The double standard in Western politics
On Saturday, March 21st Garry Kasparov visits Tilburg University. On invitation of Nexus Institute the former world chess champion will debate with the attending public about the political situation in Russia. As is known, Kasparov is a fierce opponent of Vladimir Putin. Preceding Kasparov’s visit universonline.nl publishes a number of blogs. Both students and professors will have their say on a complex matter of present interest: ‘Putin’s Russia’. The third blog is by Vera Ande, a 2nd year Liberal Arts and Sciences student born in Russia. Her master perspective is Russian and Eurasian studies.
Lately Russia has been on the news and is usually perceived and represented by the Western media as an aggressor in most geopolitical issues taking place along its borders. Vladimir Putin is considered a dictator and an oppressor of the Russian ‘never established-democracy’. The current military campaign in Ukraine with the Russian government supporting the DPR/LPR, the recent annexation of the Crimean Peninsula and a followed bunch of economic sanctions from both Russian and Western side has even more spoiled already rotten and unstable relations with the West.
Michail Gorbachev, and later Boris Yeltsin did persuade the path of establishing good relations with the West in the 1990s, so far the most difficult decade in the history of modern Russia. When it was clear that Russia was in deep crisis and the times were good for change, the Western countries reacted quickly enough by sending financial, economic and political policy advisors to Moscow in order to make a friendly and democratic regime out of the ruins of the ex-Soviet Union. But does anybody know that the first democratic elections held with the support of the West were actually corrupted? That there was a huge investment made and many other manipulations took place to ensure Yeltsin’s victory? I believe that by doing this, the West has not only contradicted itself and its values but also put an end to democracy in Russia which − later on − resulted in such a political leader as Vladimir Putin. This double standard in Western politics should ring a bell and remind us that nothing should be viewed one-sided. There are no effects without causes.
The West often notices a speck in somebody else’s eye and not sees the plank in its own
Since he came power in 2000, Vladimir Putin has shown the world two different faces. The war on terror after the 9/11-attack brought the West and Russia together and it seemed that both parties would further cooperate. However: in 2006 Sergey Lavrov, the minister of Foreign Affairs, announced that Russia should develop apart from the West due to Russian uniqueness in customs and values. Not the West should teach Russia how to live, but the other way around. What has served a reason for such a change in the foreign policy of the Russian Federation is still a subject for open discussion. Nevertheless, it is highly important to understand that politics is a competitive entity and all countries will always act in their best interests. The West often notices a speck in somebody else’s eye and not sees the plank in its own. Clearly, there’s a need for better research and understanding instead of following the news blindly.
Written by Vera Ande
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