Russian President Putin opened his remarks at this year’s Valdai Club Meeting with a large outlook: “our objective is basically to build a new world.” He began by discussing the disappointment of the 21st Century so far, which had been an opportunity to learn the lessons of the “expensive and destructive military and ideological confrontations of the previous century.” Instead, following the end of the Cold War, the West took the opportunity to declare themselves the winners and maintained a colonial mindset over the rest of the world. Their arrogance “went through the roof,” he said.
This is the situation that created the war in Ukraine—not Russia, Putin went on. It was not Russia that overthrew the government or began ethnic cleansing and shelling of minority populations. “It might be possible – excuse my ‘mauvais ton’ [bad manners] – to brainwash millions of people who perceive reality through the media. But you must know what was really going on: they have been bombing the place for nine years, shooting and using tanks. That was a war, a real war unleashed against Donbass…. Unfortunately, we have to admit that our counterparties in the West have lost their sense of reality and have crossed every line. They really should not have done this.”
However, “The issue is much broader and more fundamental and is about the principles underlying the new international order.”
Putin went on: “Lasting peace will only be possible when everyone feels safe and secure, understands that their opinions are respected, and that there is a balance in the world where no one can unilaterally force or compel others to live or behave as a hegemon pleases….” But “the West – at least a certain part of the West, the elite – always need an enemy. They need an enemy to justify the need for military action and expansion. But they also need an enemy to maintain internal control” within their own nations. Russia has always been a favorite enemy to fixate on, he said, but now they are moving on to China, and even to a certain extent to India, which they are “flirting with.” “We are aware of and see the scenarios they are using in Asia. I would like to say that the Indian leadership is independent and strongly nationally oriented.”
The current “bloc-based approach” is unleashing a destructive geopolitical process on the world, limiting states’ rights and “freedom to develop along their own path.” All the time, the West “warns” countries to behave or not behave in a certain way: “Maybe those who say all this should get rid of their arrogance and stop behaving in such a way towards the global community that perfectly knows its objectives and interests, and should drop this colonial-era thinking? I want to tell them sometimes: wake up, this era has long gone and will never return…. For centuries, such behavior led to the replication of one thing – big wars….” Now, with mankind’s possession of nuclear weapons, “a way out should be sought from this vicious circle.”
The President then moved on to a more conceptual discussion of a community of civilizations and nations, where, despite some who think there is the “civilized” world and all the rest—this is not the case. “There are many civilizations, and none is superior or inferior to another. They are equal since each civilization represents a unique expression of its own culture, traditions, and the aspirations of its people…. Today’s world rejects uniformity, and each state and society strives to develop its own path of development,” Putin said, involving culture, traditions, geography and historical experiences. This “intricate synthesis” is underlying each civilization and is not something which can be imposed from the outside. Rather, “It grows naturally from the civilizational roots of countries and peoples….”
This is what Putin emphasized as his sense of the coming “new world.” More and more states are recognizing their uniqueness and asserting their own interests and needs. “I am confident that humanity is not moving towards fragmentation into rivaling segments, a new confrontation of blocs, whatever their motives, or a soulless universalism of a new globalization. On the contrary, the world is on its way to a synergy of civilization-states, large spaces, communities identifying as such.” A civilization with this identity does not seek to impose anything on others, nor to allow anything to be imposed on it. “If everyone lives by this rule, we can live in harmonious coexistence and in creative interaction between everyone in international relations.”
