West’s moral rage meets skeptical and multipolar world at UN

No one answered him as it was mandatory, but during the week many world leaders they openly reveal their shared moral anger in their speeches. Europe, United States of America and its allies rich world is far from universal. Or at least desire take over russia with penalties and military aid to Ukraine. “I came to tell you this Africa he’s already suffered enough from the weight of history and doesn’t want to be bait for a while new cold war”said the same Wednesday grumpy bunchhead Senegal and also African Unionbefore advocating a negotiated solution to the conflict.

This reality Decreased Western influence to impose their position increasingly multipolar worldas reflected attitude towards sanctions. And the thing is, more than 140 countries supported the March resolution condemning the Kremlin’s illegal occupation, but only a dozen Washington and Brussels advocated sanctions for violating the Convention. rules of international order. “A lot global south countries They see it as a regional conflict that is geographically very distant and alien to their interests,” says New York University political scientist Rajan Menon, author of several books on the post-Soviet space.

rules of international order

“There is also much more cynicism about the norms of the international order More than we believe, because they see that the West does not hesitate to make exceptions for friendly countries like them. Israel or it violates those norms, especially when it is in the interest of the United States,” says Menon. Examples abound. from illegal invasion of iraqto the schedule torture and kidnapping initiated by INCH after 9/11 or intervention in LibyaThe UN Security Council’s mandate to protect civilians was eventually used to crush the Gaddafi regime.

It is possible that the West has forgotten this, but in the rest of the world such outrages are still very much alive in the collective memory. Not to mention colonialism. That’s why words like Joe Biden’s speech before the UN on Thursday have an empty sound. “If nations can pursue their imperial ambitions fruitlessly, we are risking everything this institution stands for,” said the US president. insulation For his country for destroying Iraq without legal authorization.

denial of sanctions

As a result, countries like IndiaBrazil, South AfricaMexico or Indonesia They refrained from publicly condemning Russia or pursuing a punitive course. others like Turkey anyone Israel trying to position themselves intermediariesduration Saudi Arabia It took months for the US to increase oil production as it demanded to counter Russian industry and lower prices. “The reaction of various powers to the war in Ukraine confirms that: we live in a multipolar world”, says Sven Biscop, professor of International Relations at the Egmond Institute and University of Ghent in Belgium. According to him, a world with four power centers: Washington, Beijing, Brussels and Moscow. And ultimately, these forces pursue their own interests, even if they sometimes overlap,” he adds.

Ukraine did not lead to the creation two opposing and antagonistic blocksas during the Cold War. Among other things, because Putin’s Russia is a gas station attached to a huge barnwithout an ideological suggestion, USSR. “Many people expected China to support Russia as much as we support Ukraine, but that’s not the case,” says Biscop. “Beijing in the middle, close to the area” do not interfere and without letting Russia determine its relationship with Europeans and Americans.” India He did something similar while taking advantage of the situation to buy spades, trying not to burn bridges with either side. discount russian hydrocarbonssomething that many Asian countries have done to strengthen Russian supremacy on the continent.

Although Brussels and Washington current world order As a conflict between democracies and autocracies, as von der Leyen did in his State of the Union speech, the former’s own inconsistencies seriously undermine the credibility of his speech. European leaders as von der Leyen says all this train, Algeria or Saudi Arabia’s purchase of gas and oil. “It’s time to drop this narrative and bet on a more balanced one,” says Biscop of Brussels.