Russia in Global Affairs

Europe is struggling to adapt to a new multipolar world, but to be able to turn around, it has to radically change its self-perception and modus operandi, stepping out of the West-dominated path of arrogant and obsolete order planning. With the rise of the Global South, the arrival of the AI revolution, and especially the return of Trump, the inner workings of Europe’s understanding of the world order actually reveal fears of different outcomes for the future evolution of that order.

These days we remember the Yalta Conference, which took place exactly 80 years ago. A deal like Yalta is not possible now. Still, it would be interesting to hear proposals and ideas from Trump's entourage, because he is the person who sets the political agenda globally. Fyodor Lukyanov, Editor-in-Chief of Russia in Global Affairs magazine, gave an interview to the Die Weltwoche daily (Switzerland).

Both Russia and the EU similarly use of the word ‘geopolitics’ to describe the current critical moment and get a similar picture. But in doing so both sides perceive each other as a threat and a source of tensions, which shows that Russia and the EU are close in using the realist language.

Contrasting EU values and actions to a “significant Other” (Russia) became the most affordable and logical way of strengthening the EU’s identity in the SMO context and thus contribute to the EU’s resilience.

In fact, memory politics itself is presented, first and foremost, with regard to modernization, its successes and/or failures, its one-sidedness or, on the contrary, its ability to transform society, synchronize it, and/or create “islands of modernity” in the middle of the space that remains in a different time.

The feedback effects of sanctions on European economies have yet to be fully revealed. The sum of these effects, the so-called “boomerang effects”, will indeed only be known within a year. It could turn out to be far greater than the effects on Russia. In the long term, Russia may well do well while the EU, mired in thoughtless support for Ukraine, may have to pay a prohibitive price.

The sanctions taken against Russia by EU countries are generating a major “boomerang effect,” one which could lead to a global energy crisis. The shock will probably be felt by the EU economy this winter and afterwards. It is therefore at this time that crucial political questions will arise regarding the expediency of the EU countries’ policy towards Russia.

The Europeans are not able to appreciate the significance of the Ukraine crisis and the vital nature of Russia’s interests, having long lost the habit of thinking for themselves. The vacation from strategic thinking continues.

In modern international relations, inequality and hierarchy are preserved, and are determined by differences in power, economic and human potentials. The voluntary nature of an organisation does not exclude coercion and domination. The softness of politics in comparison with the empires of the past hardly indicates the absence of coercion and domination as such, writes Ivan Timofeev.