Russia in Global Affairs

Since about the early 1990s, the situation on the Korean Peninsula has been quite static and stable in its own way despite periodic mini-crises. A lonely but unbroken North Korea stands up against the South Korean-U.S. alliance, playing diplomatic overtures in between crises and skillfully using contradictions between other actors in Northeast Asia.

However, the balance of power on the peninsula and the international system as a whole has changed enough to date to transform the mode of confrontation between the two Koreas. Although North Korea has nuclear weapons, the military balance on and around the peninsula is not developing to Pyongyang’s advantage.

This puts North Korea’s security at risk, especially due to the unpredictability of Seoul’s future policy.

In terms of Kenneth Waltz’s structural realism, North Korea’s ability to balance mounting strategic risks internally by mobilizing its own resources is extremely limited. This leaves the option of external balancing through alliances with strong military powers, writes Artyom Lukin.

https://eng.globalaffairs.ru/articles/north-korea-end-of-seclusion/

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Russia’s trajectory towards establishing a BRICS plus Africa Energy Order underlines its strategic pivot towards the development of a new global energy order, mainly by encompassing the fast-developing and developing nations worldwide, writes Dr. Hriday Ch. Sarma.

https://eng.globalaffairs.ru/articles/new-energy-world-order/

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The return of great power rivalries revives the almost forgotten practice of defensive alliances. As Russia adheres to the vision of a multipolar world, it should not abandon the crucial tool for managing security threats in this sort of international system.

Relying too much on the fear of a nuclear Armageddon leaves Russian strategy with little flexibility. A military alliance with China along with a network of behind-the-scenes countersanction coalitions would provide more room for maneuver in various scenarios of its confrontation with the West, Igor Istomin writes.

https://eng.globalaffairs.ru/articles/as-a-man-is-so-is-his-company/

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Geopolitics in the EU symbolizes a shift towards conflicts in the world and stricter physical and value boundaries between Europe and the others.

Both Russia and the EU similarly use of the word ‘geopolitics’ to describe the current critical moment and get a similar picture. But in doing so both sides perceive each other as a threat and a source of tensions, which shows that Russia and the EU are close in using the realist language, writes Tatiana Romanova.

https://eng.globalaffairs.ru/articles/in-different-languages-2-0/

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Strictly speaking, in its academic version, the theory that world politics is centered around the ‘poles’ does not imply any democracy.

It rather implies the physical number of relatively autonomous countries-dictators that extend their dominance to significant groups of middle and small powers, writes Timofei Bordachev in his article “In Chase of Vanishing Poles: Gaps in Conceptualization of International Politics” for Russia in Global Affairs magazine.

https://eng.globalaffairs.ru/articles/in-chase-of-vanishing-poles/

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The threat of a direct military clash between great powers and nuclear war will persist and, perhaps, become even more acute than during the Cold War.

The key goal of diplomacy in this new world will be to develop a toolkit that will make it possible to endure decades of turbulence without nuclear bombardment, write Vassily Kashin and Andrei Sushentsov.

https://eng.globalaffairs.ru/articles/warfare-in-a-new-epoch/

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No traditional realism struggles to make sense of contemporary events, trends and processes.

In the current iteration of the unipolar order, there is a heavy reliance on the use and role of emotions and ideology in their geopolitical agenda over the role and use of rational logic and pragmatism.

The West has become increasingly intolerant to competing ideational constructs, retaining its deeply messianic tendencies that were verbalised by Fukuyama and other Western philosophical thinking based upon Western exceptionalism and the inevitability of an absolute global hegemony where one ‘should’ do as the US says rather than do what it does, writes Greg Simons.

https://eng.globalaffairs.ru/articles/front-and-proxy-media/

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Dialogue with NATO as an organization is meaningless for Russia. However, Moscow should not dismiss the opportunity to talk and interact with NATO countries, primarily the United States, but also Turkey, Hungary, Finland, France, and Germany.

Currently, this is necessary in order to at least reduce escalation risks and prevent incidents, writes Prokhor Tebin.

https://eng.globalaffairs.ru/articles/thunder-in-the-west/

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🌐 International relations theory is now helpless without sociological perspective. There’s no chance to predict the state of the “grand chessboard” without understanding public sentiments in each square, writes Fyodor Lukyanov, Editor-in-Chief of Russia in Global Affairs magazine.

https://eng.globalaffairs.ru/articles/legitimacy-uncertainty/

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