Overview of the Russian disinformation narratives
The Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov, published an article “The Law, the Rights and the Rules”, on 28 June 28 2021. Although it is recommendable to read the full text, Within its project Think Tank Detektor, CEA provides an overview of Lavrov’s original statements. While the statements clearly manifest the anti-Western approach towards the international relations, particular statements can be characterized as classical anti-liberal narratives, even with elements of blurring disinformation, which are already used by right wing and left wing populists in their seductive attacks on the liberal democratic values and institutions.
Highlights from the article:
. The beauty of these Western “rules” lies precisely in the fact that they LACK ANY SPECIFIC content.. The less specific they get, the freer their hand to carry on with the ARBITRARY PRACTICE of employing DIRTY TACTICS as a way to PRESSURE COMPETITORS..
. The adherence to liberal values as the humanity’s guiding star provides an IDEOLOGICAL UNDERPINNING for the reunification of the “Western family.” Without any false modesty, Washington and Brussels called themselves “an anchor for democracy, peace and security,” as opposed to “authoritarianism in all its forms.”
. The revitalised Anglo-American Atlantic Charter approved by Joseph Biden and Boris Johnson on June 10, 2021 on the sidelines of the G7 Summit is also WORTH NOTING.. the New Atlantic Charter has been designed as a starting point for building a NEW WORLD ORDER, but guided solely by Western “rules.” Its provisions are IDEOLOGICALLY TAINTED. They seek to widen the gap between the SO-CALLED LIBERAL DEMOCRACIES and all other nations, as well as legitimise the rules-based order.
. Labelled as “authoritarian powers,” Russia and China have been designated as the main obstacles to delivering on the agenda set out at the June summits.. This is the way they treat Moscow’s policy aimed at COUNTERING ULTRA-RADICAL and NEO-NAZI ASPIRATIONS in its immediate neighbourhood, where the rights of Russians, as well as other ethnic minorities, are being SUPPRESSED, and the Russian language, education and culture ROOTED OUT.
. While proclaiming the “right” to interfere in the domestic affairs of other countries for the sake of promoting democracy AS IT UNDERSTANDS IT, the West instantly LOSES ALL INTEREST when we raise the prospect of making international relations more democratic, including renouncing ARROGANT BEHAVIOUR and committing to abide by the universally recognised tenets of international law instead of “rules.” By expanding sanctions and other illegitimate coercive measures against sovereign states, the West PROMOTES TOTALITARIAN RULE in global affairs, assuming an IMPERIAL, NEO-COLONIAL STANCE in its relations with third countries.
. CLEARHEADED politicians in Europe and America realise that this uncompromising policy leads nowhere, and are beginning to think pragmatically, albeit out of public view, recognising that the world has more than just one civilisation. They are beginning to recognise that Russia, China and other major powers have a history that dates back a thousand years, and have their own traditions, values and way of life. Attempts to decide whose values are better, and whose are worse, seem pointless. Instead, the West must simply recognise that there are OTHER WAYS to govern that may be different from the Western approaches, and accept and respect this as a given. No country is immune to human rights issues, so why all this high-browed hubris?
. International relations are going through fundamental shifts that affect everyone without exception. Trying to predict where it will take us is impossible. Still, there is a question: MESSIANIC ASPIRATIONS apart, what is the most effective form of government for coping with and removing threats that transcend borders and affect all people, no matter where they live?
. Taken as a whole, the historical West dominated the world for five hundred years. However, there is no doubt that it now sees that this era is COMING TO A CLOSE, while clinging to the status it used to enjoy, and putting artificial brakes on the objective process consisting in the emergence of a polycentric world.
. By imposing the concept of a rules-based order, the West seeks to shift the conversation on key issues to the platforms of its liking, where NO DISSIDENT VOICES can be heard.
. Efforts to replace international law by Western “rules” include an immanently dangerous policy of REVISING the history and outcomes of the Second World War and the Nuremberg trials verdicts as the foundation of today’s world order. The West refuses to support a Russia-sponsored UN resolution proclaiming that glorifying Nazism is unacceptable, and rejects our proposals to discuss the demolition of monuments to those who liberated Europe..
. The rules-based order is the embodiment of DOUBLE STANDARDS. The right to self-determination is recognised as an absolute “rule” whenever it can be used to an advantage. This applies to the Malvinas Islands, or the Falklands, some 12,000 kilometres from Great Britain, to the remote former colonial territories Paris and London retain despite multiple UN resolutions and rulings by the International Court of Justice, as well as Kosovo, which obtained its “INDEPENDENCE” in violation of a UN Security Council resolution. However, if self-determination runs counter to the Western geopolitical interests, as it happened when the people of Crimea voted for reunification with Russia, this principle is cast aside, while condemning the FREE CHOICE made by the people and punishing them with sanctions.
. Apart from encroaching on international law, the “rules” concept also manifests itself in attempts to encroach on the very human nature. In a number of Western countries, students learn at school that Jesus Christ was bisexual. Attempts by reasonable politicians to shield the younger generation from AGGRESSIVE LGBT PROPAGANDA are met with bellicose protests from the “ENLIGHTENED Europe.” All world religions, the genetic code of the planet’s key civilisations, are UNDER ATTACK. The United States is at the forefront of STATE INTERFERENCE IN CHURCH AFFAIRS, openly seeking to drive a wedge into the Orthodox world, whose values are viewed as a powerful spiritual obstacle for the liberal concept of BOUNDLESS PERMISSIVENESS.
. Still, it was also the West that coined the “liberty, equality, fraternity” motto. I do not know whether the term “fraternity” is politically correct in today’s Europe from a “gender perspective,” but there were no attempts to encroach on equality so far. As mentioned above, while preaching equality and democracy in their countries and demanding that other follow its lead, the West REFUSES TO DISCUSS ways to ensure equality and democracy in international affairs.
. This approach is clearly at odds with the ideals of freedom. The veil of its superiority conceals weakness and the fear of engaging in a frank conversation not only with yes-men and those eager to fall in line, but also with opponents with different beliefs and values, not neo-liberal or neo-conservative ones, but those learned at mother’s knee, inherited from many past generations, traditions and beliefs.
. This immutable truth struggles to make it through to the Western ELITES, consumed as they are with the EXCEPTIONALISM COMPLEX.
. Moreover, it is an aggressive RUSSOPHOBIC MINORITY that increasingly sets the EU’s policy, as confirmed by the EU Summit in Brussels on June 24 and 25, 2021, where the future of relations with Russia was on the agenda. The idea voiced by Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron to hold a meeting with Vladimir Putin was killed before it saw the light of day. Observers noted that the Russia-US Summit in Geneva was tantamount to a go-ahead by the United States to have this meeting, but the Baltic states, siding with Poland, cut short this “uncoordinated” attempt by Berlin and Paris, while the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry summoned the German and French ambassadors to explain their governments’ actions. What came out of the debates at the Brussels summit was an instruction to the European Commission and the European Union External Action Service to devise new sanctions against Moscow without referring to any specific “sins,” just in case. No doubt they will come up with SOMETHING, should the need arise.
. Neither NATO, nor the EU intend to divert from their policy of subjugating other regions of the world, proclaiming a self-designated GLOBAL MESSIANIC MISSION.. This is what the Eastern Partnership, as well as a recent programme approved by Brussels for Central Asia, are all about.
. With its contemptuous attitude towards other members of the international community, the West finds itself on the WRONG SIDE OF HISTORY. Serious, self-respecting countries will never tolerate attempts to talk to them through ULTIMATUMS and will discuss any issues only on an equal footing.
. As for Russia, it is high time that everyone understands that we have drawn a definitive line under any attempts to play a ONE-WAY GAME with us. All the MANTRAS we hear from the Western capitals on their readiness to put their relations with Moscow back on track, as long as it REPENTS and changes its tack, are meaningless.
