President Putin’s Davos Speech Defined The World War C
Era
Written by Andrew KORYBKO on 30/01/2021
A Speech For The Ages
President Putin gave what can be regarded as the defining speech of the
World War C era during his virtual address at this year’s Davos Summit hosted
by his close friend Klaus Schwab, the founder of the World Economic Forum
(WEF). The Russian leader intriguingly disclosed from the get-go that he first
met the famous globalist in 1992 and regularly attended his organization’s
annual gatherings all throughout the 1990s. Their last face-to-face meeting was
in Putin’s hometown of Saint Petersburg in November 2019, during which time
Schwab gifted him his book about the “Fourth Industrial Revolution”. President Putin evidently
read it in full since he even cited this controversial concept during his
address. All Russia watchers should read his speech in full at the official Kremlin
website if they have the time since this world leader
thoroughly articulated the challenges and promises of the World War C era,
the author’s term for referring to the full-spectrum paradigm-changing processes catalyzed
by the international community’s uncoordinated efforts to contain COVID-19.
COVID-19: Chaos Catalyst
Whether or not one actually does so, the present analysis should still be
useful for summarizing Putin’s most important points and putting them in the
context of this epochal moment. He began by praising the WEF for the crucial
role that it’s playing in contemporary events by providing a much-needed
discussion platform for the global elite to brainstorm solutions to the world’s
many challenges. He noted that COVID-19 accelerated numerous preexisting
structural problems, particularly the accumulated socioeconomic ones that he
later postulated in his speech “are the fundamental reason for unstable global
growth.” Expanding on this thought, Putin spent some time elaborating how the
uneven socioeconomic development brought about by the latest version of
globalization at the end of the Old Cold War only truly benefited the one
percent of the population, primarily those who were invested in Western
transnational corporations. Mostly everyone else, he said, ended up struggling
in one way or another despite misleading macroeconomic growth indicators.
Whither The Washington Consensus?
The Russian leader attributed this to the Washington Consensus’ debt-driven
development strategies which prioritized people as the means rather than the
end that the global elite were pursuing this entire time. He importantly
declared that Russia’s approach will be the opposite in that people will become
the end instead of the means, a vision that he encouraged everyone else to
embrace as well. In order to better understand why this is so necessary, one
must become familiar with Putin’s criticisms of the status quo. The stimulation
of macroeconomic growth through debt has “outlived its usefulness”, having
directly resulted in the present predicament whereby citizens’ real incomes are
stagnating even in economically developed Western countries, to say nothing of
their current reversal there and all across the Global South as a result of
World War C. The systemic economic flaws of the Washington Consensus have made
increasingly desperate people vulnerable to social and political
radicalization, which sometimes manifests itself by making an enemy out of “the
other”.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin during the session of Davos Agenda 2021
online forum organised by the World Economic Forum.
Averting The Hobbesian War Scenario
This isn’t just destabilizing on the domestic level, which is itself
concerning for the rest of the world considering the complex interdependence
brought about by globalization, but also on the international one once states
start blaming other countries for their problems. On this note, Putin made a
point of remarking that “the degree of foreign policy propaganda rhetoric is
growing”, especially against “the countries that do not agree with a role of
obedient controlled satellites, use of trade barriers, illegitimate sanctions
and restrictions in the financial, technological and cyber spheres.” This was a
thinly veiled reference to America’s unprecedented pressure campaigns against
Russia, China, and others, but is also applicable to other states that have
followed its lead in this respect, whether against those two targets and/or
others. The uncontrollable breakdown of international development, governance,
and security models is causing a dangerous chain reaction of instability that
might lead to a “war of all against all” in the worst-case scenario, which must
be averted at all costs.
Big Tech Has Become More Powerful Than Many States
This risk of a Hobbesian war is made all the more acute by Big Tech
becoming more powerful than many states. Putin recalled their recent role in
the American elections and its aftermath to warn about this new threat to
global security. He asked, “Where is the border between successful global
business, in-demand services and big data consolidation and the attempts to
manage society at one’s own discretion and in a tough manner, replace legal
democratic institutions and essentially usurp or restrict the natural right of
people to decide for themselves how to live, what to choose and what position
to express freely?” This is an issue that concerns the entire world since
unaccountable private companies are nowadays running amok and imposing their
vision onto literally billions of people, which could exacerbate the
preexisting and already naturally worsening social tensions that the Russian
leader drew attention to in his speech. Left unresolved, this might quickly
spiral out of control and lead to the worst-case scenario that he warned about
regarding the war of all against all.
The World’s Four Most Urgent Priorities
The rule of the so-called “golden billion”also can’t be allowed to
continue, Putin declared, and the trend of increasing state involvement in the
economy and the even greater degree of complex interdependence across the world
that this implies places an enormous responsibility upon all governments to do
their part to avoid another World War. To this end, four key priorities must be
jointly pursued by all: ensure comfortable living conditions for everyone;
provide promising employment possibilities (made all the more urgent by Putin’s
prediction that Schwab’s seemingly inevitable “Fourth Industrial Revolution”
might prompt massive unemployment across the world that could thus lead to the
uncontrollable radicalization of society); grant generous healthcare and other
social benefits to the population; and guarantee a better future for the next
generation through improved educational opportunities. Putin proposed that the
state, the business community, and civil society prioritize these urgent tasks
for the global good as soon as possible.
The Emergence Of New Multilateral Cooperation Platforms
On the international front, multipolarity is replacing the unipolar moment
that he argued never actually came to fruition in the first place, but that existing
institutions created after World War II are struggling to adapt to modern-day
challenges. Nevertheless, Putin pleaded with everyone to retain and reform them
instead of abandoning them since the existence of these platforms is still
better than them not being used at all during these unstable times of
unprecedented uncertainty. New and more flexible formats will arise to meet
unexpected problems as they emerge, with the Russian leader citing his
country’s trilateral cooperation with Iran and Turkey in Syria, Armenia and Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh, and Saudi
Arabia and the US through OPEC+ as relevant examples. The author is personally
of the view that at least two other frameworks might soon emerge as well
between Russia, India, and Japan in the Russian Far East and Arctic, and Russia, Pakistan, and Afghanistan for managing affairs
between Central and South Asia.
Epidemiological, Environmental, And Civilizational Security
In terms of epidemiological security, Putin is very passionate about the
need for mass vaccination all across the world, particularly in the
Global South with a strong focus on Africa. He implies that urgent need to
create a global COVID monitoring structure for testing and vaccinating at-risk
populations in order to finally eliminate this viral threat once and for all.
He also suggested that more must be done to preserve the environment, but
cautioned that a balance must be struck between this and economic development.
Overall, Putin ended on an upbeat note and even answered a single follow-up
question by Schwab about how eager he is for Russia and Western Europe to enter
into a long-overdue rapprochement. He reminded his European counterparts that
Russia is an inextricable part of their civilization, and that they can only survive this century by working together,
including by building a United Europe all the way to Vladivostok. Russia is
just waiting for them to reciprocate its love, which must be mutual, he said as
his final point of the day.
A Russian-Led “Global Reset”?
Upon pondering the insight that Putin shared during his virtual address, it’s
clear that his appearance at this year’s Davos Summit was intended to endear
Russia to the West and position it as one of the global leaders in the
unfolding “Great Reset”/”Fourth
Industrial Revolution” (GR/4IR), exactly as the author accurately predicted
that he’d seek to do in his analysis published on the first of the year about “Russia’s Five Most Important Tasks For Surviving World War C”.
The primary difference between Putin and many of his peers who also believe in
the inevitability of these processes is that he doesn’t blindly endorse them
for principle’s sake but is very passionate about ensuring that they result in
a better form of globalization that benefits everyone equally. Critics might
describe him as naive, but there’s no doubt that he’s sincere in this respect.
Putin truly believes that the ongoing GR/4IR can be a force for good if it
replaces the Washington Census, improves socioeconomic equality, and leads to
global peace, with Russia doing all that it can to help that happen every step
of the way.
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