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2022-03-26

Russia and China square up to Klaus Schwab and NATO - will NATO blink?

With Biden at the helm, all bets are off.

Restricted Republic bring together the salient developments.

(23 minutes)

 

 

The Joint Statement of the Russian Federation and the PRC:

"Today, the world is going through momentous changes, and humanity is entering a new era of rapid development and profound transformation. It sees the development of such processes and phenomena as multipolarity, economic globalization, the advent of information society, cultural diversity, transformation of the global governance architecture and world order"

" ...the international community is showing a growing demand for the leadership aiming at peaceful and gradual development"

"Some actors representing but the minority on the international scale continue to advocate unilateral approaches to addressing international issues and resort to force; they interfere in the internal affairs of other states, infringing their legitimate rights and interests, and incite contradictions, differences and confrontation, thus hampering the development and progress of mankind ... "

(Statement dated 4 February, 20 days before Russia invaded the Ukraine ... pot calling the kettle black?!)

"The sides call on all States to pursue well-being for all and, with these ends, to build dialogue and mutual trust, strengthen mutual understanding, champion such universal human values as peace, development, equality, justice, democracy and freedom, respect the rights of peoples to independently determine the development paths of their countries and the sovereignty and the security and development interests of States, to protect the United Nations-driven international architecture and the international law-based world order, seek genuine multipolarity with the United Nations and its Security Council playing a central and coordinating role, promote more democratic international relations, and ensure peace, stability and sustainable development across the world"

Whilst many in present-day politics adopt the Humpty-Dumpty view that words mean whatever they want them to mean, it can be difficult to decipher the real meaning behind statements such as this, but they go on:

"The sides share the understanding that democracy is a universal human value, rather than a privilege of a limited number of States, and that its promotion and protection is a common responsibility of the entire world community"

"There is no one-size-fits-all template to guide countries in establishing democracy. A nation can choose such forms and methods of implementing democracy that would best suit its particular state, based on its social and political system, its historical background, traditions and unique cultural characteristics. It is only up to the people of the country to decide whether their State is a democratic one"

Bearing in mind that the word "democracy" doesn't feature prominently (or at all?) on the WEF web-site, can we perhaps begin to see where this joint statement may be leading?

Whatever your view of the current state of democracy in China and Russia (and the UK  and USA for that matter), this Joint Statement at least indicates a different direction to that espoused by Klaus and the WEF-UN strategic partnership.