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Lavrov Writes U.S. Can No Longer Be a Hegemon; Will It Now Become a Responsible Power?

In a major policy statement published today in both the English- and Russian-language editions of Russia in Global Affairs magazine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov addressed the great issue facing the world: On what basis shall the nations of the world establish a fair and just order beneficial equally to all? And what direction will the United States under Trump take? Lavrov made stark his warning: “‘America first’ is alarmingly similar to the Hitlerite slogan `Germany above all,’ and a wager on `peace through strength’ may be the final blow to diplomacy.” He also emphasized that the world is no longer the same as it was in 2017, and expressed hope that President Trump could make the U.S. a responsible power in this new strategic reality.

Lavrov titled his contribution to this discussion, “The UN Charter Should Become the Legal Foundation of a Multipolar World.” Such a broad discussion is needed now, without waiting until individual conflicts are resolved, he argued.

Lavrov therefore suggested that the leaders of the UN Security Council Permanent Five Members meet, as President Vladimir Putin had proposed in 2020, because of those nations’ “special responsibility for the preservation of civilization"—from nuclear war! Although that meeting was never held, “we keep our hopes up, although the participants and format of such meetings may now be different,” Lavrov wrote.

He specified, however, that any changes in the world order which violate the principles set out in the UN Charter will be a catastrophe. That Charter “set forth goals and principles for countries’ behavior, which are designed to ensure their peaceful coexistence and sustained development. The principle of the sovereign equality of states laid the foundation for the Yalta-Potsdam system: none may claim dominance, as all are formally equal regardless of territory, population, military capabilities, or other metrics.”

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