The G7 summit in Elmau, Germany and the NATO summit in Madrid, Spain, two days later in 2022, were practically useless in terms of providing actual solutions to ongoing global crises.
The war in Ukraine, the looming famines, climate change and more added to the demise. But the two events were important, nonetheless, as they provide a stark example of the impotence of the West, amid the rapidly changing global dynamics.
As was the case since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war, the West attempted to display unity, though it has become repeatedly obvious that no such unity exists.
While France, Germany and Italy are paying a heavy price for the energy crisis resulting from the war, Britain’s Boris Johnson is adding fuel to the fire in the hope of making his country relevant on the global stage following the humiliation of Brexit.
Meanwhile, the Biden Administration is exploiting the war to restore Washington’s credibility and leadership over NATO – especially following the disastrous term of Donald Trump, which nearly broke up the historic alliance.
Even the fact that several African countries are becoming vulnerable to famines, as a result of the disruption of food supplies originating from the Black Sea and the subsequent rising prices, did not seem to perturb the leaders of some of the richest countries in the world.
They still insist on not interfering in the global food market, though the skyrocketing prices have already pushed tens of millions of people below the poverty line.
Though the West had little reserve of credibility to begin with, Western leaders’ current obsession with maintaining thousands of sanctions on Russia, further NATO expansion, dumping yet more lethal weapons in Ukraine and sustaining their global hegemony at any cost, have all pushed their credibility standing to a new low.
From the start of the Ukraine war, the West championed the same moral dilemma as that raised by George W. Bush at the start of his so-called ‘War on Terror’. You are either with us or with the terrorist, he declared in September 2001.
But the ongoing Russia-NATO conflict cannot be reduced to simple and self-serving cliches. One can, indeed, want an end to the war, and still oppose US-western unilateralism.
The reason that American diktats worked in the past, however, is that, unlike the current geopolitical atmosphere, a few dared oppose Washington’s policies. But now times have changed with the rise of BRICS.
Russia, China, India, along with many other countries in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and South America are navigating all available spaces to counter the suffocating western dominance.
These countries have made it clear that they will not take part in isolating Russia in the service of NATO’s expansionist agenda.
To the contrary, they have taken many steps to develop alternatives to the west-dominated global economy, and particularly to the US dollar which, for five decades, has served the role of a commodity, not a currency, per se.
The latter has been Washington’s most effective weapon, associated with many US-orchestrated crises, sanctions and, as in the case of Iraq and Venezuela, among others, mass hunger. The global fight ahead is perhaps the most consequential since World War II.
While NATO will continue to fight for relevance, Russia, China, and others will invest in various economic, political and even military infrastructures, in the hope of creating a permanent and sustainable counterbalance to Western dominance.
The outcome of this conflict is likely to shape the future of the US dollar and humanity.
Middle-East Monitor / ABC Flash-Point News 2023.
