SATISH SHARMA - not just Rotigraphy.: Absolutely scathing article about the West by Kishore Mahbubani:

https://x.com/RSA_Observer/status/2099500862213099637

Chamberlain's Ghost

Absolutely scathing article about the West by Kishore Mahbubani:

"Little do these leaders realize that when they use the word “unprovoked” to describe the war in Ukraine, they are effectively insulting the intelligence of the countries of the Global South, including thoughtful leaders like Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. He captured a more nuanced view on the war in Ukraine when he said, in May 2022, “Putin shouldn’t have invaded Ukraine. But it’s not just Putin who is guilty. The United States and the EU are also guilty. What was the reason for the Ukraine invasion? NATO? Then the United States and Europe should have said: ‘Ukraine won’t join NATO.’ That would have solved the problem.”

This great gap in perceptions between the West and the rest on recent geopolitical developments is both surprising and paradoxical. In theory, our world is shrinking. We have more information available today, even from our cell phones, than at any other time in human history. Yet, when we witness the same recent events, the Western perceptions and those in the rest of the world seem to exist in two different universes. What is even more shocking is that most Western leaders and pundits seem completely unaware that they have lost the support and confidence of the majority of the world’s population. This is why the words of S. Jaishankar, the Indian foreign minister, resonated strongly in the Global South when he said, in June 2022, “Somewhere Europe has to grow out of the mindset that Europe's problems are the world's problems but the world's problems are not Europe's problems.” A year later, in February 2023, the then German Chancellor Olaf Scholz admitted that Jaishankar “has a point.” Referring to the countries of Latin America, Africa and Asia, Scholz further stated, “We have to generally address the interests and concerns of these countries as a basic prerequisite for joint action.”

Despite the growing differences between the United States and Europe, both share a common concern on China and will work in one way or another to isolate and stop China. However, when they do so, they will find that the rest of the world will ignore them and continue engaging with China. Hence, instead of isolating China, the West will be isolating itself from the world.

At the end of the day, the refusal of the West to acknowledge that they have lost the rest represents a massive act of self-deception. The West wants to continue believing that it is still the most virtuous civilization on planet Earth. The longer this self-deception persists, the more the West will be seen as a lonely, narcissistic civilization which is self-absorbed and unaware of how the majority of humanity views them. If this gap between the West and the rest is not addressed effectively and soon, the world will be headed into more troubled waters."

(via @battleforeurope
)