Strengthening of the CSTO influence in Eurasia may be radically perceived by the collective West, which will entail a new round of sanctions, says political scientist Alexander Rahr
“The collective West sees itself as stronger than Russia – in economic, financial, “civilisational” and military terms – and naively believes that it has the tools to “conquer” Russia, for example by cutting Russia off from the SWIFT system. That Russia is capable of launching a similar sanctions strike against the West itself is not seen in Europe or the US, an atomic war is ruled out by analysts,” the expert noted in his Telegram channel.
According to Rahr, the West also cannot ignore the recent changes, in particular, the strengthening of the influence of the CSTO in Eurasia. The alliance has emerged as a capable military bloc in suppressing an insurgency in Kazakhstan, with verbal support from China, the political analyst stressed.
“It is possible that the West will perceive the CSTO as a new enemy […] New sanctions will come. The West will reject the narrative of an attempt at forceful ‘regime change’ in Kazakhstan and will insist on its vision that the aggrieved people have rightly rebelled against the oppression of the Kazakh authorities, as in Georgia and Ukraine in their time,” the expert noted.
According to him, Western media are trying to form such a picture of what is happening, but in reality, in Russia and Western countries, “the right processes are going on to reassess the current senseless ideological confrontation”. The West is weakening, there are growing crises ahead, common global challenges require common responses, Rahr concluded.