{"id":766,"date":"2022-02-18T14:56:35","date_gmt":"2022-02-18T17:56:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.ufpel.edu.br\/geomercosul\/?p=766"},"modified":"2022-02-18T14:56:35","modified_gmt":"2022-02-18T17:56:35","slug":"valdaiclub-the-strategic-partnership-between-moscow-and-beijing-towards-the-late-post-cold-war-era-by-charles-pennaforte","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.ufpel.edu.br\/geomercosul\/2022\/02\/18\/valdaiclub-the-strategic-partnership-between-moscow-and-beijing-towards-the-late-post-cold-war-era-by-charles-pennaforte\/","title":{"rendered":"ValdaiClub: The Strategic Partnership Between Moscow and Beijing Towards the Late Post-Cold War Era by Charles Pennaforte"},"content":{"rendered":"

What is\u00a0now at\u00a0stake in\u00a0Ukraine regarding NATO membership is\u00a0whether Russia as\u00a0a\u00a0nation has the right to\u00a0guarantee the minimum security conditions for its population and territory, writes\u00a0Charles Pennaforte<\/a>, Professor\u00a0at the Federal University of Pelotas (Brazil).<\/p>\n

The meeting between Vladimir Putin and Xi\u00a0Jinping in\u00a0February 2022 should be\u00a0seen as\u00a0historical from a\u00a0geopolitical and strategic point of\u00a0view. The meeting marks the end of\u00a0the \u201cPost-Cold War\u201d period which started to\u00a0emerge in\u00a01989 with the fall of\u00a0the so-called Eastern Bloc, and began in\u00a0earnest in\u00a0December 1991, with the extinction of\u00a0the Soviet Union. During the 1990s, the world was hegemonised amid what was thought of\u00a0as\u00a0the \u201cEnd of\u00a0History\u201d: the supremacy of\u00a0Western liberalism and globalisation, which ultimately led to\u00a0global economic crises. This historical process would culminate in\u00a0the financial outburst of\u00a02008.<\/p>\n

International relations are now entering a\u00a0stage that we\u00a0could qualify as\u00a0a\u00a0\u201cLate Post-Cold War Era\u201d, an\u00a0era when American supremacy is\u00a0in\u00a0the process of\u00a0being overcome by\u00a0the new reality of\u00a0the country: its geopolitical decline. This has only confirmed predictions offered by\u00a0Immanuel Wallerstein and Giovanni Arrighi more than a\u00a0decade ago. The current configuration of\u00a0the World Order has no\u00a0more room for a\u00a0single nation to\u00a0decide the entire world agenda, whether in\u00a0geopolitics or\u00a0economics.<\/p>\n

For neoliberal analysts, the economy is\u00a0the only dimension that matters. Geopolitics itself is\u00a0despised in\u00a0their short-range view, which steadfastly clings to\u00a0the idea that Western capitalism is\u00a0still the winner of\u00a0the clash between socialism and capitalism.<\/p>\n

However, fears that Russia is\u00a0growing stronger as\u00a0a\u00a0nation under more capable leadership have taken root in\u00a0Washington. In\u00a0recent decades, Russia has recovered economically, socially and militarily, returning as\u00a0a\u00a0Great Power to\u00a0the global stage. The delay in\u00a0the \u201ctransition towards liberal western capitalism\u201d of\u00a0both Russia and China is\u00a0a\u00a0concern for Americans: there won\u2019t be\u00a0any \u201cvelvet revolutions\u201d so\u00a0far. Anti-systemic countries like Russia and China, which maintain their own national plans, are the real problem underpinning the belligerent Washington rhetoric of\u00a0both Democrats and Republicans against Beijing and Moscow.<\/p>\n

Despite the end of\u00a0the USSR, Washington\u2019s ideologues haven\u2019t abandoned the narrative of\u00a0a\u00a0clash between capitalism and socialism, where Russia is\u00a0presented as\u00a0the major geopolitical and strategic obstacle facing the\u00a0US in\u00a0Europe. While the socialist military alliance (Warsaw Pact) was dismantled decades ago, the same didn\u2019t happen with NATO. Since the 1990s, the organisation has increased its influence in\u00a0Eastern Europe: Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, and Hungary, for example, became members of\u00a0the Western military alliance for no\u00a0apparent reason.<\/p>\n

Since 1991, Moscow has never adopted a\u00a0stance which would signal that it\u00a0could go\u00a0on\u00a0the offense against any country in\u00a0Eastern Europe or\u00a0elsewhere in\u00a0the world. Russia\u2019s actions have always complied with accepted norms and international law, unlike those of\u00a0Washington. Nevertheless, successive\u00a0US administrations have sought to\u00a0classify Russia as\u00a0a\u00a0threat to\u00a0European or\u00a0global \u201csecurity\u201d without offering any concrete examples.<\/p>\n

The rhetoric of\u00a0the \u201cRussian threat\u201d gained prominence after the \u201cannexation\u201d of\u00a0Crimea in\u00a02014 (achieved through a\u00a0plebiscite) following a\u00a0Western-backed \u201ccolour revolution\u201d in\u00a0Kiev that paved the way for what we\u00a0are seeing today: the concrete or\u00a0rhetorical possibility of\u00a0the incorporation of\u00a0Ukraine into NATO, baselessly jeopardising Russian security.<\/p>\n

From Moscow\u2019s standpoint, the Crimean peninsula had been part of\u00a0Russia until 1956, when it\u00a0was ceded to\u00a0Soviet Ukraine. A\u00a0majority of\u00a0the population there is\u00a0ethnically Russian and nearly everyone speaks Russian as\u00a0their first language (one of\u00a0the February 2014 junta\u2019s first moves was to\u00a0attempt to\u00a0strip them of\u00a0their language rights).<\/p>\n

NATO\u2019s attempt to\u00a0move \u201ctowards\u201d Russia by\u00a0establishing a\u00a0Ukrainian \u201cbeachhead\u201d has been developing since late 2021 and has faced vigorous opposition from the Kremlin. In\u00a0the West, the information war led by\u00a0the pro-US media is\u00a0intense. Russia is\u00a0commonly depicted as\u00a0the USSR of\u00a0the Cold War times, threatening the \u201cFree World\u201d in\u00a0the form of\u00a0democratic Ukraine. Washington\u2019s narrative of\u00a0an\u00a0imminent \u201cRussian invasion\u201d is\u00a0a\u00a0recurring theme in\u00a0Western media.<\/p>\n

What is\u00a0now at\u00a0stake in\u00a0Ukraine regarding NATO membership is\u00a0whether Russia as\u00a0a\u00a0nation has the right to\u00a0guarantee the minimum security conditions for its population and territory (a\u00a0fundamental principle on\u00a0which the OSCE is\u00a0based). Didn\u2019t the\u00a0US have a\u00a0similar argument during the Cuban Missile Crisis? Thus, what is\u00a0the sense of\u00a0NATO\u2019s existence in\u00a0the 21st century?<\/p>\n

Published on ValdaiClub The Strategic Partnership Between Moscow and Beijing Towards the Late Post-Cold War Era \u2014 Valdai Club<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is\u00a0now at\u00a0stake in\u00a0Ukraine regarding NATO membership is\u00a0whether Russia as\u00a0a\u00a0nation has the right to\u00a0guarantee the minimum security conditions for its population and territory, writes\u00a0Charles Pennaforte, Professor\u00a0at the Federal University of Pelotas (Brazil).<\/p>

Continue lendo<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":636,"featured_media":768,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[38,63,65,1],"tags":[33,48,42,37,51],"class_list":["post-766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-evento","category-expert-opinions","category-geopolitica","category-noticias","tag-brics","tag-china","tag-geopolitica","tag-influencia-russa","tag-russia","item-wrap"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/wp.ufpel.edu.br\/geomercosul\/files\/2022\/02\/china-russia.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.ufpel.edu.br\/geomercosul\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.ufpel.edu.br\/geomercosul\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.ufpel.edu.br\/geomercosul\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.ufpel.edu.br\/geomercosul\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/636"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.ufpel.edu.br\/geomercosul\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=766"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.ufpel.edu.br\/geomercosul\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/766\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":769,"href":"https:\/\/wp.ufpel.edu.br\/geomercosul\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/766\/revisions\/769"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.ufpel.edu.br\/geomercosul\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.ufpel.edu.br\/geomercosul\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.ufpel.edu.br\/geomercosul\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.ufpel.edu.br\/geomercosul\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}