Sergio Rodríguez Gelfenstein*, Prensa Latina employee
I remembered that a few months ago, at a meeting, a former retired Venezuelan diplomat, citing her long service and experience, in the face of a similar behavior on my part, brought me to my senses and made me realize that “things weren’t working “. this path.” This diplomat, who generally leads a quite radical discourse, has surrendered to tradition and a practice that is now outdated, especially because the UN is today unable to solve the major problems of humanity.
In this context, I would like to present – with my own interpretation – an article by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov dated October 10, 2023, published on the official website of this ministry. The text is quite extensive. I will try to summarize it, including what I think are the most important aspects. I am solely responsible for any errors or failures.
According to the Russian Chancellor, the planet is experiencing “fundamental and tectonic” changes that are giving rise to a new, fairer, multipolar world, reflecting the Earth’s cultural and civilizational diversity. The global majority (85 percent of the planet) advocates a fairer distribution of goods, respect for civilizational diversity and the democratization of international life.
In this context, Foreign Minister Lavrov explains the West’s rejection of the founding principles of the United Nations, for which he conducts a historical analysis since the end of the Cold War, revealing the agreements reached to prevent the expansion of NATO. In 2021–2022, Russia drafted a proposal presented to the West to create mutual security guarantees, but it was silenced and rejected. By militarizing Ukraine, NATO tried to expand its sphere of influence eastward and thereby threatened Russia. He even took on the task of creating aggressive alliances in the Asia-Pacific region by pushing and provoking China, Russia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
It seems that the policy of the United States is aimed at extending the Monroe Doctrine throughout the world and thus determining what the foreign policy of countries should be. Violation of the UN Charter is becoming a constant. They want to present the expansion of NATO as something beneficial and the expansion of the BRICS countries as harmful. The United States intends to establish itself as the arbiter of the world. The fundamental principle of the UN Charter, which states that the organization is “founded on the basis of the sovereign equality of all,” is omitted. Likewise, the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries is being permanently undermined.
Since the collapse of the USSR, the USA has wanted to subjugate Ukraine. There is enough evidence for this. Washington’s direct interference in the overthrow of President Yanukovych is open, public and well known. From that moment on, the country began to experience a spiral of repression, persecution and murder of those who did not accept and rejected the 2014 coup. Likewise, racist measures of all kinds were used and all forms of violence were used to violate. international laws.
It was in this context that the negotiations concluded with the Minsk agreements were conducted. Today it is known that they were just a big deception on the part of Germany and France, who were just trying to buy time to oxygenate and strengthen Ukraine in order to prepare it for their macabre goals.
Russia, which had made every possible effort since 1997 to reach an agreement that accepted the indivisibility of security, began to recognize, especially since 2015, that government practices of a supremacist and neo-Nazi nature were deepening in Ukraine.
In this context, the West has expressed its fear of debating these issues. You have taken a stand on Ukraine, but avoid talking about Mayotte and the Comoros (France) and Chagos and Malvinas (UK). I would like to add that they also refuse to discuss the colonial cases of Puerto Rico, the Saharan Arab Democratic Republic and Palestine.
Chancellor Lavrov believes that the liberal Western world model is an essential part of a discourse about double standards in international politics. When the concept of free self-determination contradicts the geopolitical interests of the West, they condemn it and punish countries with sanctions. But if they are “interested” in self-determination, they support it, as in the case of Kosovo, which was taken from Serbia by a NATO decision without holding a self-determination referendum so that the people could express their opinion, as if it had happened in Donbass and Crimea. Now Brussels intends to impose its “mediation” between Azerbaijan and Armenia just to try to destabilize the region, which also lies on Russia’s borders. Moving on to a different topic but continuing the analysis, Lavrov says that the United States is trying to prevent the democratization of international relations by imposing its criteria and violating laws and procedures. The UN General Secretariat itself acts outside of its mandated neutrality.
In this context, he mentions the speech of Antonio Guterres on March 29, in which he said that “…autocratic administration does not guarantee stability, but rather represents a catalyst for chaos and conflict,” while “strong democratic societies are capable of self-determination are”. “to change and improve and to be able to stimulate changes, even radical ones, without bloodshed or violence.” Lavrov says Guterres inadvertently recalls “one of the ‘changes’ brought about by the aggressive adventures of the ‘strong democracies’ in Yugoslavia , Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria and many other countries.”
He then points out that in the same speech the Secretary General said: “They (democracies) are centers of comprehensive cooperation rooted in the principles of equality, participation and solidarity.” The strange thing is that this rhetoric is entirely consistent with This rhetoric is consistent with certain arguments made by the United States government. It is also a missionary speech that “is in direct contradiction to point 4 of Article 1 of the Charter of the United Nations, where there is a need for the United Nations to “serve as a center harmonizing efforts.” of nations to achieve these common goals.”
In this context, the Russian Foreign Minister considers it necessary to review the existing relations between the Security Council (SC) and the UN General Assembly (GA). He states that there was an “abuse of the right of veto” by the Western powers. He explains that the United States even forced a debate on the issue in the General Assembly. However, he says that there are many SR resolutions that were passed many years ago without the use of the veto and have not been acted upon. Lavrov wonders why the GA does not analyze the causes of this situation, especially those related to Palestine, West Asia and North Africa. On the other hand, it suggests that the issue of sanctions needs to be addressed, since the United States and its allies have introduced additional unilateral sanctions, which are illegal because they are decided outside the Security Council. It also happens that the Supreme Court has decided on temporary sanctions that have been lifted but, as in the Iran case, continue to be applied. In practice, the West sets its own rules.
The Russian Foreign Minister considers it necessary to express the spirit of multipolarity “explicitly in the UN Charter,” since the majority of the planet is in favor of “strengthening its sovereignty, defending its national interests, its traditions and its culture “. and his way of life”. According to him, this is the case at the recent BRICS summits, the G-20 summit and the East Asia summit, which is why it is important to reform global management mechanisms as quickly as possible.
Here I disagree with Foreign Minister Lavrov because I believe this is impossible since the United States will veto any reform of the United Nations. It seems to me that the path (although perhaps long) should be to start building a parallel organization, which, in my opinion, would emerge from the BRICS countries.
To complete his reform proposal, Lavrov demands:
• Begin by recognizing the true economic and financial weight of countries in the Global South.
• Unlock the functioning of the WTO dispute settlement bodies.
• Expansion of members with veto power in the SC.
• Address fairer methods in “forming the UN Secretariat.”
• Review host country responsibilities at UN Headquarters.
Of course, all of this is possible if the United States agrees. It seems difficult, if not impossible, to accept this as it would curtail its institutional and legal hegemony over the world.
Finally, the article states that the application of these proposals would enable progress in consolidating the supremacy of international law. Exploiting the potential of the Global South and its associations, especially the BRICS, but also other organizations such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), CELAC, the Arab League, ASEAN, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). ), the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the Belt and Road Initiative, among others, the potential of these groupings could be fully exploited. Some of them are helping to build a great Euro-Asian association, which – in my view – is the space in which the new world will be born and the axis around which the new world will revolve.
All of these dynamics are sought to be counteracted by the United States and the West in general, as their goal is to maintain their dominance and maintain a fragmented world.
In this context, Russian President Vladimir Putin – with the aim of strengthening international law on the basis of the UN Charter – formulated six principles for the formation of authentic multipolarity. They are: openness and relationships without barriers that hinder communication in the world, respect for diversity as the basis of common development, maximum representation in global management structures, universal security based on the balancing of the interests of all, fair access to the goods of development, Equality for all and renunciation of the dictatorship of “the rich or the strong”.
Foreign Minister Lavrov concludes by noting that humanity must overcome unipolarity and that there is a collective responsibility to achieve this goal, ensuring that “Russia, together with the countries that share its position, is ready to fully to contribute to its implementation.”
rmh/srg
*Bachelor in International Studies, Master in International and Global Relations. Doctor of Political Science.
(Taken from selected signatures)