Valdai Club

The BRICS declarations quite clearly and unambiguously name the causes of many of today’s global problems. They are associated with the persistent inequality between the West and the Non-West, with the practices of neo-colonial exploitation that the West carries out in relation to developing countries. There are practically no such words in the declarations of the G20. Problems of global development seem to arise out of nowhere, and there is practically no analysis of their causes, writes Valdai Club Programme Director Oleg Barabanov.

The risks of limiting sea and air transit are significantly lower than the corresponding risks regarding road and rail communications. In this regard, special attention should be paid to the development of maritime infrastructure that ensures uninterrupted freight and passenger traffic, Vadim Voinikov writes.

Political, security and identity reasons are the motives underlying the collective West’s policy of regime change. The Western powers, led by the USA, through NATO, seek to diminish the power of challengers. They seek to assert the collective West’s political identity and economic interests by keeping rising states in a subordinate position, David Lane writes.

The dollar system requires the lifting of capital controls to free capital flows which transfer of even more wealth from World Majority countries to the core capitalist countries as the rich transfer wealth to evade taxes at home and to participate in the speculative activity that abounds in the dollar denominated international financial system. The system has diverted investment from production to speculation, weakening development efforts, writes Radhika Desai.

Freezing the Ukraine conflict along the contact line, rather than seeking a deeper resolution, suits the US: there will remain a point of tension in Eastern Europe, which will encourage the EU to remain dependent on Washington in terms of ensuring its own security, writes Valdai Club Programme Director Andrey Sushentsov.

Any discussions about the future of Greater Eurasia should take into account the impossibility of building regional life around a single institution or informal association with clear and binding tasks, writes Valdai Club Programme Director Timofei Bordachev.

To assess the foreign policy preferences of potential BRICS partners, it is interesting to look at their voting in the UN General Assembly. It is clear that their results should not be taken as absolutes, and the real political practice of states is not limited to voting results and is not determined by them. But these votes are also symbolically quite important, writes Valdai Club Programme Director Oleg Barabanov.

Although many routes from Tehran to Damascus now seem closed, Iran will certainly not easily give up its assets in Syria and will make efforts to revive them. Given the current situation, achieving this goal will be very difficult, writes Alireza Noori.

The terrifying context of a likely war of the EU against Russia for the Ukraine with French troops being sent on the Russian front is less a danger than an option to the French Europeanist tyrant: he can use it as a tool to unite the French political system around him, Olivier Roqueplo writes.

In order to transform opportunities into tangible benefits, it is necessary to adopt an approach that combines national and regional strategies, while respecting the cultural and economic specificities of each country. Proactive diplomacy, internal capacity building and adherence to principles of reciprocity and sustainable cooperation will ensure that these alliances are not only based on economic foundations, but also contribute to building a balanced and mutually beneficial partnership, writes Claudio Ruff Escobar, Rector of Bernardo O’Higgins University, Chile