Vassals and Neocolonialism
Putin sees backers at work
08/15/2023 3:59 p.m
War has been raging in Europe for a year and a half, and Kremlin chief Putin is now issuing a statement as to why there are allegedly conflicts in regions of the world. It’s about backers, resources and geopolitical adventures.
Russian President Vladimir Putin once again used a security conference in Moscow to attack the West. Conflicts in many regions of the world were only caused by the “geopolitical adventures and the egoistic, neo-colonial behavior of the West,” said the Kremlin chief in a video message at the XI. Moscow Conference on International Security. According to the Russian state media, more than 800 representatives from 76 nations take part. China’s new Defense Minister Li Shangfu was also a guest.
Putin said there are anonymous backers who play peoples off against each other and force states into vassal obedience in order to “mercilessly exploit their resources within the framework of a neocolonial system”. The Kremlin boss has long accused the West of conspiring against everything Russian. Russia, under Putin, has been waging a war of aggression against neighboring Ukraine for more than 17 months. Russia has annexed parts of the country in violation of international law.
The Ukraine expert and Yale historian Timothy Snyder speaks of a colonial war of annihilation that Russia is waging against the neighboring country. Last year Chancellor Olaf Scholz described Putin’s world view as “great power mania and imperialism”. Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said his country wants to increase cooperation with Asian countries such as India, Vietnam, Myanmar, Mongolia, Laos, Indonesia and Bangladesh.
China’s Defense Minister Li Shangfu said his country has established military cooperation with more than 150 countries around the world and wants to strengthen it. According to a Russian transcript of his opening speech, Beijing wants to raise the level of military ties with European states and the EU and strengthen traditional friendships with Latin American, Caribbean and South Pacific states. Li Shangfu, who took office in March 2023, is traveling through Russia and Belarus for several days to meet the two countries’ military leaders.