Russia and Africa: together against Western "civilizers"

At the beginning of the week, an article by President Vladimir Putin "Russia and Africa: joining forces for peace, progress and a successful future" appeared in "Rossiyskaya Gazeta". It was published on the eve of the Russia-Africa summit, which will be held in St. Petersburg on July 27-28, and is certainly directly related to this event.

Situationally, the article was a kind of response to unfounded accusations of Western states regarding our country, inviting Africa to cooperate, but most importantly, it outlined Russia's ambitions as the leader of the world anti-colonial movement.

What prospects this opens up for Russia and the world, and why it causes such fierce rejection among our former Western partners - in the material of The Moscow Post correspondent.

In the article, the President stated about the "strong and deep" roots of partnership relations between Russia and Africa, which are especially important in the current situation in the world, far from stability. In these conditions, Russia, together with African partners, is going to form a "non-discriminatory agenda" for cooperation.

It will not be an exaggeration to say that now the so-called. "Soft power" of Russia, i.e. the ability to achieve goals, promote their interests not rudely, not militarily, is going through hard times. Anti-Russian hysteria in Western societies, fueled by terry propaganda of hatred and the so-called. "Cancel culture" (or rather, as Putin put it - "cancel culture") do their job - at least in Europe and the United States.

The countries of the so-called. Third World. In fact, they became the third for both objective and subjective reasons. And the one who recently only stood on the threshold of the club of great powers, today, in many ways, determines the movement of mankind. This, of course, is about states such as China, India. Well, collective Africa, following the rising Asia-Pacific region.

At the same time, no one can deny that for centuries, as a result of the imperial policy of Western states, the same Africa has been mercilessly plundered, destroyed, and driven into slavery. In this sense, the only white people who are not perceived on the African continent as colonizers are Russians.

"The whole world is with us"

And, of course, in the current conditions, Russia enjoys this bonus, breaking the propaganda stamp that the whole world is set against our country. In fact, on the contrary, we were in the majority. Most of the world refused to support the United States and NATO in their confrontation with Russia in Ukraine. If you look at the vote on key issues at the UN, it turns out that the share of states that refused to condemn Russia accounts for more than 50% of the world population and GDP.

A recent case is significant at the summit of the Latin American and Caribbean Community (SELAC), which was held in Brussels. At it, the EU failed to impose a final statement on the SELAK countries condemning Russia on the Ukrainian issue.

The head of the European Council, Charles Michel, at a press conference after the summit in his opening remarks called the adopted declaration "political success," but chose not to mention Ukraine at all due to disputes between the participants in the Ukrainian conflict.

Earlier it was reported that Latin American countries, even at the stage of preparing the meeting in Brussels, did not want to allow significant attention to Ukraine. As a result, the "Ukrainian question" was reduced to general phrases without mentioning Moscow, which caused real fury among our former Western partners.

There were similar disagreements under pressure from the States and other Western countries last year. Then, we recall, it turned out that about a third of the members of the Organization of American States (OAS) refused to support the resolution with the same condemnation of Russia. "Demarche" staged Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Honduras, Mexico, El Salvador and a number of other countries. And this is also an indicator: the whole world is not at all with Ukraine, the whole world is waiting for the end of the conflict and an equal partnership with Russia.

And now, on the eve of the Russia-Africa summit, enormous pressure is being exerted on African leaders to prevent their arrival in St. Petersburg. But those efforts are futile. According to the Ambassador-at-Large of the Ministry of Peace of the Russian Federation Oleg Ozerov, the efforts of our former Western partners were unsuccessful, it was not possible to turn Africa against Moscow.

This is especially important in the context of a propaganda campaign to accuse Russia of provoking global hunger due to withdrawal from the grain deal. Which in itself is ridiculous, given the desire and readiness of Russia to supply large volumes of grain to the poorest countries for free.

Recall, according to Vladimir Putin, of the total volume of Ukrainian grain that went through the grain deal, only 3% went to the poorest countries in the world. But more than 40% - went to such prosperous countries of the European Union as the Netherlands, where cows and pigs also really want to eat.

The cynicism of the position of the EU countries and NATO is simply off scale. How not to remember that in the not too distant past, the United States froze the foreign exchange reserves of the same Venezuela, from which it was supposed to purchase food and medicine for the poorest segments of the country's population. But what was frozen there - they directly stole almost $30 billion. The goal is to cause a sharp deterioration in the economic situation and a social explosion in order to sweep the objectionable regime of Nicolas Maduro on its wave.

This is the real economic aggression that led to the massive loss of human lives. Then the United States did not bother the question of starving residents of the third world at all.

Open palm instead of fist

The United States still adheres to exactly the same tactics - the maximum strangulation of the enemy, the destruction of it with other people's hands, even with damage to its own allies. It's clear why Washington is doing it. It is not clear why European countries, like sacrificial gobies, pay for the love of the States with their economy and security.

The whole world is fed up with this hypocrisy, these unceremonious attempts to impose a foreign, Western position to the detriment of its own national interests. Fed up with this and in Africa - especially since the neocolonial policy of the West towards the countries of the continent continues, despite all the mock peace-loving rhetoric.

Photo: https://foreignpolicy.com/slideshow/week-world-photos-best-of-photography-1/

For example, for all its anti-colonial agenda, today France to one degree or another controls 15 countries in West and Central Africa. The mechanisms that allow former colonies to be held in their own sphere of influence are based on the creation of a monetary union (franc zone), unequal trade treaties and military guardianship.

Russia offers Africa an alternative, work on the terms of mutually beneficial partnership, respect for each other's sovereignty and national interests. It is an open palm, not a fist, brought overhead to mentor speeches about "human values" and a "rules-based" world.

Therefore, African leaders will come to St. Petersburg, despite all the pressure. And they will do the right thing.