I will first quote a passage from President Putin’s speech, which I translated into Arabic in my book “The East Through Western Eyes and Other Issues,” published by Al-Sa’ihi Editions. Here is the passage:
“We are witnessing a distorted and unchecked use of military force in international affairs, which has plunged the world into a sea of successive conflicts. And what has resulted from all this? We have not been able to resolve a single conflict entirely, and thus a political solution becomes impossible.”
This passage is taken from President Putin’s address delivered at the Security Conference on 10 February 2007.
We can therefore discern the wisdom of Vladimir Putin at that time—a wisdom that has completely evaporated over the past two decades as he entangled his army in Ukraine, the Sahel, and other regions, as though he were following in the footsteps of an overbearing America that intervenes randomly according to its narrow calculations, from Venezuela to Gaza.
Russia’s role has become suspicious. Why was the Wagner Corps created, only for Putin to dispose of it later? And why must Russian forces leave their own geographic sphere to penetrate African countries with which Russia has had no historical ties? And does it make sense to compete with Ukraine beyond both countries’ borders? Is it logical to commit the very actions we condemn in our rivals and enemies ?
Like the West, the Russians move according to strategic plans and maps they draw up, turning the world into a chessboard where each side moves its pieces—while the oppressed peoples are the ones who pay the price.
Moreover, denouncing France’s past domination of the Sahel does not absolve the Russians from playing the same role. How does the Kremlin define its mission? And what does it understand from its insistence on military and security cooperation with distant countries that neither threaten its existence nor serve its confrontation with its traditional adversaries in the West ?
What has Putin gained from militarizing Russia’s presence abroad instead of betting on economic cooperation as China does? What has he gained from his current offensive strategy amid domestic unease caused by the high cost of the Ukraine war and Russia’s aggressive policies? And has he guaranteed success in the rounds—current and future—with his competitors and adversaries ?
It is worth noting that Washington today does not view Russia as an enemy; it has effectively neutralized it through Trump’s soft approach, and its primary concern is containing China. As for Europe, neither Washington, nor Moscow, nor Beijing pays it any real attention. So why, then, this aggressive strategy from Russia ?
