RTFri, 27 Sep 2019 20:50 UTC
© REUTERS/Brendan McDermidRussian FM Sergey Lavrov at the United Nations
The West ignores reality by trying to prevent the formation of a multi-polar world by imposing its narrow "liberal" rules on others, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has told the UN General Assembly.
Lavrov's speech on Friday at the UN headquarters in New York focused on global challenges but,
unlike some of the speakers, he didn't mince words, proceeding into a full-on rebuke of the Western ideal of world order.
"It's hard for the West to accept that its centuries-long domination is diminishing." New centers of economic growth and political influence are emerging internationally, he said, but the US and its allies are trying to impede the rise of the multi-polar world.
In order to achieve this,
they "impose the standards of conduct based on narrow Western interpretation of liberalism on others. In short, 'We're liberals hence anything is permitted to us'" was how he characterized this attitude.
"The West has been increasingly forgetting about international law and more often dwell on rules-based order."As opposed to this counterproductive approach, lasting solutions to global challenges should be founded
"on the basis of the UN Charter, through the balance of interests of all states," the Russian FM recommended.
Comment: From
Sputnik, 27/9/2019: Moscow urges dialog for resolution of 'artificially fueled' tensions in Persian Gulf
Russian FM Sergey Lavrov:
Solution to tensions in the Persian Gulf
"Tensions in the Persian Gulf are fueled artificially. We call for overcoming existing differences through dialogue, without unfounded accusations. Our contribution is the revised Russian concept of collective security in the region presented this summer."
Collective Security Concept for the Persian Gulf Region
"We feel an interest in our initiative but not yet from all the players involved. I hope that this sad episode will encourage our colleagues to be more attentive to the Russian initiative. We must act systematically and create a comprehensive framework in which it will be easier to negotiate."
"It consists of fairly simple things. All Gulf countries and their partners in the region and beyond should sit down at the negotiating table and start relieving tension through very simple steps — peace and confidence, transparency, inviting each other's armed forces to various events and developing other steps that will help strengthen understanding of what needs to be talked about."
Strategic Offensive Arms Treaty
"President Putin announced a decision not to deploy medium- and shorter-range ground-based missiles in Europe or other regions, if and while the Americans refrain from doing this. We urged the United States and NATO to join such a moratorium. We have also repeatedly proposed to Washington to begin negotiations on extending the START treaty. Russia and China are in favor of agreeing a legally binding document on the prevention of an arms race in outer space. But the reaction of the United States and its allies has not been encouraging so far."
Arms Control System
"I would like to announce today that at the current session of the General Assembly we are submitting a draft resolution on strengthening and developing the system of agreements on arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation. I invite everyone to join constructive talks. The approval of the resolution would be an important contribution to creating conditions for successful holding of a fresh review conference on the implementation of the NPT next year".
Russian Defence Capability
"Russia will continue to work persistently in order to strengthen universal security. In this area, we are acting with utmost responsibility, exercising restraint in enhancing our defence capability, obviously not at the expense of effectively ensuring our national security and with full compliance with international law."
From
The Saker, 27/9/2019: Russian Federation: minister for Foreign Affairs addresses General Debate, 74th Session
There is not a single example to prove the opposite. People are not capable of governing others. They are only capable of destroying. And materialism—naked and cynical—is going to complete the destruction.
Despite the fact that God lives in every soul, that every soul has the capacity to accumulate what is eternal and good, as a mass people can do nothing but destroy. For they have come together not in the name of an ideal, but simply for the sake of a material notion.
Mankind has hurried to protect the body (perhaps on the strength of that natural and unconscious gesture which served as the beginning of what is called progress) and has given no thought to protecting the soul.
The church (as opposed to religion) has not been able to do so. In the course of the history of civilization, the spiritual half of man has been separated further and further from the animal, the material, and now in an infinite expanse of darkness we can just make out, like the lights of a departing train, the other half of our being as it rushes away, irrevocably and for ever.
Spirit and flesh, feeling and reason can never again be made one. It's too late. For the moment we are crippled by the appalling disease of spiritual deficiency; and the disease is fatal. Mankind has done everything possible to annihilate itself, starting with its own moral annihilation—physical death is merely the result.
Everyone can be saved only if each saves himself."
Andrei Tarkovsky,