The head of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) Sergei Naryshkin spoke at the VII Moscow Conference on International Security that was held on April 4-5.
In his speech, Naryshkin described Russia-West relations pessimistically, stating that the U.S. and some European countries cannot stomach a challenge to their influence by other global powers, such as Russia and China.
According to Naryshkin, the U.S. and its allies are trying to stop the objective transformation of the global order with the use of obsolete tools, such as NATO and the EU. He intimated that the West was adopting failed Soviet tactics, as "gripped by the fear of changes", it is ready to surround itself with a new "iron curtain."
Naryshkin accused the West of eroding traditional values (religion, nation, family, and sexual identity), under the pretext of advancing the triumph of freedom. According to Naryshkin, the West's weltanschauung can be compared to George Orwell’s dystopian and anti-Soviet novel 1984, in which "war is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength."
Below are excerpts from Naryshkin's speech:[1]
Sergei Naryshkin (Source: Mil.ru)
'The West Is Clinging To The Past And Is Trying To Rely On Obsolete Tools From The Cold War Period'
"Dear Conference participants, friends and partners,
"Our conference is taking place in the context of an increasingly difficult global situation. One must regrettably note that over the past year, the level of confrontation has grown everywhere, especially in the relations between the NATO countries group and Russia. The recent mass expulsion of Russian diplomats from the U.S. and its satellites in Europe – under an absolutely contrived and orchestrated pretext, in disregard for the norms of the international law – is a sad confirmation of that.
"The current turbulence in international relations owes much to the transitional character of current world order. What is it all about? On the one hand, we are witnessing a general increase in mutual dependency. One can call it objective globalisation. With increasing frequency, economic and political processes are not confined to the borders of individual states or even regions. A single information space is being formed. New and influential centres of power, such as India, Brazil, South Africa and, of course, Russia and China, are emerging on the international arena and becoming stronger.
"But these changes are disagreeable to the Western powers. In fact, the U.S. and some European states have proven to be unready for such changes. They cannot and will not face the truth and accept the inevitable weakening of their own formerly unchallenged influence. They are still trying to build their relations with other countries on the old principles rooted in the colonial system, such as coercion and diktat.
"Instead of looking into the future, the West is clinging to the past and is trying to rely on outomoded tools from the Cold War period. I am talking primarily about the alliance system, about institutions like NATO and the EU, which were indeed effective in promoting Western interests in the past.
"Having turned, in fact, into retrogrades, and being incapable of sorting out the mess in their own house, so to speak, the U.S. and its allies are trying to stop or at least to slow down the objective transformation of the global order. It is no wonder that Russia, which they view as one of the main driving forces of the current changes, has become the primary target of their attacks.
'The West Is Ready To Surround Itself With A New Iron Curtain'
"Countering the non-existent so-called Russian threat has become a true idée fixe in Washington's policy. It has reached such dimensions and acquired such ridiculous features that we can speak of a return to the grim McCarthy years. Seemingly there are no objective reasons for this exacerbation of relations. The Cold War is long over. The ideological standoff between the East and the West has faded away in the context of globalization. Moreover, the world community is now facing completely new challenges, such as international terrorism, ensuring sustainable development and environmental safety. It is possible to respond to these challenges only by joint effort, and it is unthinkable to try and do so without Russia, as well as without China, India, Brazil and other centres of the polycentric world. The West, however, gripped by the fear of changes, is ready to surround itself with a new 'iron curtain.'
"We are genuinely shocked by the level of hypocrisy with which Washington and its satellites accompany this outer projection of American and broadly so-called Western power to the rest of the world. The U.S. is constantly trying to disguise its brutal diktat under the cloak of Euro-Atlantic or international solidarity, to give the American-centric system of inter-state relations, based on coercion and even blackmail, a semblance of voluntariness. An obvious expression of this attitude is the aggressive pressure that, as we know, U.S. and British ambassadors and other officials are putting on their NATO allies, EU countries, as well as Asian and other states as part of the so-called 'Skripal case.'
"To be sure, politics has never been an honest business, but at the moment, the quantity and, what's more, the quality of lies designed to justify the West's hegemonism, are simply unprecedented. In fact, all the values and norms that regulate intergovernmental relations are assigned precisely the opposite meanings. This situation was once described by Orwell, where, I quote, 'War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength'. This is a short step to the witches of Macbeth and their famous 'Fair is foul, and foul is fair.'
'The System Of Vassal Dependence Created By Washington Is Failing Everywhere'
"As a result, we have a paradoxical and quite dangerous situation, when it seems as if we are all speaking one international legal language, to be more exact, using the same words, but in the mouths of Western politicians their meaning changes to the opposite and becomes absurd. Thus, more than once, speeches about human rights and democracy were accompanied by military incursions into sovereign countries. And they were plunged into such bloody chaos that there could be no possible guarantee of a fundamental right to live. Hundreds of thousands of innocent people became victims of NATO's aggression.
"Under the pretext of the triumph of freedom, there is a worldwide forced erosion of traditional values, such as religion, nation, family, and even sexual identity. It has gone as far that the rights of the majority are violated in the so-called democratic countries. The majority cannot defend their rights in the face of aggressive minorities and, in fact, have to apologize for their existence.
"The times of total lawlessness, when side by side with talks about 'peace and security', Serbia was bombed with impunity, Iraq was destroyed, Libya was annihilated, the pro-Western variant of globalization (in essence, neo-colonialism) was imposed on others, are becoming history now. Many realized this back in the time of the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict, but it has become much clearer with the development of the Syrian crisis. In the modern interdependent and really multipolar world, dictatorial pressure on opponents has no chance to succeed.
"We see how the system of 'vassal dependence' created by Washington is failing everywhere. Even the most loyal allies of the U.S. are starting to distance themselves from it: the Europeans, whose wellbeing and security the U.S. unhesitatingly sacrifices time and time again on the altar of its own geopolitical ambitions. Even in the grotesque provocation with the Skripals, clumsily concocted by the U.S. and British special services, a number of European states are not obliviously hastening to follow London and Washington, but prefers to scrutinize what happened.
"Ignoring or unwilling to notice the changing international reality and driven by the chimaeras of the past, the United States is starting to be more and more like the arrogant biblical giant Goliath, who, as we know, was defeated by young David. The world community would do well to study this biblical story better and to return to a healthy dialogue, based not on the selfish aspirations of individual players but on true values and norms shared by all participants.
"It is important to stop the irresponsible game with stakes rising all the time and to refrain from power projection in interstate relations. To stop short of pushing the matter to another Cuban missile crisis, when there are far more pressing tasks facing our countries, such as ensuring prosperity and the truly free development of people. To that end, we need to take the path of strengthening existing global and regional institutions, at the same time improving the array of tools for cooperation between countries so that it would be better suited to the multipolar architecture of the world. We need to restart the system of international legal relations, to make it work. And for that, we need to stop using double standards and to finally start speaking one, truly universal language.
"While it is still not too late."
[1] Mil.ru, April 4, 2018.
