is known as the ceiling of India's foreign policy forum. Von der Leyen particularly stressed that the Russian-Ukrainian conflict will not only determine the future of Europe, but also have a profound impact on the "Indo-Pacific" and the rest of the world. She promised to increase arms sales to India and restart bilateral free trade negotiations. The EU and India will set up trade and technology committees to strengthen cooperation between the two sides.
Foreign ministers of Poland, Lithuania, Slovenia, Portugal, the Netherlands, Norway and Luxembourg have also visited India on the occasion of India's "Reissina Dialogue". Modi used his visit to Europe as a "reciprocal gift", meeting with the heads of governments of the five Nordic countries of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Sweden and Norway, and participating in the India-Nordic summit. German Chancellor Schoerz met with Modi in Berlin on May 2. According to local media reports, in order to pull India into the anti-Russian camp, Germany promised to invest 10 billion euros in the development and use of clean energy and recyclable energy for India by 2030, and released the wind, which will support the EU and India to reach a free trade agreement as soon as possible. Scholz also invited Modi to the G7 summit to be held in Germany next month. In addition, Modi met with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace in Paris, and the core issues discussed by the two sides were the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and India's position on Russia.
Of course, it is not only India that has become the "sweet food" of the West. Recently, THE EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Borrelli visited Latin America to lobby host countries for condemnation and sanctions against Russia. Obviously, on this issue, Latin American countries maintain a considerable distance from the West. Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Brazil have adopted a foreign policy of support for Russia. Venezuelan President Maduro said that "Russia has the right to maintain its own security", and Cuba also asked the United States and NATO to respond to Russia's security concerns, declaring that "Russia has the right to defend itself". While other Latin American countries have not publicly supported Russia, they have not joined the West in condemning and sanctioning Russia, and are basically neutral.
Similarly, although many African countries have far-reaching historical ties with Europe, Russia has maintained good cooperative relations with African countries such as Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Mali, the Central African Republic and South Africa through years of operation. After the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, many African countries did not choose sides and move closer to the West, but adopted a "neutral" stance.
After the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the traditional European geopolitical pattern was broken. The West is self-centered, dividing the world into "anti-Russian alliances" and "middle alliances." The former is dominated by EU countries, members of the "Five Eyes Alliance" and Japan, and strives to attract other so-called "democracies" in the world to join in order to expand the influence of the Western world. They advocate the comprehensive isolation and containment of Russia in the fields of diplomacy, economy and trade, energy, military and even culture and art, and military support for Ukraine to resist the "invasion" of the Russian army. The latter, on the other hand, is dominated by the vast number of third world countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, and advocates that Russia and Ukraine achieve an early ceasefire through peaceful negotiations and truly resolve the security concerns of both sides.
The West frequently pulls or suppresses Asian, African and Latin American countries, which is also a last resort. On the one hand, while sending a large number of arms and "volunteers" to Ukraine, the Western bloc has adopted increasingly severe sanctions against Russia. The European Commission decided on May 4 that the EU will phase out Russian crude oil within 6 months and Russian refined products by the end of this year. This is the sixth round of sanctions imposed by the European Union on Russia. On the other hand, the Sanctions imposed by the Western camp on Russia have to rely on external forces and need to involve more "allied forces" in order to draw salaries from the bottom of the barrel and achieve the ultimate goal of encircling and suppressing and paralyzing the Russian economy. A European think tank researcher admits that Ukraine alone cannot defeat Russia, and the Western camp alone cannot achieve the purpose of sanctions against Russia. The shuttle diplomacy of senior Western officials in Latin America and African countries is aimed at "persuading" more "third-party" countries to side with the Western camp and not to further develop relations with Russia in various fields and thus affect the effect of Western sanctions against Russia.
It is hard to say that the West is not wishful thinking in doing so. Taking India as an example, the media reported here that since the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, India not only failed to "abide by" the sanctions imposed by the West against Russia, but instead used the preferential prices given by Moscow to buy a large amount of Russian oil and coal. Whether it was to receive Johnson and von der Leyen, or to meet with Scholz and Macron, Modi did not show the attitude of being persuaded by the West, nor did he make any anti-Russian commitments. In the face of the West's targeted and aggressive "persuasion", Modi said to him from the left and right, and repeatedly stressed that India has provided humanitarian assistance to Ukraine, calling for "no winner in the war and a ceasefire should be achieved as soon as possible". Some analysts believe that although the West has high hopes for India to "take the lead" in supporting sanctions against Russia in non-Western countries, Modi has his own plans. India and Russia have been close for many years, Russia is still India's largest arms supplier, and if it abandons military cooperation with Russia, India's national defense and security will be unsustainable. At the same time, in order to strive for the status of "hegemony in the Indo-Pacific region", India needs to join hands with the United States and the West; if it abandons cooperation with the United States and the West, India will not be able to benefit from the "Indo-Pacific strategy" of the United States. Therefore, India's best choice is to find a balance between Russia and the Western world.
In addition to India, in the face of the United States and the West pouring oil and fire in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and carrying out a "one-sided" anti-Russian public opinion offensive, many developing countries have expressed strong dissatisfaction and naturally have little interest in accepting Western "persuasion" and following up sanctions against Russia. This is not surprising. For many years, Western countries led by the United States have used the name of freedom, democracy, and counter-terrorism to fan the flames and create tragedies around the world. From the Iraq War to the "Color Revolution" to the "Kabul Moment" of the US military, not only did it not bring peace and prosperity to the countries and regions concerned, but it suffered from deep wars and disasters. The world has seen more and more the true face of the United States and the West hidden behind the guise.
The Russian-Ukrainian conflict has its own historical dimensions. Some people of insight in the West said that the West should not and has no right to stand on the so-called peak of morality and give orders to the vast number of Third World countries. Arrogance and unreasonable pressure will only backfire, lifting a stone and dropping it on his own feet.
(Brussels-based reporter Liu Jun)
Source: Guangming Daily