I am going to post this bite size rather than whole, as I did Putin's Valdai speech, to render it less daunting and to allow us more time to reflect.
Excerpts. http://www.mid.ru/brp_4.nsf/0/28BF39A9DFD8DDE544257D77005CCE7B
"...the current international situation is defined by the fact that the world is going through a transition period. We are dealing not just with the beginning of another historical stage, but, it would seem, with a change of eras."
...
"...realignment, or, I would even say, the deconcentration of the global balance of forces, is a hallmark of our time. Most clearly, this can be seen in the greater economic power and increasing political clout of the Asia-Pacific Region. These countries have largely assumed the role of a driver of global economic growth, a role which was traditionally performed by the United States,Western Europe and Japan. As we can see, China achieved the greatest success on this path and, according to the latest report issued by the International Monetary Fund, has for the first time become the world’s largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity Based on the findings of the IMF experts, the seven largest so-called “emerging economies,” including our country, outdid the seven industrialized Western countries in terms of combined GDP. That’s a totally new picture of the world that does not fit into the centuries-old notion of Western dominance in the global economy, finance and politics.
"The East wind is prevailing over the West wind." The are good grounds to see that! Russia no longer looks to the West as the way, or as the sole way, of advancing economically, culturally, politically. Look at China! they say. And they are moving east, to a future with a more homogeneous population, a more prideful, nationalistic population, less democratic, more centralized control over that population, and, they hope, more economic growth.
Excerpts. http://www.mid.ru/brp_4.nsf/0/28BF39A9DFD8DDE544257D77005CCE7B
"...the current international situation is defined by the fact that the world is going through a transition period. We are dealing not just with the beginning of another historical stage, but, it would seem, with a change of eras."
...
"...realignment, or, I would even say, the deconcentration of the global balance of forces, is a hallmark of our time. Most clearly, this can be seen in the greater economic power and increasing political clout of the Asia-Pacific Region. These countries have largely assumed the role of a driver of global economic growth, a role which was traditionally performed by the United States,Western Europe and Japan. As we can see, China achieved the greatest success on this path and, according to the latest report issued by the International Monetary Fund, has for the first time become the world’s largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity Based on the findings of the IMF experts, the seven largest so-called “emerging economies,” including our country, outdid the seven industrialized Western countries in terms of combined GDP. That’s a totally new picture of the world that does not fit into the centuries-old notion of Western dominance in the global economy, finance and politics.
"The East wind is prevailing over the West wind." The are good grounds to see that! Russia no longer looks to the West as the way, or as the sole way, of advancing economically, culturally, politically. Look at China! they say. And they are moving east, to a future with a more homogeneous population, a more prideful, nationalistic population, less democratic, more centralized control over that population, and, they hope, more economic growth.
