Candour and Prospects at the Close of the Russia–Africa Summit
Abstract
A contemporary commentary on the Russia–Africa summit, African diplomatic agency and the changing international balance of power.
Ideas and society · Full reading edition
An unusually candid intervention
For once, truth came from the mouth of one of Central Africa’s most criticised presidents—the very man who has accustomed us to so many contradictions, particularly between his workers’ party and the champagne flowing freely in his numerous luxury residences in Western capitals.
Nevertheless, for once I appreciated his candour when it was his turn to speak in Saint Petersburg and his blunt accusations. The West, he stated, had done everything in its power to prevent the Russia–Africa summit from succeeding.
African attendance and the changing balance of power
Only two or three African countries, he continued, had stayed away. We would now like to know which ones chose to wear the dunce’s cap of the lackey at a time when relations among nations are changing at supersonic speed and Africa urgently needs to help shift the balance.
Be that as it may, this summit will at least have provided a catharsis for the African countries present. Their leaders—apart from two or three, according to Sassou Nguesso—now know, if they did not already, who their real enemies are.
Russia’s diplomatic demonstration
As for Russia, it has just demonstrated in a thousand vivid colours not only that it is not diplomatically isolated in the world, contrary to Western orthodoxy, but also that it enjoys better prospects than the West in the so-called ‘underdeveloped’ world.
That world possesses several assets that will be decisive for the future: mineral resources, demographics and the greatest development needs.
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