Russia has risen again as a world power. This was the main trend of the year 2015; the rise of Russia has formally ended the era of American hegemony, which started after the fall of the Soviet Union. America is no longer the only superpower of the world. Putin’s stature as a world leader has dwarfed the other leaders. The American magazine Forbes has declared Putin as the most powerful leader in the world for the third successive year. I think this has happened for the first time in history. Everyone can see that America can no longer impose its will on the rest of the world. On the other hand, Russia has proved that it can take a military action anywhere in the world and project its military power.
There are two regions of the world which can be considered the most important regions as far as the balance of power in the world is concerned: Europe and the Middle East. Europe is the birthplace of capitalism. It is the most developed region of the world. Oil is the lifeline of capitalism and the Middle East is playing the leading role in this field.
By scoring victories in both these regions, not only Russia has reestablished itself as a world power, it has also ended America’s status as the only superpower of the world. In Europe, Russia has won in Ukraine a big military victory. It has taken Crimea without a fight. It has also won the Russian-speaking areas of the eastern Ukraine. In reality, the war in Ukraine was not between the rebels and the government, it was a proxy war between Russia and the US. Clearly, Russia has won the war and America has lost it. In the Middle East, the situation in Syrian war is similar to the European situation. America wanted to dethrone Assad and made it a prestige question, and aligned with the rebels. On the other hand, Russia started a military campaign on the side of the Syrian Government. Not only Russia has prevented America from getting rid of Assad, it also converted the war in Syria to a war against terrorism of the IS. Russia became the leader in this war. America and its ally Turkey are seen as weak in fighting terrorism. They are also seen as playing a double game in this fight. Turkey’s downing of the Russian plane which had the American support, at least indirectly, is a clear indicator of the double game that these countries are playing in the war against terrorism. They have not completely severed their links with the IS and the other Islamic fundamentalists and terrorists. As compared to America’s weak and indecisive policy against terrorism, Russia was seen as firm, sincere and committed against terrorism.
Russia also got an opportunity to show and project its military power. Russia has made it clear that it can attack any point in the world from any other point with its missiles. Russia has more missiles and the most advanced missiles in the world. Russia was able to attack the IS targets in Syria from its submarines in the Mediterranean Sea. Everyone agrees that S-400 is the most advanced missile in the world .Prime Minister Modi will try to get this missile during his current trip to Russia. India was changing its policy of getting advanced weaponry from Russia to get those from America. However, it is reconsidering that shift. It seems that India will maintain its policy of getting advanced weaponry from Russia and that will help to revive its traditional friendship with Russia.
Whereas Russia has challenged the military power of America, China has almost completely ended the American hegemony in the economic field. In a way, China has established its leading place in the economic field. One big proof of this is Chinese President’s trip to England. It looked as if England was standing with a begging bowl to receive alms from the Chinese visitor. During this trip, agreements worth 60 billion dollars were signed. In all of these agreements, China is going to invest money in England. Even the nuclear energy has been opened to the Chinese investment. Another interesting fact was that wherever the Chinese President went during his trip, he was always accompanied by a member of the royal family. To my knowledge, this has never happened before. America and the other western countries have always tried to pit India against China and they have always claimed that Indian economy is catching up with the Chinese economy and will soon surpass it.
However, the fact is that during the Chinese President’s trip, agreements were signed for 60 billion dollars and the Chinese are investing most of that money in England while during Prime Minister Modi’s visit, 12 billion dollars worth agreements were signed and in most of those, England will invest in India. The reality is that China’s economy is five times bigger than the Indian economy. America and the West are deliberately engaged in false propaganda with the ulterior motive of pitting India against China. On the other hand, China wants good relations with India. China is now the biggest trading partner of the European Union. Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, who has been declared “Person of the Year” by Time magazine, has visited China eight times.
China is playing the major role in developing new institutions as alternative to the western-dominated institutions. The BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation, and the Asian Infrastructure Development Bank are the most important such institutions. China has played the leading role in the development of this Bank, which is based in China. However, India gets the first Presidency of the Bank. Many of America’s closest allies are eager to join this Bank. In future, this Bank is going to pose a big challenge to the World Bank.
Europe faced a very big crisis this year in the form of refugee crisis. This crisis exposed the realty that the capitalist model of development eventually leads to complete anarchy. The scenes of helter-skelter, chaos and anarchy in Europe were rarely seen in the world before. Barricades, dogs, and even physical violence were used to stop the refugees. The dead bodies floating on the sea of the people from boats which capsized, particularly of a child, also showed the real face of imperialist globalization. The western capitalists are responsible for these scenes. Their selfishness and greed did not allow proper development in the developing third world countries. These circumstances where people cannot get proper employment in their own countries forces them to migrate and seek work in other countries. On the top of that, the western countries have destroyed those countries which tried to follow an alternative model of development such as Iraq, Libya, and Syria. As a result of their aggression against those countries, the refugee crisis really became severe.
Many European countries have started feeling that they have to pay the price for the wrong American policies. This is further widening the gap between Europe and America. Many in Europe have started looking at Russia as a savior of the European-Christian civilization, which they feel is under attack from the Islamic fundamentalists and terrorists, while America is seen as at least indirectly helping such forces. The nationalist forces are seeing Russia and Putin as their heroes.
Dr. Sawraj Singh, MD F.I.C.S. is the Chairman of the Washington State Network for Human Rights and Chairman of the Central Washington Coalition for Social Justice. He can be reached at [email protected].
