The End of Laissez-Faire: Russia’s Attempt at Reshaping the World Economy
BY RAMZY BAROUD
Starting on May 31, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov embarked on
a tour to Gulf Cooperation Council countries, where he visited Bahrain, Saudi
Arabia, United Arab Emirates, among others. Lavrov’s main objective of these
visits is to strengthen ties between Russia and GCC nations amid a global race
for geopolitical dominance.
The Middle East, especially the Gulf region, is vital for the current global
economic order and is equally critical for any future reshaping of that order.
If Moscow is to succeed in redefining the role of Arab economies vis-a-vis
the global economy, it would most likely succeed in ensuring that a multipolar
economic world takes form.
The geopolitical reordering of the world cannot simply be achieved through
war or challenging the West’s political influence in its various global domains.
The economic component is possibly the most significant of the ongoing tug
of war between Russia and its western detractors.
Prior to the Russia-Ukraine war, any conversation on the need to challenge or
redefine globalization was confined largely to academic circles. The war made
that theoretical conversation a tangible, urgent one. The US, European,
western support for Kyiv has little to do with Ukraine’s sovereignty and
independence and everything to do with the real anxiety that a Russian success
will demolish or, at least, seriously damage, the current version of economic
globalization as envisaged by the US and its allies.
・have little to do with
〜とほとんど関係ない
have everything to do with
〜と大いに関係がある、〔主語を〕〜と切り離す［切り離して考える］ことはできない
envisage
1.〈文〉〔〜と〕予想［予測］する
I don't envisage the economy recovering quickly.
私は景気が急速に回復しないと予想している。
2.〈文〉〔〜を〕心に描く、〔〜を〕想像する
Did you ever envisage that your book might be translated into different languages?
自分の本がいろいろな国の言葉に翻訳されると予想されましたか？
3.〈文〉〔as以下であると〜を〕見なす、考える
発音 envízidʒ インヴィジジ、インヴィズィジ、エンヴィズィジ
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, the world was
no longer a contested space between two military superpowers – NATO vs Warsaw
Pact – and two massive economic camps – US vs USSR. We often speak about the
American invasion of Panama (1989) and war in Iraq (1990), to demarcate the
uncontested American ascendency in global affairs. What we often omit is that
the military and geopolitical component of this war was accompanied by an
economic one.
As Panama and Iraq were meant to demonstrate US military dominance, the
establishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1994-5, was meant to
illustrate Washington’s economic outlook in this new world order.
