Starting on May 31, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov embarked
on a GCC tour, where he visited Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, among
others. Lavrov’s main objective of these visits is to strengthen ties between
Russia and GCC nations amid a global race for geopolitical dominance.
اضافة اعلان
The Middle East, especially the Gulf region, is
vital for the current global economic order and is equally critical for any
future reshaping of that order. If Moscow is to succeed in redefining the role
of Arab economies vis-à-vis the global economy, it would most likely succeed in
ensuring that a multipolar economic world takes form.
The geopolitical reordering of the world cannot
simply be achieved through war or challenging the West’s political influence in
its various global domains. The economic component is possibly the most
significant of the ongoing tug of war between Russia and its western
detractors.
Prior to the
Russia-Ukraine war, any conversation on the need to challenge or redefine
globalization was confined largely to academic circles. The war made that
theoretical conversation a tangible, urgent one. The US, European, and Western
support for Kyiv has little to do with Ukraine’s sovereignty and independence
and everything to do with the real anxiety that a Russian success will demolish
or, at least, seriously damage the current version of economic globalization as
envisaged by the US and its allies.
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in the
early 1990s, the world was no longer a contested space between two military
superpowers — NATO vs Warsaw Pact — and two massive economic camps — the US vs
USSR. We often speak about the American invasion of Panama (1989) and the war
in Iraq (1990) to demarcate the uncontested American ascendency in global
affairs. What we often omit is that the military and geopolitical component of
this war was accompanied by an economic one.
Prior to the Russia-Ukraine war, any conversation on the need to challenge or redefine globalization was confined largely to academic circles. The war made that theoretical conversation a tangible, urgent one.
As Panama and Iraq were meant to demonstrate US
military dominance,
the establishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in
1994–1995 was meant to illustrate Washington’s economic outlook in this new
world order.
Though unprecedented in their scale and ferocity,
the anti-WTO
protests in Seattle in 1999 seemed like a desperate attempt at
reversing the alarming trend in the world’s economic affairs. Though successful
in demonstrating the power of civil society at work, the protests have failed
to produce any real, lasting outcomes. In the US/Western-centered definition of
globalization, smaller countries had little bargaining power.
While rich countries successfully negotiated many
privileges for their own industries, much of the Global South was left with no
other option but to play by the West’s rules. The Americans spoke of free trade
and open markets while maintaining a protectionist agenda over what they
perceived to be key industries. Globalization was branded as a success story
for freedom and democracy while, in essence, it was a cheap reproduction of the
18th-century “laissez-faire” France’s economic doctrine.
It is easy to criticize poor countries for failing
to challenge US/Western dominance. But they did, in fact, try, and the result
was economic sanctions, regime change, and war. The only silver lining is that
this predatory form of capitalism encouraged small countries in the Global
South to formulate their own economic blocks so that they may negotiate with
greater leverage. However, even that was not enough to influence, let alone
dismantle, the skewed global paradigm.
Large economies, like China, were allowed to benefit
from globalization as long as their massive growth served the interests of the
global economy, namely the West. Things began changing, however, when China’s
political and geopolitical outreach started to match its economic influence.
Former US Republican president Donald Trump dedicated much rhetoric and
eventually declared economic war on the so-called-“China threat”. The current
Democratic administration of President Joe Biden is hardly different. Though
busy countering Russia’s military operations in Ukraine, Washington remains
dedicated to its anti-Chinese rhetoric.
The
Marrakesh Agreement in 1994, the treaty upon which the WTO was established, was reached
to replace the geopolitically defunct General Agreement on Tariffs and Trades
of 1948. Note how each of these global economic treaties resulted from their
unique global geopolitical orders, the latter following World War II and the
former following the collapse of the socialist camp. Though Russia and its
allies are now mostly focused on claiming some kind of victory in Ukraine,
their ultimate goal is to sow the seed for a different economic balance, hoping
that it will ultimately force a renegotiation of today’s globalization;
therefore, the West’s economic hegemony.
Russia is clearly invested in a new global economic
system, but without isolating itself in the process. On the other hand, the
West is torn. It wants to drop on Russia the Iron Curtain of the past, but
without hurting its own economies in the process. This equation is simply
unsolvable, at least for the next few years.
In a speech at the Eurasian Economic Forum, Russian
President Vladimir Putin said that trying to isolate Russia is “impossible,
utterly unrealistic in the modern world”. His words accentuate Russia’s full
awareness of the West’s objectives, and Lavrov’s busy itinerary, especially in
the Global South, is Moscow’s own way of animating an alternative global
economic system in which Russia is not isolated. The outcome of all of these
efforts will not only redefine the world from a geopolitical perspective but
will redefine the very concept of globalization for generations to come.
The
writer is a journalist and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He is the
author of six books. His latest book, co-edited with Ilan Pappé, is “Our Vision
for Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders and Intellectuals Speak out”.
Baroud is a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Islam and
Global Affairs (CIGA).
Read More Opinion and Analysis
Jordan News
.jpg)
.jpg)
