PRESS RELEASE
Lavrov Describes the Dying Western Empire, Blasts Geopolitics
Sept. 3, 2016 (EIRNS)—Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, in an interview with the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy’s media outlet on Sept. 2, slammed EU/NATO/U.S. geopolitical policies, contrasting diplomatic and economic developments in the East, centered on China in particular, and the U.S./EU/NATO approach of bureaucracy and military blocs. On the one hand, the world is becoming multipolar, with the rise of new centers of economic growth and financial strength, he said. At the same time, "Europe is curtailing relations with Russia, at U.S. prompting," Lavrov said.
"Many European countries are doing this with their eyes wide open, saying that in this case politics (punishing Russia) must take precedence over the economy. This is contrary to what the West did before."
With respect to Asian economic development,
"Our logic and the policy outlined by President Vladimir Putin are focused on looking for mutually beneficial compromises and mutually acceptable approaches,"
Lavrov said. He noted that wise governments in Europe and the EU, in Asia and elsewhere should build more bridges and work harder to develop cooperation. "Russia is conveniently located geopolitically and geo-economically to facilitate these processes," he said. "
The Greater Eurasia project does not contradict, but rather fits very well the concept of Europe from the Atlantic to the Urals, which Charles de Gaulle advanced decades ago. President Putin has rephrased it as common space from Lisbon to Vladivostok. This remains a topical issue. It is absurd when the political situation in the West, including domestic policies, is allowed to hinder our progress towards this strategic and mutually beneficial objective."
Lavrov went on to say that, when it comes to bureaucracies, the EU is much more difficult to work with than NATO, though he didn’t spare NATO in his criticisms, either. Attempts to maintain discipline within blocs, Cold War-style, is becoming very difficult to do, because countries are realizing that "there is also such a thing as national interests." The EU, Lavrov said, is a case in point.
"Bureaucracy in the Soviet Union dominated the union republics. But the EU has gone further than that, further even than NATO, where discussions are more democratic, despite a Russophobic minority that is shamelessly speculating on the principle of consensus and bloc solidarity. The EU bureaucracy is trying to prohibit the member states from taking independent decisions on issues that have not been delegated to Brussels."
There are many examples, he said, which he hopes can be reversed
"because we don’t want to see the EU torn apart by contradictions. We want it to be a reliable partner, guided in its actions by the economic interests of its member states and not by some geopolitical considerations that have nothing to do with common sense and the economy."
As for NATO, Lavrov hit hard at the ideological tendency among some members of the alliance to use the NATO-Russia Council—the last few times it met was only to discuss Ukraine—for their own ends against Russia.
"There are people in NATO who realize that this leads nowhere, and that it is necessary to return to normal, respectful relations, because acting like your logic and approach alone must be adopted by the rest of the world, is a case of colonial thinking,"
he said.
"Unfortunately, certain politicians do this, especially in countries which cannot come to grips with the fact that their empire is gone."
