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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| The Global South refuses to condemn Russia |
| 2023-08-07 |
| Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Kirill Semenov [REGNUM] On Saturday, August 5, consultations were held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on a peaceful settlement of the crisis around Ukraine, preparations for which were preceded by a massive information campaign in the Western media. She was supposed to convince the world community that the meeting was aimed at creating a united front of the Global South and the West to support Ukraine. However, the results of the event, which was attended by representatives of the United States, China, India, Brazil, Ukraine and more than 30 states, rather indicate the opposite. The Global South tried to convince the West of the need to find a formula for peace that would allow Moscow and Kyiv to sit down at the negotiating table. PHANTOM HOPES Even before the start of the Jeddah meeting, it became clear that the Kiev regime and its Western backers were trying to use it as a kind of PR stunt and began to present it in advance as an “anti-Russian summit”. It was supposed to achieve an appropriate resonance in order to, in fact, neutralize the St. Petersburg Economic Forum held in Russia, where the presidents of Algeria and the United Arab Emirates were present, as well as the Russia-Africa summit, which was attended by 17 heads of state, along with other delegations. Now it was important for Ukraine and the West to show that they were supposedly able to reverse this trend and force the countries of the Global South to join one or another action to isolate Moscow. This approach was actively rebroadcast by the Western media, so the impression could indeed be formed (it was formed, including by part of the Russian expert community), that the countries of the Global South were allegedly going to Jeddah to support the peace plan of Vladimir Zelensky . And the actions of Saudi Arabia, which organized the events, were actually interpreted as unfriendly towards Russia. Therefore, in all his statements, Zelensky emphasized that delegations from 42 states were present at the meeting in Jeddah, which, in the opinion of the Ukrainian side, should indicate their support for Ukraine and the Ukrainian settlement plan. In fact, this did not happen, and neither Kiev believed in the prospect of adopting the "10 points" of the peace plan, or, as it is called, the Ukrainian "peace formula" as the basis for a peaceful settlement, acceptable even for the states-leaders of the Global South, nor in other Western capitals. Although they tried to put a good face on a bad game. In the end, following the meeting in Jeddah, the information background changed and instead of the “peace formula”, which was supposed to be the basis for the event, completely different comments were made. So, according to The Wall Street Journal, Ukraine no longer insisted on accepting the “10 points” proposed by Zelensky, the newspaper writes, citing a high-ranking European official. CHINA PROPOSES ITS PLAN The West and Ukraine, due to the lack of obvious progress, have made attempts to find other positive aspects of the outcome of the meeting, based on various "indirect signs" of success. The arrival of the Chinese delegation, led by the PRC Special Representative for Eurasian Affairs Li Hui , was played by the West and Ukraine as alleged evidence of Moscow's growing isolation. In particular, according to an unnamed French diplomat cited by Bloomberg, the PRC representative "did not repeat a single Russian argument at the Saudi meeting . " But, firstly, Beijing has never broadcast the Russian point of view, having its own position both regarding the conflict in Ukraine itself and its settlement. And secondly, such statements by Western diplomats indicate just the opposite, because no other evidence of "success" was presented. At the same time, it was China who proposed in Jeddah to discuss the red lines of the Russian side and presented its 12-point peace plan. In particular, he proposes to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries, abandon the Cold War mentality, stop hostilities, resume negotiations between Moscow and Kiev, and abandon anti-Russian sanctions. As for other states of the Global South, including the organizers of the event in the person of Saudi Arabia, they, of course, also considered the consultations in Jeddah from a different angle than the countries of the West. Of course, they would not have become participants in this event in order to give themselves the opportunity to “convince” themselves of the need to adopt the “Zelensky plan” and as a sign of support for Ukraine. The only thing that the participants eventually agreed to (and which was played by Ukraine and the West as their willingness to discuss the “peace formula”) was to create appropriate working groups to discuss three separate issues that were also present in the Ukrainian “plan”. They include global food security, nuclear security and the release of prisoners, while the conditions for the end of hostilities and those provisions that may find a negative response in Moscow are left out. Thus, the “peace formula” was essentially not considered at the meeting, although it was precisely this that was announced as the core aspect of the event. Western media also stressed that all participants in the negotiations agreed that any peace agreement should be based on respect for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine and the supremacy of the UN Charter. In this case, there was only a confirmation of the already known positions of the leaders of the Global South, voiced in their peace initiatives, including the Chinese one. But despite this, these states take a different approach to resolving the crisis in Ukraine than the West. This position was most clearly formulated by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan when he spoke of the need to achieve "a world without losers." THE GLOBAL SOUTH AND RUSSIA'S INTERESTS For their part, Saudi Arabian officials viewed Saturday's talks not as support for Ukraine and a show of agreement with the US position, but as evidence of its global influence and confirmation of its desire to diversify diplomatic partners, become the leading mediator and negotiator on the Ukrainian settlement. This, of course, requires Riyadh to maintain the current high level of relations with Moscow. "These talks are a prime example of the success of Saudi Arabia's multipolar strategy of maintaining strong ties with Ukraine, Russia and China ," Saudi analyst Ali Shihabi , close to the government, told Le Mond. In fact, according to the sources who took part in the event, it was in form a platform for the exchange of views, which the new leaders of the multipolar world were counting on. Therefore, the meeting in Jeddah itself should not be seen solely as directed against the interests of Russia and in support of Ukraine. The leading states of the Global South themselves tried to convince Ukraine and the West to abandon the conditions that were initially impossible to fulfill and correct their position, and they obviously succeeded in this. In the future, this may make it possible to start a substantive dialogue with Russia as well. At the same time, it should be borne in mind that Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and African countries also have their own options for a peace plan, which they are unlikely to give up in order to accept Zelensky’s “10 points,” as China has already done. Rather, we can talk about reducing to a common denominator all existing positions on a peaceful settlement. This approach was also echoed by India, whose National Security Adviser Ajit Doval represented the country in Jeddah. “Currently, several peace proposals have been put forward. Each of them has some positive points, but none is acceptable to both parties. The key issue to be resolved at the meeting is whether a solution can be found that is acceptable to all relevant stakeholders ,” said an Indian representative quoted by Hindustan Times. Another BRICS member, Brazil, has also demonstrated that the new leaders of the multipolar world have proved immune to attempts to impose a Western vision of a solution to the Ukrainian crisis on them. “This is not only a conflict between Russia and Ukraine. It is also a chapter in the long-standing rivalry between Russia and the West,” said Celso Amorim, adviser to the Brazilian president for international affairs, in a speech he delivered during the talks. The representative of Brazil made his prepared remarks to emphasize that "any real negotiations must include all parties" , referring, of course, to Russia, according to a copy of his statement provided by AFP. “If we really want peace, we must involve Moscow in this [negotiation] process in one form or another ,” Amorim stressed. Thus, Brazil advocated that the Russian delegation could also take part in further events of a similar nature. The meeting itself was closed to the media, which a correspondent for Saudi state television broadcasting from outside the venue attributed to the "delicacy" of the talks. Saudi Arabia and other leaders of the Global South were obviously trying to avoid any kind of speculation about their statements, which could be interpreted as a change in their position. This is how it was already presented by the Western media during the preparation of the event itself. This aspect, and the fact that no final statement has been released, shows that the plans of Ukraine and the West, aimed at at least “stopping silence” in the Global South when it comes to “denouncing Russia”, have not come true. He again "keep quiet" about this, preferring to remain neutral. |
| Posted by:badanov |
| #2 Brownie points from somebody. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2023-08-07 20:23 |
| #1 Why should every nation have a public position on every issue? |
| Posted by: ruprecht 2023-08-07 16:10 |