On Ukraine, World Majority Sides with Russia over the United States

On Ukraine, World Majority Sides with Russia over the United States
This map shows the areas of Ukraine occupied by Russia. Courtesy of The Commons

The year 2014 saw two pivotal events that led to the current conflict in Ukraine.

The first, familiar to all, was the coup in Ukraine in which a democratically elected government was overthrown at the direction of the United States and with the assistance of neo-Nazi elements that Ukraine has long harbored.

Shortly thereafter, the first shots in the present war were fired on the Russian-sympathetic Donbass region by the newly installed Ukrainian government. The shelling of the Donbass, which claimed 14,000 lives, has continued for eight years despite attempts at a ceasefire under the Minsk accords that Russia, France and Germany agreed upon but Ukraine, backed by the United States, refused to implement. On Feb. 24, 2022, Russia finally responded to the slaughter in Donbass and the threat of NATO on its doorstep.

Russia Turns to the East

The second pivotal event of 2014 was less noticed and is, in fact, rarely mentioned in the Western mainstream media. In November of that year, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Chinaā€™s GDP (gross domestic product) surpassed that of the United States in purchasing power parity terms (PPP-GDP).

(This measure of GDP is calculated and published by the IMF, the World Bank and even the CIA. Students of international relations such as economics Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz, Graham Allison and many others consider this metric the best measure of a nationā€™s comparative economic power.)

One person who took note and who often mentions Chinaā€™s standing in the PPP-GDP ranking is none other than Russiaā€™s President Vladimir Putin.

From one point of view, the Russian action in Ukraine represents a decisive turn away from the hostile West to the more dynamic East and the Global South. This follows decades of importuning the West for a peaceful relationship since the Cold Warā€™s end. As Russia makes its pivot to the East, it is doing its best to ensure that its western border with Ukraine is secured.

Following the Russian action in Ukraine, the inevitable U.S. sanctions poured onto Russia. China refused to join them and refused to condemn Russia. This was no surprise; after all, Putinā€™s Russia and Xi Jinpingā€™s China had been drawing ever closer for years, most notably with trade denominated in ruble-renminbi exchange, thus moving toward independence from the Westā€™s dollar-dominated trade regime.

World Majority Refuses to Back U.S. Sanctions

But then a big surprise. India joined China in refusing to honor the U.S. sanctions regime. And India kept to its resolve despite enormous pressure including calls from Biden to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a train of high-level U.S., U.K. and EU officials trekking off to India to bully, threaten and otherwise attempt to intimidate India. India would face ā€œconsequences,ā€ the tired U.S. threat went up. India did not budge.

Indiaā€™s close military and diplomatic ties with Russia were forged during the anti-colonial struggles of the Soviet era. Indiaā€™s economic interests in Russian exports could not be countermanded by U.S. threats. Now India and Russia are working on trade via ruble-rupee exchange.

In fact, Russia has turned out to be a factor that put India and China on the same side, pursuing their own interests and independence in the face of U.S. diktat. Moreover, with trade in ruble-renminbi exchange already a reality and with ruble-rupee exchange in the offing, are we about to witness a renminbi-ruble-rupee world of tradeā€”a ā€œ3Rā€ alternative to the dollar-euro monopoly?

Is the worldā€™s second most important political relationship, that between India and China, about to take a more peaceful direction? Whatā€™s the worldā€™s first most important relationship?

India is but one example of the shift in power. Out of 195 countries, only 30 have honored the U.S. sanctions on Russia. That means about 165 countries in the world have refused to join the sanctions. Those countries represent by far the majority of the worldā€™s population. Most of Africa, Latin America (including Mexico and Brazil) and East Asia (excepting Japan and South Korea, both occupied by U.S. troops and hence not sovereign; Singapore; and Taiwan) have refused. (India and China alone represent 35% of humanity.)

Add to that the fact that 40 different countries are now the targets of U.S. sanctions, and there is a powerful constituency to oppose the thuggish economic tactics of the United States.

Finally, at the recent G-20 Summit a walkout led by the United States when the Russia delegate spoke was joined by the representatives of only three other G-20 countries, with 80% of these leading financial nations refusing to join. Similarly, a U.S. attempt to bar a Russian delegate from a G-20 meeting later in the year in Bali was rebuffed by Indonesia, which currently holds the G-20 presidency.

Nations Taking Russiaā€™s Side No Longer Poor as in Cold War 1.0

These dissenting countries of the Global South are no longer as poor as they were during the Cold War. Of the top 10 countries in PPP-GDP, five do not support the sanctions. These include China (No. 1) and India (No. 3). So the first and third most powerful economies stand against the United States on this matter. (Russia is No. 6 on that list, about equal to Germany, No. 5, the two being close to equal, belying the idea that Russiaā€™s economy is negligible.)

These stands are vastly more significant than any UN vote. Such votes can be coerced by a great power, and little attention is paid to them in the world. But the economic interests of a nation and its view of the main danger in the world are important determinants of how it reacts economically, for example, to sanctions. A ā€œnoā€ to U.S. sanctions is putting oneā€™s money where oneā€™s mouth is.

We in the West hear that Russia is ā€œisolated in the worldā€ as a result of the crisis in Ukraine. If one is speaking about the Eurovassal states and the Anglosphere, that is true. But considering humanity as a whole and among the rising economies of the world, it is the United States that stands isolated.

And even in Europe, cracks are emerging. Hungary and Serbia have not joined the sanctions regime and, of course, most European countries will not and indeed cannot turn away from Russian energy imports crucial to their economies. It appears that the grand scheme of U.S. global hegemony to be brought about by the United States move to WWII Redux, both cold and hot, has hit a mighty snag.

For those who look forward to a multipolar world, this is a welcome turn of events emerging out of the cruel tragedy of the U.S. proxy war in Ukraine. The possibility of a saner, more prosperous multipolar world lies aheadā€”if we can get there.

Author

  • John V. Walsh

    John V. Walsh, until recently a professor of physiology and neuroscience at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, has written on issues of peace and health care for the Asia Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, the EastBayTimes/San Jose Mercury News, the LA Progressive, Antiwar.com, CounterPunch and others.

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