‘Judging Freedom,’ 24 October:  Putin, Xi and BRICS

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The BRICS Summit in Kazan is now past mid-point, and the subject took at least a third of our time on air today, although what there was to discuss came mainly from the several speeches made by President Putin before the Summit began, at the start of his one-on-one talks with Indian Prime Minister Modi, with Chinese President Xi on Tuesday, and at the opening of the ‘Extended BRICS’ gala dinner last night. The actual meetings of the Summit were behind closed doors. Accordingly, the event gathered only limited coverage even on Russian television.  Nonetheless, from what was released thus far, we have learned a great deal about how BRICS will grow, in what directions it sees its major work to come and how it will indeed change the global economy and finance from the present US domination to something far more equitable for the rest of the world. I was given ample opportunity in this interview to discuss the foregoing.

At the same time, we also addressed the questions of Russia’s hard to understand positions with respect to defending Syria and what, if anything, Russia is doing to arm the Axis of Resistance forces in Yemen and Lebanon, as well as to arm Iran.  As a separate issue, we spoke about the likely presence of North Korean elite infantry in Russia, what is the purpose of it and what implications the North Korean assistance to Russia are with respect to eventual Russian armed assistance to North Korea should war break out with Seoul.

I also was given the chance to delve into the fast evolving changes in mainstream coverage of Russia and the war, most notably by looking at The Financial Times and their feature article written by the once upon a time Soros protégé Ivan Krastev.

In short there was a lot on our plate that readers – viewers may find interesting.

See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDUpT9xtIN8

Translation into German (Andreas Mylaeus)

„Judging Freedom“, 24. Oktober: Putin, Xi und BRICS

Der BRICS-Gipfel in Kasan ist nun zur Hälfte vorbei, und das Thema nahm heute mindestens ein Drittel unserer Sendezeit in Anspruch, obwohl das, worüber es zu diskutieren gab, hauptsächlich aus den verschiedenen Reden von Präsident Putin vor Beginn des Gipfels, zu Beginn seiner Einzelgespräche mit dem indischen Premierminister Modi, mit dem chinesischen Präsidenten Xi am Dienstag und bei der Eröffnung des „Extended BRICS“-Galadinners gestern Abend stammte. Die eigentlichen Gipfeltreffen fanden hinter verschlossenen Türen statt. Dementsprechend wurde über die Veranstaltung selbst im russischen Fernsehen nur begrenzt berichtet. Dennoch haben wir aus den bisher veröffentlichten Informationen viel darüber erfahren, wie die BRICS wachsen wird, in welche Richtungen sie ihre Hauptarbeit sieht und wie sie die Weltwirtschaft und -finanzen tatsächlich von der gegenwärtigen US-Vorherrschaft zu etwas weitaus Gerechterem für den Rest der Welt verändern wird. In diesem Interview hatte ich reichlich Gelegenheit, das Vorstehende zu erörtern.

Gleichzeitig sprachen wir auch über die schwer verständlichen Positionen Russlands in Bezug auf die Verteidigung Syriens und darüber, ob und was Russland unternimmt, um die Streitkräfte der Achse des Widerstands im Jemen und im Libanon sowie den Iran zu bewaffnen. Als gesondertes Thema sprachen wir über die wahrscheinliche Anwesenheit nordkoreanischer Eliteinfanterie in Russland, was der Zweck davon ist und welche Auswirkungen die nordkoreanische Unterstützung für Russland im Hinblick auf eine eventuelle russische Waffenhilfe für Nordkorea hat, sollte es zu einem Krieg mit Seoul kommen.

Ich hatte auch die Gelegenheit, mich mit den sich schnell entwickelnden Veränderungen in der Berichterstattung über Russland und den Krieg zu befassen, insbesondere mit einem Artikel in The Financial Times, der von dem ehemaligen Soros-Schützling Ivan Krastev verfasst wurde.

Kurz gesagt, es gab viel, was für Leser und Zuschauer interessant sein könnte.

Siehe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDUpT9xtIN8

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Published by gilbertdoctorow

Gilbert Doctorow's latest book, "War Diaries. The Russia-Ukraine War, 2022-2023" is a unique contribution to literature on the war thanks to the author's reports on the Russian home front written during his periodic visits to St Petersburg at a time when Russia no longer issued visas and nearly all Western journalists had left the country. Doctorow's two-volume "Memoirs of a Russianist" published in 2020 also constitutes a category of its own, consisting largely of diary entries rather than reminiscences written decades later.. Volume 2 focuses on the community of 50,000 expatriate managers working and living in Moscow during the 1990s, about which none of his peers has yet to write. Gilbert Doctorow is a professional Russia watcher and actor in Russian affairs going back to 1965. He is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College (1967), a past Fulbright scholar, and holder of a Ph.D. with honors in history from Columbia University (1975). After completing his studies, Mr. Doctorow pursued a business career focused on the USSR and Eastern Europe. For twenty-five years he worked for US and European multinationals in marketing and general management with regional responsibility. From 1998-2002, Doctorow served as the Chairman of the Russian Booker Literary Prize in Moscow. During the 2010-2011 academic year, he was a Visiting scholar of the Harriman Institute, Columbia University. Mr. Doctorow is a long-time resident of Brussels.

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2 thoughts on “‘Judging Freedom,’ 24 October:  Putin, Xi and BRICS”

  1. Anent Syria, I don’t see RF’s strategy there being unfathomable. Mind, I don’t insist that my interpretation is correct, but plausible. And a plausible account may be preferable to remaining perplexed.

    Russian military thinking can be likened to a field of applied mathematics and is inherently conservative. Russia does not thoughtlessly place itself in unwinnable or long-odds situations. For as long as Turkey cannot be trusted, RF cannot guarantee solid logistics for its forces in Russia to perform a larger role. Russia has two bases–with Turkey to the North, the US to the East and Israel to the South. It will be more sustainable for Russia to assist Iran (through which it does have solid logistics over the Caspian) than to expand its role in Syria.

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    1. “Anent”! I’d be fascinated to know when, how etc. you learned that word. I have heard it once in my life.

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