Here’s The
20-Point Plan For How Russia Could Contain The US
oriental
review.org/2021/02/19/heres-the-20-point-plan-for-how-russia-could-contain-the-us/
By Andrew KORYBKO
February 19, 2021
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei
Ryabkov’s dramatic declaration that his country “will pursue the policy of
active containment of the US on all fronts” if American pressure on Russia
doesn’t soon end inspired a unique 20-point plan for what this could look like
in practice.
Russia’s Anti-American
Containment Policy
Russia finally appears to be serious
about “decoupling” from the West after over half a decade of its well-intended
and passionate efforts to enter into a rapprochement with it following the
onset of the Ukrainian Crisis. As I wrote last week after the scandal that
erupted upon EU foreign policy chief Borrell’s return to Brussels from Moscow,
“Russia Needs To Realize That EU Diplomacy Is Based On Deception”.
I predicted that this event was a game-changer which would push Russia to
accelerate its foreign policy diversification strategy towards non-Western
countries, especially those in the Global South. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei
Ryabkov is evidently very serious about this after dramatically declaring on Wednesday that his country
“will pursue the policy of active containment of the US on all fronts” if
American pressure on Russia doesn’t soon end. He promised to prevent foreign
meddling in his country’s democratic processes, promote multipolarity across
the world, and impose counter-sanctions on the US.
Markov’s 10
Euro-Centric Proposals
Prior to Ryabkov’s policy announcement,
Russian expert Sergey Markov predicted ten ways in which his country could
respond to more EU sanctions against it. As Google Translated into English from
his original Facebook post and slightly edited for clarity,
these are:
“1. Russia may recognize the DPR and
the LPR and accelerate their integration into Russia;
2. Russia may impose strict sanctions in
the economy against the EU;
3. Russia may cease to consider the
interests of Europe in Syria and Libya;
4. Russia may impose strict restrictions
on the work of Russian-speaking media that are supported by the EU;
5. Russia may limit the work of NGOs,
with which the EU tries to influence Russian public opinion;
6. Russia may tighten the position
regarding the Russophobic regime in Ukraine and start working on its
elimination and replacement with a pro-Russian government;
7. Russia may switch its economic
projects from the EU to other countries, especially the East;
8. Russia may significantly increase its
military resources in the Kaliningrad region and other regions close to the EU;
9. Russia may begin to react
significantly more strictly to the Russophobic policies of EU countries such as
Poland, the Baltic countries, Romania;
10. Russia may dramatically reduce
consultations with France and Germany on important global strategic issues.
This will reduce the impact of France and Germany in the world.”
Korybko’s 10
Non-Western Proposals
I regard all ten of his proposals as
viable options but nevertheless believe that they’re still too Euro-centric and
reactionary. For that reason, here are ten non-Western ones that could
prospectively be paired with Markov’s and pursued even in the event that the
West temporarily stops provoking Russia:
1. Rigorously implement “Democratic Security”
at home to safeguard Russia’s domestic political processes in accordance with
Ryabkov’s vision;
2. Thoroughly articulate the unofficial
national ideology of multipolarity and actively promote these views abroad
through foreign policy & civil society outreaches, including through
academia and the media;
3. Export bespoke “Democratic Security”
solutions to at-risk Global South states modeled off of the Central African Republic, Congo Republic, and Togo precedents to help defend others from US Hybrid War threats;
4. Double down on “military diplomacy”
with China through increased cutting-edge arms sales and joint military drills
in order to send a message of unwavering security solidarity with the People’s
Republic;
5. Pull out all the stops in seeking
to jointly lead a new Non-Aligned Movement (“Neo-Nam”) with
India in order to restore “balance” via tripolarity to the increasingly
bipolar world that defines the US-Chinese New Cold War;
6. Prioritize progress on the N-CPEC+/RuPak Corridor in order to fulfill President
Putin’s envisioned Arctic-Indian Ocean corridor that he first publicly
proposed in October 2019 while speaking at the Valdai Club;
7. Ensure that Azerbaijani President
Aliyev’s six-country regional integration platform is a success in
turning the South Caucasus into the zone of geostrategic convergence between
Russia, Iran, and Turkey;
8. Bring together steps 4-7 to
ultimately create an expanded Golden Ring in the Eurasian Heartland which would
function as the center of gravity for the emerging Multipolar World Order;
9. Continue practicing “vaccine diplomacy” to creatively establish strategic inroads
in non-traditional partners that could then be courted to contribute to the
collective cause of multipolarity;
10. Fulfill “Russia’s Five Most Important Tasks For Surviving World War C”
and do everything to ensure that the entire world is aware of the significant
insight that President Putin shared about this during his Davos
speech.
Concluding Thoughts
Ryabkov’s official announcement that
Russia is seriously countenancing the creation of an anti-American containment
strategy proves that the Kremlin is finally fed up with the West’s games.
Markov’s prior ten proposals for how his country could react to the potential EU-initiated
worsening of bilateral relations are thought-provoking and deserve to be
considered, but they’re nevertheless Euro-centric and reactionary. Mine,
however, are non-Western in focus and can be proactively undertaken even
without Brussels taking the first step by sanctioning Russia like many expect it to do in a few days’ time during the next
EU Foreign Ministers meeting on 22 February. Taken together, this 20-point
containment strategy should hopefully give Russian decision makers a better
understanding of the full range of options available to them. They probably
won’t implement every proposal, but it’s likely that at least some of them will
see the light of day, though it might still take time for their effects to be
felt as would be the case with my long-term policy suggestions.
Source: One World
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