Authoritarian International
The formation of a “league of democracies” has been discussed for almost a hundred years. But it seems that the "Authoritarian International" is forming faster.
For example, the “peacekeeping forces” of the CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organization) were deployed to put down the uprising in January 2022 in Kazakhstan. The dictators of "seemingly democratic" countries - Russia, Belarus, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan - helped their "colleague" Tokayev crack down on rebellious people. Prior to this, the "authoritarian international" existed informally. Probably, the CSTO will become the first official structure of this kind.
Let's see what is written about it.
Alexey Shaburov :
There is an intuitive (not based on scientific analysis) feeling that some kind of “authoritarian international” can form in the world.
It will be an informal federation of authoritarian states for which authoritarianism and the denial of "Western democracy" and human rights will be a unifying principle in and of itself. These countries can have different religions, different economic structures, different values (say - Turkey, China, Belarus - what do they have in common?). But the differences are eliminated in favor of unification in the fight against "democracy" .
To support this notion, I will quote the words of old Biden : "Both Putin and Xi Jinping told me that in their opinion democracies in the 21 will win these days".
That is, autocracy, authoritarianism become an ideology in itself and turn into a political value for very powerful actors. And I think it can be a very powerful movement - if they act quickly and don't argue with each other.
Biden: Putin And Xi Don't Think Democracy Can Compete With Autocracy
October 15, 2021 realclearpolitics.com
President Biden spoke about his Russian and Chinese counterparts, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, telling him that democracy works too slowly to compete against autocracy in the modern world.
PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN:
...Autocrats believe that the world is moving so rapidly that democracies cannot generate consensus quickly enough to get things done, not a joke. I've had these, I had hours and hours and hours and meetings and personal conversations with Xi Jinping... He didn't think democracy can compete because they can't react quickly enough.
...In my summit with Putin in Switzerland, they're betting democracies can't compete. ...They don't measure us based on the size of our military... They don't measure us on how much power we have that way. They measure, they want to know can we get anything done.
Forging a New Security Order in Eurasia: China, the SCO, and the Impacts on Regional Governance
Jingdong Yuan. The University of Sydney, Australia. Published: 11 July 2022
...2021 marks the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). A regional arrangement following the successful resolution of border disputes between China, Russia, and three Central Asian republics, the SCO has over the past decades developed into a regional institution with an expanded list of formal members, observer countries, and dialogue partners.
...There already have been some coordinated actions taken by both China and Russia to attempt transforming Greater Eurasia into what analysts have described as a non-Western international society. US tensions with both Russia and China have further incentivized Beijing and Moscow to work toward that end. The SCO with its current membership (not yet including Iran) accounts for 40% of the world’s population and 20% of its GDP
People wave the Russian flag in Burkina Faso – what does Putin want in Africa?
06.10.2022
Burkina Faso is rich in commodities such as gold. It is strategically located in the center of the Sahel region. It's been in crisis mode for years. A few days ago, the military staged a coup in Burkina Faso for the second time in eight months.
While the West condemns the coup, Russia will move closer to the new government . The Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin immediately congratulated the putschist Ibrahim Traoré and offered him his support. After all, several Russian gold companies are active in the country and it should stay that way.
Russia is trying to expand its influence in French-speaking Africa by exploiting anti-French sentiment. In addition, Russia works heavily with media campaigns. "Russia Today" is already broadcasting from Mali.
Putin is not interested in development opportunities, but only offers military cooperation. And that too for a fee. Countries like Germany or China, on the other hand, work at the development level and take care of the country's infrastructure, for example.
Opinion : One coup after another - thinking about democracy in Africa
westobserver.com February 27, 2022
What's going on in Africa? In many countries, people cheer when governments are overthrown by the military. The West also bears a good deal of responsibility for this trend.
Many people in Africa question the principles of democracy. Most of the frustration is directed at democratically elected leaders who have long shown an autocratic streak and who live extravagant lifestyles despite the poverty of their people. It is not uncommon for such politicians to change constitutions to their advantage and suppress civil society in order to prevent criticism of themselves.
...Many people in Africa are questioning the principles of democracy and whether it is still relevant on the continent. A plethora of anti-democratic and anti-Western statements can be found on all social media platforms. Most of the frustration is directed at democratically elected leaders who have long shown an autocratic streak and who live extravagant lifestyles despite the poverty of their people. It is not uncommon for such politicians to change constitutions to their advantage and suppress civil society in order to prevent criticism of themselves.
Russia turns to fellow outcasts North Korea and Iran for help with faltering war effort
Alexander Nazaryan - Senior White House Correspondent
news.yahoo.com November 2, 2022
Last month’s attacks by Russia against Kyiv and other Ukrainian targets were conducted by Shahed-136 drones sent by Iran, in violation of sanctions imposed by the United Nations.
Now, intelligence indicates that Russia is also receiving aid from North Korea, another heavily sanctioned nation that operates outside the bounds of international norms. North Korea is covertly supplying Russia’s war in Ukraine with a significant number of artillery shells, while obfuscating the real destination of the arms shipments by trying to make it appear as though they are going to countries in the Middle East and North Africa.
Financial war: "Asian Bretton Woods?"
Putin admirer Alasdair MacLeod writes in an article from 08.09.2022 :
The financial war between Russia with China’s tacit backing on one side, and America and her NATO allies on the other has escalated rapidly. It appears that President Putin was thinking several steps ahead when he launched Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
We have seen sanctions fail. We have seen Russia achieve record export surpluses. We have seen the rouble become the strongest currency on the foreign exchanges.
We are seeing the west enter a new round of European monetary inflation to pay everyone’s energy bills. The euro, yen, and sterling are already collapsing — the dollar will be next. From Putin’s point of view, so far, so good.
Unreported by western media, there are some interesting developments taking place in Asia over the future of currencies. Earlier this summer, it emerged that Sergei Glazyev, a senior Russian economist and Minister in charge of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EAEU), was leading a committee planning a new trade currency for the Eurasian Economic Union... The ambition is for it to become an Asia-wide replacement for the dollar.
More specifically, the purpose is to do away with the dollar for trade settlements on cross-border transactions between participants. It is worth noting that any dollar transaction is reflected in US banks through the correspondent banking system, potentially giving the US authorities undesirable economic intelligence, and information on sanction-busting and other activities deemed illegal or undesirable by the US authorities. Furthermore, any transaction involving US dollars becomes a matter for the US legal system, giving US politicians the authority to intervene wherever the dollar is used.
...Before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the strategy was to let the west make all the geopolitical and financial mistakes... China knows that western capitalism bears the seeds of its own destruction, which would mean the end of the dollar and the other major fiat currencies.
...This is why it is so important to understand that instead of being a longstop insurance policy against the Marxist prediction of capitalism’s ultimate failure, it appears that the combination of planning for a new trade currency for Asian nations centred on members of the EAEU, coinciding with the introduction of a new Moscow-based bullion standard, is now pre-empting financial developments in the west. That being the case, a financial nuclear bomb is close to being triggered.
Why Western economies are rotting and how they can be revived is discussed in the Straitjacket for Capital section .
tomy_potter@protonmail.com