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Written by Ben Norton. Originally published by Geopolitical Economy Report
The foreign ministers of the United States, Germany, and Ukraine have told the world “you can’t be neutral” in NATO’s proxy war with Russia, recalling President George W. Bush’s infamous declaration, “You are either with us, or against us”.
In doing so, these Western officials are implicitly criticizing the vast majority of the countries on Earth, which are in the Global South, and which have maintained strict neutrality over the war.
In a joint event at the Munich Security Conference on February 18, Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock declared,
“Neutrality is not an option, because then you are standing on the side of the aggressor”.
Baerbock emphasized that
“this is a plea we are also giving next week to the world again: Please take a side, a side for peace, a side for Ukraine, a side for the humanitarian international law, and these times this means also delivering ammunition so Ukraine can defend itself”.
The German foreign minister’s comments were echoed by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
“As Annalena [Baerbock] said, there is no neutral position… There is no balance”, Blinken said, stressing, “You really can’t be neutral”.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba praised the West for “stand[ing] for principles and rules”, while implying that the Global South is barbaric and lawless.
“We see an unprecedented unity of one part of the world that stands for principles and rules this world is based on, but we also see other parts of the world, some are neutral, which means effectively the support of Russia”, Kuleba said with disgust.
Baerbock had previously made it clear that the West is waging war on Russia, declaring at the Council of Europe in January, “We are fighting a war against Russia”.
The tone and context of the comments made by top Western officials at the Munich Security Conference on February 18 made it clear that they are angry with the Global South for refusing to join their proxy war.
The foreign ministers of the US, Germany, and Ukraine told the world, “Neutrality is not an option” in the West’s proxy war against Russia.
They were implicitly criticizing the Global South, which is neutral, and represents 6+ billion people.
Full video: https://t.co/99Q5Y6GM66 pic.twitter.com/gBSQm3CsLd
— Ben Norton (@BenjaminNorton) February 20, 2023
Vast majority of world population, located in Global South, is neutral in Ukraine proxy war
A day before this discussion at the Munich Security Conference, French state media outlet France 24 published an article complaining that, “Over the past year, most Global South countries adopted a position of studied neutrality on the war in Ukraine”.
In a deeply arrogant voice, the French state media outlet wrote dismissively that “what binds this diverse group [in the Global South] together is the quest for a ‘multipolar’ world order stacked against the ‘unipolar hegemony’ of the West”. It added smugly that this “also happens to be Russia’s favourite talking point”.
This condescending talking point has been a consistent refrain coming from Western governments and media outlets, criticizing the Global South for not taking NATO’s side.
The global population is roughly 8 billion people, and more than 6 billion live in countries that have been neutral in the Ukraine proxy war.
These include the world’s most populous countries, such as:
- China (1.41 billion people)
- India (1.38 billion people)
- Indonesia (276 million people)
- Pakistan (236 million people)
- Nigeria (219 million people)
- Brazil (216 million people)
- Bangladesh (170 million people)
- Mexico (129 million people)
- Ethiopia (105 million people)
- Egypt (104 million people)
- Vietnam (99 million people)
- Türkiye (85 million people)
- Thailand (67 million people)
- Tanzania (62 million people)
- South Africa (61 million people)
- Kenya (48 million people)
- Argentina (46 million people)
- Algeria (45 million people)
- Sudan (45 million people)
- Uganda (43 million people)
- Iraq (42 million people)
- Morocco (37 million people)
- Uzbekistan (36 million people)
- Saudi Arabia (34 million people)
As Geopolitical Economy previously reported, two former US diplomats published an article in Newsweek in September admitting, “Nearly 90 Percent of the World Isn’t Following Us on Ukraine”. They wrote:
While the United States and its closest allies in Europe and Asia have imposed tough economic sanctions on Moscow, 87 percent of the world’s population has declined to follow us. Economic sanctions have united our adversaries in shared resistance.
Less predictably, the outbreak of Cold War II has also led countries that were once partners or non-aligned to become increasingly multi-aligned.
This global divergence is especially clear when one looks at a map of which countries have imposed sanctions on Russia.
These nations only represent a bit over 1 billion people: the United States, Canada, Britain, European Union, Australia, South Korea, and Japan (the last two of which have been militarily occupied by the US for decades).
Russia commonly refers to this bloc as the “collective West”, and their comparatively wealth population as the “golden billion” that has benefited from the economic exploitation inherent in the imperialist world-system.
The countries in yellow have sanctioned Russia. The countries in gray have not sanctioned Russia. pic.twitter.com/0md8fPxOoB
— Ollie Vargas (@OllieVargas79) March 25, 2022
Geopolitical Economy previously cited an article published in March 2022 by British newspaper The Guardian, titled “Cold war echoes as African leaders resist criticising Putin’s war”, which lamented that “Many remember Moscow’s support for liberation from colonial rule, and a strong anti-imperialist feeling remains”.
The publication noted with anger that most African nations were “calling for peace but blaming Nato’s eastward expansion for the war, complaining of western ‘double standards’ and resisting all calls to criticise Russia”.
Today, almost all African countries are members of the Non-Aligned Movement, and are decidedly neutral.
Western attacks on the Non-Aligned Movement
This Western narrative that Global South countries are not actually neutral goes back to the First Cold War.
In 1961, leftist leaders of India, Ghana, Egypt, Indonesia, and Yugoslavia formed the Non-Aligned Movement. This bloc represented the majority of the world population and consisted of countries, largely in the Global South, that opposed colonialism and imperialism and did not want to participate in the cold war. They sought to build a truly multipolar world, not a bipolar one.
Because the Non-Aligned Movement was led by socialists (India’s Jawaharlal Nehru, Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah, Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser, Indonesia’s Sukarno, and Yugoslavia’s Josip Broz Tito), the United States and its cold war allies attacked the movement and claimed that being non-aligned really meant being a secret supporter of the Soviet-led communist bloc.
The CIA backed a coup against Nkrumah in Ghana in 1966. The year before, the CIA sponsored a coup against Sukarno in Indonesia (and subsequently supported the genocide carried out by US-backed right-wing dictator Suharto, who killed between 1 and 3 million leftists). The United States also repeatedly tried to overthrow Nasser, but failed.
Western imperialist powers have long adopted this George W. Bush-esque position, that any country that did not actively support them was against them.
Ukraine itself had been an observer state in the Non-Aligned Movement. In 2010, the government of democratically elected President Viktor Yanukovych voted to officially declare Ukraine non-aligned.
But in February 2014, the United States sponsored a coup d’etat in Ukraine, which overthrew Yanukovych and installed a pro-Western regime. Soon after the violent putsch, Kiev officially dropped its non-aligned status and declared its intention to join the US-led NATO military alliance.
A map of Non-Aligned Movement members (dark blue) and observer states (light blue)
Global South countries condemn Russian invasion, but blame Western aggression and maintain neutrality
The misleading comments by Blinken, Baerbock, and Kuleba claiming the Global South is not actually neutral about Ukraine are objectively false. But this doesn’t mean that all of these Global South countries support Russia’s war.
Many countries in the Global South have condemned the Russian invasion.
On March 2, 2022, a week after Russia sent its troops into Ukraine, the majority of member states of the United Nations did vote to condemn the invasion, including many countries in the Global South.
However, Eritrea, the DPRK, Syria, and Belarus voted against the resolution, and 35 member states abstained, including massive countries like China and India (which together have nearly 3 billion people), as well as Pakistan, South Africa, Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Vietnam, Algeria, Cuba, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Mozambique, and Lao.
Then in April, the General Assembly held another vote, this time to expel Russia from the UN Human Rights Council.
There was less support for this resolution, with 93 votes in favor.
58 countries abstained, such as India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Sudan.
24 countries voted against the measure, including China, Iran, Algeria, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Cuba, Ethiopia, Mali, Laos, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe.
URGENT🚨
The UN General Assembly votes to suspend Russia’s membership in the UN Human Rights Council @UN_HRC
In favor: 93
Abstained: 58
Against: 24 pic.twitter.com/6EavdZJspc
— UN News (@UN_News_Centre) April 7, 2022
The Western bloc wants the world to believe there are only two options: aligning with it, or opposing it.
But most countries on Earth, representing the vast majority of the world’s population, in the Global South, truly are neutral.
NATO is simply frustrated that 87% of the planet won’t join its war efforts.
In attempting to isolate Russia, the terrorist west will isolate itself.
You asked me a simple question. And I will answer you with a wise answer: -We, the Global South are against you. We are for a multipolar world. Not an unipolar world dominated by the USA. So cope.
@The mighty
Both is NWO-JWO . Unipolar same as multipolar world. We need a free none jewish dominated none globalized, none centralized, free world with free nations !
No need for uni nor multipolar NWO shit ! As both are ruled by the same jewish elites and collaborateurs. Kill the Rothchilds, Schiffs, Warburgs, Rockefellers, Soros, Kissingers, all the Chabad Lubavitch conspirers s.o. Then we have a free world. Not by changing name from unipolar to multipolar. That’s just a cheap hoax (!), another jewish trick to fool the idiotic masses.
You know who developed the word BRICs ???? It was the jewish Goldman -sachs bank. So wake up, please ! And also the SF’s article’s poll is questionable, at least if you compare it to the more heavyweight newest UN-poll. See:
UN calls for immediate Russian withdrawal from Ukraine
Resounding vote before anniversary of war sees 141 countries condemning Russian invasion with seven against and 32 abstentions
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/23/un-calls-for-immediate-russian-withdrawal-from-ukraine
(And yes – the guardian is western jewish propaganda tool too, I know that. Just wanted to show you that both “sides” of the propaganda medias are jewish-owned)
No matter what, Those 39 countries have the majority of peoples on Earth. So, as a pillar principle of DEMOCRACY, theoretically Russia was NOT CONDEMNED.
@Romanian
I am not and have never been in favour of the greeko-jewish concept of democracy.
It’s just a beneficial sheme for jewish wirepullers to hide behind a cabinett of puppets, so that these mentioned hidden jews can rule a state by proxy. I don t want that. Fuck da jewish principle and their democracy nonsense.
No wonder every jewish slave colony always claims to be eighter democracy or communist. It’s all jewish. Same as the god-damned mRNA poisons and all the corona circus. Here, hence you forgot, watch the jews dance and singing : Corona, coronaaah ! They enjoy that they achieved to poison nearly all of western mankind with their deadly gen-altering satanic mRNA poison.
See: http://rlu.ru/3dCBK
And instead of uniting, and fighting these parasites as a united mankind, we allow these fuckers to play us against each other, tolerating them to ignite wars, sending ukrainian christians onto russian ones and vice versa. It’s stupidity, and sorry but todays russians are among the most brainwashed folks on earth.
You are confusing Illuminati with Judaism. This faux democracy is Illuminati. One world globalist state with no kings and no religions.
@Chris
Judaism is NO RELIGION !!!
Get your facts straight you full-time idiot !!!
(read jews themselves admitting it, for example see the Harold-Wallace Rosenthal Interview)
Judaism IS THE HIGHEST FORM OF SATANISM !!!
Read the Talmud and find out for yourself !
It is the cult of Adam Weishaupt, who was GERMAN
Again, I don’t think that Chabad is bad. Just personal opinion.
@Chris
You can read it on their own website. They want World War 3 Armaggeddon, they do everything to make it happen.
They are a superrich jewish messianic endtime sect. Putin is part of them, Trumps daughter’s husband (Jared Kuschner is so too)
Chabad are pseudo-religious madmen, and sicko numerologics, satanic jewish devil-worshippers. So no wonder they ordered their satanic Putin attack against Ukraine on 666 date (24.F.2022) 2+4=6, F=6 , 2+0+2+2= 6 .
They feel that this is their holy mission, and that as soon as the whole world is in flames and “cleansed” through total World War Armaggeddon, their Messiah ben David aka ben Jacob will come, and the whole world will be jewish – with each jew then having at least 20 goyim slaves to his free disposal. Isn t that a nice ideology ? You don t feel this ideology it little bad , weired or wacko ? No ? Yeah, that’s why I thumb down most of your posts. And your last post confirms the rightfullness of my decision. No tolerance to idiots !
Chabad has never said that in their websites. Again, you are confusing the sects. This cleansing is Illuminatist in nature. Illuminati want to destroy every religion, including Judaism.
@Chris
You are a bad liar Chris Gr. The Chabads main mission is to actively make the messiah come. Messiah ben whatwhoever. Ben Yossif, ben David, ben whatever they call him.
And they not just wait out for fullfillment of the prophecies, but they do everything and manipulate things in politics, ignite wars and do terrible things in order to “make the messiah” come. They promote that all jews need to ACTIVELY (!) await the messiah.
Quote: ” …You’ll also discover how this faith is supposed to be acted on a daily basis, and why there’s a critical need to not only believe, but actively await his arrival.”
“Moshiach NOW?” Why we faithfully await and anticipate his coming https://www.chabad.org/multimedia/video_cdo/aid/3762403/jewish/Moshiach-NOW.htm
Even in 100% jew-servile Germany it is openly available to read what this endtime-sect thinks and why they want armageddon
http://berlin-athen.eu/chabad-lubawitsch-und-armageddon/
I with this gave you prove that it is on their own website, so stop lying !
Joseph and David are the good guys of course. The son of perdition is probably someone called will.i.am aka William. You are trying to put the blame on Jews in order to make a reason out of American depravity.
If The West doesn’t understand neutrality, it doesn’t understand its own enemy.
Baerbock – deep thinker
Two words Blinken,F you and that Nazi Bitch in Germany your tame vassals.
You can be neutral, even if they don’t want it. The bellicists don’t want neutrality. It’s a war mongers retoric, a badly desguised treath against those who refuse their vision of the world. Disgusting.
The Global South needs to follow Burbock in her call on Russian leader Vladimir Putin to change his policies 360 degrees. So too the Global South. The Combined West has far less distance to travel to make “the whole world a much happier place”. Biden and his neo-Con Freedom Lovers need only change their policies a mere 180 degrees.
Block everything they do invest in each other avoid their curency where you can build en entire new UN and entire new humanitarian organisations cause the one in existance are fully subservient to the us.
“You Are Either with Us, or Against Us” what they mean is if we are not with them they are against us.And they are of course against free speech and free thought and opposition to their schemes.
Yeah, ask this scums of this earth about Yemen, witch the same moraly superior begins forgets when they are whining about Ukraina, witch they like in Yemen have been prolonging and been a part of saction regimes whom is and have devestated the civilians, for bloody years. Armed them, helped them, etc feed SaudiBarbarians war on the Yemen people. They have no f…. credibility what so ever, never had, and never will have. Hang em all and hang them high.
Yes, but China also supported the Saudis on this one. Belarus also.
The us is air-fueling the saudi bombers so they can do their bombing runs…
My country, Brazil, has resisted of huge pression of Victoria Nuland to Brazil to help Ukraine. Our president, Lula, will not enter in the war! He has fighting to independence, he has not accept to ship ammo to NATO e Ukraine!!! We know that the guilty for this war is USA, in this snake, we dont can trust never!
I was a little disappointed by Lula’s weird globalist views, but if your info is correct it seems he still has some guts and stand for Brasil from the old days. Parabens ;-).
Npbody tells nobody. There is no state, no entity called “the West”… it’s a very unfortunate word-shell created by those, who don’t dare say Anglo-American cabale. Even Putin uses it, which is most unfortunate, not realising, that it creates a monstrous enemy – the whole West! Imagine. He has learned a good deal about rhetoric recently, as his vivid speeches show; but here some linguist needs to teach him about speech-act and how he creates a unity, a block, that doesn’t exist. And it’s not good for Russia. Indeed 99,999999999999999999% of people “in the West”, which is not defined but also includes the Far South-East like Australia und New Zealand, I suppose, don’t tell the “Global South”, an equally inexisting entity, anything. None-existing except in the minds of the imperial-colonialists and those who purport to fight them but really re-afirm their prejudices. The Anglo-American ‘elite’ says things to everbody, it tells the people of Europe to shut up as they tell their own people. So. That’s it. Stop promoting discriminatory categories, quit splitting. You’re only doing *them* a favour. United we stand, divided we fall.
Yes you are very correct. Greece is Intermediate Region not West.
“Intermediate region”! Hilarious. The voice of the Golden Shower.
There is this theory of Intermediate Region you idiot.
Sure thing, Golden Shower child.
Sure thing, Chicagoan gutter
Someone will tell them that colonialist era is over and China is actually colonizing Europe? Eh?
Irak surely will remember forever how US exported democracy to them. 10,000 archeological sites for 5,000 yrs history, mostly deleted, ravaged, bombed, including the Baghdad museum. Apart the people themselves, this is probably the worst crime against human culture. A real ‘cancel culture’ ante-litteram.
Analeni Berbok bi dao da mi popuši samo ako bih bio vrlo neraspoložen
TRANSLATION: If the U.$. Dollar loses it’$ hegemonic control and you don’t support and protect “U.$” in our global terrorism than YOU ARE A “TERRORIST”!…. Poor German bitch like her parents and grandparents before her suffer from “Stockholm Syndrone”!… After all… What and where would Germany be now if it wasn’t for American occupation for 78 years?!!!
I think the U.$. Government needs a new “Flag” with the logo of “Blackrock” investments as it’s new symbol!… Cause that bald eagle ain’t gonna be around much longer if these psychopaths remain in control.
They can put dollar symbols instead of the stars that would be more acurate.
Or a “six sided star” with the same colors as I$rael that “wags it” and the Russian Federation?!…
Speaking on behalf of the global South, we are not. Neutral, we are determinedly anti west and pro Russia! 🇿🇦❤️🇷🇺
You know, her ancestors probably had similar ways of doing things, and said similar things to the Native Americans, Africans, all the other places the West has colonized. These sneaky-evil tactics. I’m your friend, I’m here to help you. And then SLAUGHTER and ENSLAVE when you let your guard down.
The USs only export is usury. Everything I have on with the exception of my pocket knife is a foreign import. Even the phone I am writing this on. We don’t “trade” with other nations, we cheat them using the world’s reserve currency, effectively defrauding the world.
I applaud any nation that does not want to be involved or take sides in the shit-show that is the war in ukraine… and fuck the west and its “us or them” bullying bullshit.
What we see is too much land is still occupied by the West. USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand need to be decolonized.
Ben Norton says truth but he is such a commie it is not even funny.
Nations must take the side which benefits their own national long term economic and strategic interests and benefits their next generation, irrespective if it is to the east or west or being ‘neutral’.
This is their only rational course of action not this infantile you are with me or against me nonsense.
It is up to the people in the individual nations themselves to decide where their future is best served, not a small group of western here today gone tomorrow politicians, who are ‘big fish living in a small pond’.
Yep everybody else is telling the european plutocrats to pfuck off…
The Global South must take sides huh? Yeah, especially those penguins in Antarctica. Always had my doubts about those waddling fish eating little bastards. And they dress in black and white suits too. 🤣🤣🤣
P.S. Baerbock is an absolute idiot.