MOSCOW (Sputnik), Anastasia Levchenko — Russia is continuing its development as a resurgent country despite crippling sanctions and the imperial ambitions of the United States, experts told Sputnik, commenting on the results of President Vladimir Putin's Q&A session on Thursday.
Sanctions Fail to Cripple Resurgent Country
"The 'good old days' of the 1990s for the West are dead and buried… Russia is, in 2015, a resurgent country," Marcus Papadopoulos, British political expert and editor-in-chief of Politics First magazine, told Sputnik.
The Russian economy has deteriorated significantly due to a 50-percent slump in global oil prices and Western sanctions imposed on Moscow over its alleged role in the escalation of the Ukrainian crisis.
"Now the West cannot touch Russia militarily as it did with Serbia and Iraq… So, the West is using sanctions against Russia to try to cripple it so that the country will become a third class power, thus allowing Washington to move in to Russia's traditional spheres of influence," Papadopoulos continued.
At the same time, sanctions against Russia have a certain positive effect, encouraging the development in important spheres that have been disregarded so far.
"I think, that it could be actually a good opportunity to re-focus Russian industry to manufacturing," Jacques Sapir, prominent French economist and director of studies at the School for Advanced Studies in Social Sciences, told Sputnik.
Papadopoulos also emphasized the "irony of the West's sanctions" that are benefiting Russian domestic suppliers and creating more opportunities for domestic production. Moreover, they are strengthening Moscow's relations with its allies around the world – such as Argentina, Brazil and China, among others — thus pushing the West out of its market.
"Russia is not Cuba or Iran and so what Western sanctions have achieved against Havana and Tehran was never going to be replicated against Moscow," Papadopoulos stated.
Given the fact that the ruble has been the best performing currency in the world since the beginning of the year, and that revenue is continuing to flow into Russia, Putin's prediction about a recovery within a two-year timescale is solidly grounded, according to the expert.
US Looks for Vassals, Not Allies
The United States is not interested in developing equal partnerships with its allies, but rather in finding "vassals," Putin said on Thursday, adding that Russia is not interested in this format of relations.
"The US believes in American global hegemony… Washington needs to destroy any country which opposes US objectives, and needs to have countries which will lobby heavily on behalf of American interests on the international scene — in short, vassal states," Papadopoulos told Sputnik, commenting on the president's Q&A session.
The expert explained that Britain, Israel and Saudi Arabia have long been such "vassal states" of the United States. Poland and the Baltic States are the "newcomers" among the countries dependent on US policy. Many other countries, including Colombia, Japan, the Philippines and Australia, are willing to become such "vassals."
Such US foreign policy is highly destabilizing, as it eventually meets with opposition from the "American vassal border countries" unwilling to be instrumental to US objectives, and creates regional tensions, according to Papadopoulos.
"America's determination to defend its global hegemony by employing its vassal states constitutes one of the biggest dangers to world peace today. One need only look to Syria and Ukraine, which have become conflict zones as an example of that," Papadopoulos said.
Only Israel Worried Over S-300 Delivery to Iran
After the Russian president signed a decree lifting the ban on the sale of S-300 air defense systems to Tehran on Monday, Israel's prime minister claimed it would undermine stability in the Middle East.
"I do not see the Russian decision as destabilizing… S-300 are not offensive weapons," Jacques Sapir said, emphasizing that the UN sanctions' list does not preclude the delivery of such systems.
The decision to freeze the contract with Tehran was an independent move by Russia and now it has the full right to resume the contract, the analyst said.
"The only time that the US and Israel should worry about Iran possessing the S-300 is if they attack the country," Papadopoulos noted.
The expert explained that the concerns that Israel has over the deliveries of S-300s and the antagonistic nature of Benjamin Netanyahu's government suggest the country is considering military action against Iran.
