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In 2014, Russia will show itself as global player

The beginning of the new year has been successful for Russia

MOSCOW, January 10. /ITAR-TASS World Service/. The beginning of the new year has been successful for Russia. Many foreign media have published positive comments on its foreign policy, Alexander Rar of the German-Russian Forum wrote in an article published in the Izvestia daily.

“Not only Germans have been expressing dissatisfaction with the European policy,” the author wrote. “The US leading New York Times quite unexpectedly assailed the European Union on Ukraine — why force a wedge between Kiev and Moscow! Moreover, many Western experts have been recognizing that the Russian estimation of the so-called Arab Spring turned out to be more objective and realistic than the romantic illusions of the West about the victory of liberal democracy in the Middle East.”

Along with the continuing criticism of Russia regarding infringement of the rights of sexual minorities and human rights defenders’ activities, certain Western intellectual circles have been giving positive comments on Russia’s “protection” of traditions and the culture of “old Europe.” The West has been following more closely Russia’s continuing conservative revolution, Alexander Rar said.

If the Olympic Games in Sochi — not only in the technical, but also from the cultural and political aspects — are successful, the expert said, Russia will improve and fix a more positive image. Negative association will give way to positive ones.

“The Olympic Games give to Russia a unique chance to show itself as an open, modern, respectable country. And it is worth stressing, soon after the Games are over in Sochi, the G8 summit will be due, and it will feature leaders of the US, Germany, France and other leading countries. And then, Sochi will be once again in the centre of the global politics. Hear arouses once again the common global agenda, which will favor bigger pragmatism and fewer conflicts in the Russia-West relations,” the expert wrote in the article.

Alexander Rar stresses: “Russia in Sochi — both as the host of the Winter Games and as president of G8 — will once again show itself as a global player. Of course, this does not mean Russia should forget about the objectives in the economic modernization and in lowering the excessive dependence on the export of oil and gas. However, the new global status, which Russia has gained, cannot be ignored.

 

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