After nearly 70 years of relative peace, the West has begun to “forget its own history,” mistakenly believing that peace will last forever, despite the world now facing multiple overlapping crises. To prevent these crises from escalating into a new world war, Russia “has reinstalled the nuclear fuze into the world system,” Sergey Karaganov, a Russian political scientist and economist and scientific director of the Faculty of World Economy and International Politics at the HSE University, told Sputnik Africa.
“We all should remember that Europe has been the epithet and the source of the worst in world history: colonialism and two world wars in one generation. [...] In most circumstances [...] they choose the worst, not the best. They're running like amok and into an abyss; we have to stop them on their way. And that is what Russia is doing,” the scientist said.
As Karaganov explained, the nuclear fuze worked for about 60 years, but now the fear of nuclear weapons or war has diminished, especially in the West. Therefore, Russia needs to “reinstall that fear.”
Furthermore, Russia has to “end the desperate contra-attack of the West in Ukraine,” according to the speaker.
“They are [the West] desperate trying to undermine Russia, to push it out of the game. And in order to prevent that, we have to also rely more on nuclear weapons, hopefully without using them, because now, in Ukraine, the fight is between Russia and the West. It's not between Russia and Ukraine. Ukraine is a puppet [...],” Karaganov noted
Moreover, during the special military operation, Russia is fighting not only for its sovereignty and security but also “for the freedom of choice for all countries previously suppressed, including in Africa,” he added.
However, the world is not black and white, and with crises come new opportunities. According to Karaganov, the world has become freer in terms of culture, politics, and economics. Africa should also take advantage of these new trends.
"They [Africans] have to unite one way or another, without losing their sovereignty and independence, of course, because a united African voice is much better heard than [it would otherwise be]. [...] They [also] have to reinvent themselves and [stop] looking at themselves [through] the Western eyes, [just] as Russia [doesn't]," Karaganov concluded.