International Affairs No. 4, 2023 – Table of Contents

Keywords: bilateral relations, Russia, US, China, Chinese peace plan, eastward turn, cooperation, Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).

Armen Oganesyan, Editor-in-Chief, International Affairs: In a speech made in Finland a while back, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken denied that the US is an enemy of Russia. He said that for more than 30 years, Washington “worked to pursue stable and cooperative relations with Moscow, because we believed that a peaceful, secure, and prosperous Russia is in America’s interests…. We do not seek the overthrow of the Russian government and we never have. Russia’s future is for Russians to decide.” Washington has said, meanwhile, that the US is willing to start a dialogue with Russia on nuclear arms control without preconditions. Can this be taken seriously?…

THE West is drawing up rules for cyberspace that would circumvent the UN and other organizations and formats bringing together practically all countries of the world, and this plays a special role in the context of the vast hybrid war unleashed by the West against Russia and its allies. Unlike the legally binding norms that Russia and its allies insist on, these rules are meant to be nothing more than recommendations and are normally drafted by narrow groups of nations loyal to the US.

A NUMBER of initiatives of Western countries affect the world order as a whole. Their main goal is to achieve a “rules-based order” and “effective multilateralism” through initiatives such as the Summit for Democracy, launched by the US in 2021; the Paris Peace Forum, a French organization established in 2018; and the Alliance for Multilateralism, a French-German association set up in 2019…

Keywords: digital diplomacy (DD), Zaporozhye NPP, Special Military Operation (SMO), DD as a tool of external pressure, hacker groups, crowdsourcing

AMID the crisis of the international order, there is a tendency for the properties of digital diplomacy (DD) to change. Warning messages, instead of mere statements and reports, appear in the information field with increasing frequency. This is especially clearly manifested in connection with the Ukraine conflict in the absence of dialogue (Russia-US, Russia-Ukraine, Russia-West) and diplomatic relations (Ukraine-Russia). DD is increasingly playing a proactive rather than reactive role, taking the place of, for example, negotiating platforms…

THE Energy Panel was held as part of the 26th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, sponsored by Rosneft Oil Company. The event was attended by heads of leading energy companies and market experts. Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin gave a keynote speech. The participants in the Energy Panel presented a detailed analysis of the state and prospects of the industry and were united in their assessments and forecasts: The current crisis phenomena and difficulties are a systemic challenge to the entire global energy field that requires a unified, coordinated, and strategically aligned response from all market players. Global energy security is at stake, which means so is the development of human civilization in general. It is the duty and responsibility of all players, regardless of their political preferences, to solve the current problems.

Leaders of major oil producing companies and the independent expert community wholeheartedly support the Russian vision. In particular, CNPC Board Chairman Dai Houliang said that the world is at a stage of profound change not seen in the last hundred years. “The international geopolitical situation is very complicated, it has an impact on international business, the production chains and supply of energy resources have been hit hard. And in such a difficult environment, we must do everything possible to help countries continue to cooperate with each other… We must create new platforms, a new situation for such cooperation around the world. We must play the role of those countries that will promote cooperation built on the principles of openness and fairness. Once again, I would like to emphasize that this is how we can solve all problems,” the Chinese representative concluded…

Keywords: “truth decay,” fact, opinion, criticism of political realism, quality of the media environment, adequacy of policy decisions.

ONCE upon a time, in a disadvantaged province of a great empire, Pontius Pilate asked someone he thought was a little man from the deep people: “What is truth?” The source provides no response.¹ Since then, the prefect’s fate has been lost to history, and the eternal Rome enjoyed a mere 450-year moment in history. But the question, glorified, like the questioner himself, by the One Who Did Not Answer, has remained, making its way from theology into every field of scientific knowledge with the unbreakable tenacity of the Roman legions…

WHETHER the Anglo-Saxons and the collective West that surrendered to them without a murmur would impose their diktat on the rest of the world and, having destroyed Russia, teach a lesson to countries that pursue their own nationally oriented foreign policy has become an existential question during the special Military Operation (SMO). The position of India, one of the biggest countries on our planet, confirms that this Anglo-Saxon undertaking is doomed to failure.

The attempt to immediately organize “worldwide condemnation of Russia’s aggression” in the UN was the first failure. The outcome of the vote was predictable both in the Security Council on February 25, 2022, due to Russia’s veto power, and in the General Assembly on March 2, due to the West’s proven leverage over the majority. India was one of three countries that abstained during the February 25 vote and one of 35 that did so on March 2. It continued to adopt that position when UN bodies dealt with similar projects later…

THE Turkmens, an ethno-confessional Turkic group that has been living on Syrian territory for centuries, are the third largest group in Syria after the Arabs and Kurds. It is believed that Turkmens migrated to the area from Central Asia before the historical Battle of Manzikert. Turkic migration to Syria can be divided into three waves.

The first consisted of Turkic units that reached the north of Syria while Malik-Shah I, the sultan of the Great Seljuk Empire, was still in power. The second brought Turks driven out from Khorasan and Anatolia by the Mongol invasion of the 12th century. The third took the form of the spreading of Turkic tribes across the region when Sultan Selim had occupied Aleppo and its environs [19, p. 19]. The term “Syrian Turks” or “Turkmens” appeared when the region became part of the French mandatory territory following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I…

Keywords: poverty, Central Asia, Eurasian integration, international financial organizations, multivector approach, national development strategies

POVERTY has been and remains a key global problem, including for the states of Central Asia (CA). For the world’s economies, this phenomenon is often associated with systemic problems in various fields – from the need for political modernization to the real sector of the economy. It is fair to say that the systemic nature of poverty causes a number of problems: low education levels, forced migration due to unemployment, etc. At the same time, Central Asia’s integration into global economic chains remains weak…

Keywords: multiethnicity, polyethnic society, national identity, Western Balkan states, Ohrid Framework Agreement, the Prespa Agreement, EU, US

THE concept of nation-building has always been a focus of attention, but it attracted the particular interest of researchers in the 20th century amid the development of Third World countries and the desire of new states to expand their powers within a certain territory. This issue was particularly acute in the area of decolonization, but after the US withdrew from Indochina and this process came to an end, the debate on “nation-building” lost its appeal both in international relations and in academia…

Keywords: US economy, economic potential, scientific and technical potential, long-term development factors, postcrisis economic recovery factors, economic model, economic forecasts, role of the state

IN THE first decades of the 21st century, the US experienced several major socioeconomic shocks – primarily the so-called great recession of 2008-2009, the most destructive cyclical crisis after the Great Depression of the late 1920s and early 1930s; the cyclical crisis of 2020, which coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic and had a fairly negative impact on the US economy and revealed its weaknesses; and finally, inflation, which in 2022 hit 8% for the first time in 40 years…

IT IS well known that sports are an important unifying factor regardless of personality traits, background, or age. In recent decades, there has been a surge in the number of people involved in sports, due to the development of its amateur and professional segments, promotion through media channels, and development of the training base. Along with promoting a healthy lifestyle, sports play an important social function, fostering communication and the development of contacts. With the intensification of modern migration processes, physical culture and sports activities serve as important channels of the adaptation of new arrivals in the host society.

Not only are sports an element of leisure and recreation in a new environment, but they also contribute to integration, help relieve tensions and overcome prejudice, and reduce the “distance” with the native population. According to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein: “Sport can provide a path for newcomers, including migrants, on which to join, to participate, to succeed – socially and professionally. It can provide an opportunity to flourish, expand, and celebrate talent.”¹…

DURING the Ukraine conflict, one thing has become very clear: Russia’s enemies are barbarically destroying what others have created, as if to avenge their own worthlessness and weakness. It is just like the old Chinese proverb: “The weak take revenge, the strong forgive….” Russia’s enemies are destroying vital assets, dooming devastated areas to environmental disaster. The blowing up of the Nord Stream gas pipeline, the Togliatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline, the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant – They are unable to deal with the Russian Army and are retaliating against the civilians of Europe, Ukraine, and Russia in their powerless rage. This hysterical behavior is psychologically abnormal. Not even the Nazis during World War II thought to blow up the Dnepr Hydropower Plant; and yet, the Kiev authorities are destroying critical infrastructure on their own territory like real occupiers.

The decision to build the Kakhovka HPP was made in 1950, and the plant, with an installed capacity of 312 MW, was commissioned on October 19, 1959…

AT THE recent summit in Bratislava of the Bucharest Nine (B9), on June 6, 2023, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis declared Russia to be the primary threat to Euro Atlantic security.¹ The B9 is a group composed of Romania, Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, formed in 2015 under the watchful eye of their American keepers. The State Department and the Pentagon have representatives present at all of the group’s gatherings.

Geographically, the B9 reaches almost “from the cold Finnish cliffs to fiery Colchis” [quoted line from Pushkin’s poem “To the Slanderers of Russia” – Trans.], given that the group dreams of the Black Sea as a potential “inland sea” of NATO. The northernmost flank of this entity is the Russian-Estonian border, and the southern edge lies along the Bulgarian-Romanian coast of the Black Sea…

Correspondent: The UAE is one of Russia’s largest trading partners in the Arab world, and recent years have seen a steady increase in trade between our countries. Are there any projected mutual trade figures for the end of this year?

Dr. Mohammed Ahmed Al Jaber: Strategic and historical relations between the UAE and the Russian Federation are deep and strong, and trade volumes have increased substantially in recent years. There are no definite projections of mutual trade for the end of the year, but I think the increase in trade this year, as in 2022, will be significant…

THE national security strategies of Russia and the US were adopted in the summer of 2021 and the fall of 2022, respectively. These documents will define the countries’ policies for decades.

Even a cursory comparative analysis of these strategies shows a striking civilizational difference in how Russia and the US see themselves, their development, and their role in the world…

Keywords: genocide, information warfare, information policy, international law, Russophobia, anti-Russian rhetoric, neo-Nazism, falsification of history

THE confrontation in opinion journalism today between Russia and countries of the collective West is commonly called hybrid warfare – in particular, on the grounds that provocations, the falsification of facts, and the heightening of tensions are taking place in the disparate realms of politics, economics, and culture. At the forefront of the struggle is the information space, which promptly and sometimes sharply reacts to any fluctuations in the political situation, focusing attention on a certain problematic issue. One such topic that has become a significant label for current political events is genocide…

JENS Stoltenberg’s tenure as secretary general of NATO expires at the end of September. Despite rumors that he may stay on the job, there already are struggles for the leadership of one of the key Western multinational institutions.

Stoltenberg, a former Norwegian prime minister, has been at the helm of NATO for nearly nine years, with two extensions of his tenure. He had planned to leave last year, but in March 2022, his term was extended for a year due to alleged emergency circumstances. In February 2023, NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said that Stoltenberg had no intention to seek another term…

THE demands formulated by the Soviet government at talks with Great Britain and France on May 14, 1939, are still controversial. On that day, Moscow invited London and Paris to guarantee the neutrality and sovereignty of three Baltic republics (Latvia, Estonia, and Finland) that bordered the Soviet Union in case of German aggression.¹ This issue roused acute disagreements at trilateral political negotiations that lasted until early August 1939. The draft trilateral agreement did contain the provision of trilateral guarantees against direct aggression, yet the issue of opposition to indirect aggression was excluded from the final text on account of Britain’s position. The political agreement was never signed, while on August 12, the military missions of the three countries opened discussions of possible interaction in case of German aggression.

At the negotiating table, both Western powers, especially Britain, obviously wanted to push the Soviet Union into a corner. They planned to use the talks to pressure Berlin: London still hoped to establish contacts with Germany behind the scenes to achieve a political compromise. They abandoned their efforts in the late fall of 1939, if we discount Rudolf Hess’s mission of May 1941. At first, the West insisted that the Soviet Union assume unilateral obligations to oppose German aggression; they carefully avoided any obligations to act together, obviously intending to draw the Soviet Union into a war with Germany. Having failed, the Western powers refused to include the Baltic countries in the list of guaranteed states: They…

GERMAN philosopher Friedrich Hegel is credited with the well-known idea that history repeats itself twice: first as tragedy, then as farce.

Sometimes a farce does not turn into the harmless theatrical effects of Molière’s comedies but can be tragic and bloody, as demonstrated by the policy of the Kiev regime in Ukraine that has revived the criminal ideology, practices, and symbols of Nazism…

Keywords: St. Jonah, the Uniate danger, Vasily II – the guardian of Orthodoxy, the Hierarchs Council of Northeastern Dioceses, Jonah’s missives, the Moscow Patriarchate

THE Baptism of Rus’ under Prince Vladimir marks the birth of the Russian Church. It was headed by the metropolitans, who were appointed by Constantinople and then sent to Rus’ to preside over the Kiev diocese. There are only two known cases – in the 11th and 12th centuries – when Russian metropolitans were appointed directly in Kiev. After the Mongol-Tatar invasion, the first metropolitan was Russian, and he was consecrated in Nicaea, since Constantinople at that time was under the rule of the Crusaders as the capital of the Latin Empire. After him, St. Maximos, a Greek, became the metropolitan. Subsequently, we see alternating Russian and Greek metropolitans…

THE policy of détente, the Helsinki process as its continuation, and Gorbachev’s new political thinking are landmark processes of the 20th century. Anatoly Gavrilovich Kovalev not only had a hand in these developments but to some extent spearheaded and promoted them. Having chosen the path of diplomatic service, he worked his way up the career ladder from assistant to first deputy foreign minister of the USSR/Russia, and after scaling the heights of the Foreign Ministry, he reached the expanse of big politics. There was a period in his life and in the life of the country, albeit not a long one, when A.G. Kovalev, in tandem with the ideologists of perestroika, was working on creating a new foreign policy philosophy of the country.

As we celebrate Kovalev’s 100th birth anniversary, it is clear that his name will remain in the annals of Russian diplomacy and the history of Russian foreign policy…

WRITING about your father is not easy. A son’s love inevitably implies a subjective approach – you strive to see only the positive, closing your eyes to flaws that can be found in everyone, especially in extraordinary personalities such as my father. He was a brilliant and talented statesman, a prominent public and political figure, an exceptional writer, and a skilled diplomat – a remarkably well-rounded individual. His life was marked by a constant struggle against injustice and evil, and involved many ups and downs.

My father was born on May 20, 1923, in the Uzbek town of Mahal, now known as Jizzakh. He completed a seven-year school and then moved to Tashkent, where he was raised by his older brother, Hamid Olimjon, a renowned poet and public figure in Uzbekistan. He graduated with honors from Tashkent Pedagogical College and Central Asian State University, where he pursued postgraduate studies. He successfully defended his candidate’s and doctoral dissertations in philology…

AS I was writing this material, CNN reported: “The United Kingdom has delivered multiple ‘Storm Shadow’ cruise missiles to Ukraine, giving the nation anew long-range strike capability.”¹ This is additional proof of how the “perfidious Albion” has been harming Russia for centuries.

Britain is an existential enemy of Russia. However, for the sake of historical accuracy, we note that at times the two countries were even considered allies…

RUSSIA’S higher education sector faces significant and difficult challenges given current developments in international relations and systemic transformations in the global economy. In what are often transborder processes, technology moves ahead very fast, accelerating industrial modernization. All this is subjected to philosophical analysis and produces quick legal reactions, especially in terms of intellectual property rights and other aspects of international and national law.

There is a passage on this in Russia’s Foreign Policy Concept: “The structural transformation of the world economy, its transfer to a new technological basis (including the introduction of artificial intelligence technologies, the latest information and communication technologies, energy, biological technologies and nanotechnologies), the growth of national consciousness, cultural and civilizational diversity, and other objective factors accelerate the process of shifting the development potential to new centers of economic growth and geopolitical influence and promote the democratization of international relations.”¹…