How West Amplifies Global Poverty to Preserve Dominance
14:21 GMT 07.10.2022 (Updated: 16:52 GMT 22.04.2023)
© AP Photo / Farah Abdi Warsameh
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The world is unlikely to meet the self-declared goal of ending extreme poverty by 2030, with nearly 600 million people continuing to struggle on less than $2.15 a day, according to the World Bank's Poverty and Shared Prosperity Report. The bank blamed the dramatic setback on COVID-19 and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
"Poverty is a complex area; it encompasses many things from one’s basic needs or ability to have those needs met such as shelter, food, water and health, environment, economic growth and opportunities, education, and government policies, etc. I am not sure anyone can be blamed directly. In developing countries, people often struggle to meet their basic needs of shelter, food, and water," said Earl Rasmussen, executive vice president of the Eurasia Center.
The COVID-19 pandemic affected not only healthcare but also the global supply chain, thus creating adverse conditions to meet basic needs and having a devastating impact on economic conditions, especially in developing countries, according to the scholar. When it comes to the Ukraine crisis, it is western fondness for sanctions that caused more harm directly or indirectly to many countries in the developing world, the think tank vice president pointed out.
"Current policies being advocated by western powers do nothing to support global development, if anything they will lead to even greater poverty," Rasmussen noted. "Policies such as the draconian ones placed on Russia over the conflict in Ukraine to include the threat of secondary sanctions, to climate change policies which impact access to cheap energy desperately need to further development and create economic opportunities in the developing world. These have a direct adverse effect on food, health, and economic development for many."
Putin: Grain From Ukraine Doesn't Reach Poorest Countries Despite Russia Raising Issue Long Time Ago
27 September 2022, 10:26 GMT
West Using Food Crisis & Climate Change as Tools
To illustrate his point, Rasmussen referred to the mainstream narrative blaming Russia for the unfolding food crisis in the Global South. The US and its NATO allies particularly accused Moscow of blocking Ukrainian grain supplies destined for developing countries. However, this narrative does not hold water, according to the scholar.
Firstly, it was Kiev blocking shipments by mining their own ports that disrupted trade flows; secondly, when Russia, Turkey and Ukraine agreed in July on a safe corridor to facilitate grain deliveries to starving countries, most of the grain ended up in EU ports. At the beginning of September, Moscow raised the alarm over the fact that just 3% of Ukrainian grain shipments were delivered to countries in need.
Furthermore, the vital grain export agreement mediated by Turkey in Istanbul also envisaged the delivery of Russian fertilizers to the Global South. The US and the EU's sanctions have disrupted Russia's ability to ship fertilizers and grain to third-world countries.
In early September, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Moscow is ready to provide 300,000 tons of fertilizers to developing countries free of charge and urged the UN to push the EU to lift its sanctions which block Russian exports. At the same time, Russia is set to harvest up to 150 million tons of grain, including 100 million tons of wheat, this year. By the end of September, the country had gathered 138.7 million tons of grain. For comparison's sake, Russia's grain harvest amounted to 135.5 million tons in 2017.
"Russia had bumper crops this year, there is no real food shortage, rather it is western policies and sanctions that are preventing food and fertilizers from reaching many, most impacted is the developing countries especially Africa where the majority of poverty still remains," Rasmussen highlighted. "Western governments do not care about shortages in the Global South such as developing countries in Africa but are more concerned about ensuring food availability in their own countries first, less they be subject to even more increased political unrest."
18 September 2022, 14:18 GMT
Yet another glaring example is the West's attempt to impose constraints on Africa's gas and oil projects aimed at tackling the continent's continuous energy poverty. Western politicians and environmentalists are warning global investors against funding the African gas and oil infrastructure programs citing the climate change agenda.
Last month, US climate czar John Kerry particularly stressed that those supporting Africa's fossil fuel projects would be unable to recoup their investments beyond 2030, and stressed that the world should reach net-zero emissions in 2050. This rhetoric prompted Sudanese-British billionaire Mo Ibrahim to lambast western countries over preventing African nations from developing their own gas reserves and fighting energy poverty at the "Reuters impact" conference in London earlier this month.
"We can look throughout time at how empires governed their minions," said Rasmussen. "European countries and the US extracted resources from around the globe, mostly the Global South, to their own benefit. When countries start to rise they are often faced with sanctions or conflict, Cuba, Honduras, Guatemala, Venezuela come immediately to mind but there are scores of others scattered around the globe."
28 September 2022, 13:25 GMT
'West Has No Desire to Support Increased Development'
The hypocrisy demonstrated by the collective West in proclaiming grandiose plans to fight global poverty is caused by the western elites' need to both control their own populations and manipulate others in order to support their goals of hegemony and personal gain, according to the scholar.
But that is not all: while proving incapable of reducing poverty, financial problems and security issues, the West prevents other capable nations from stepping in and implementing their initiatives aimed at improving the situation.
"After much thought, there are times that I believe that there is no real desire to support increased development but rather global influence, global domination, and focus on wealth gain even if this means blocking others who seek to improve development," Rasmussen said. "For example, Libya was once the highest per capita nation in Africa. Gaddafi had proposed greater cooperation amongst African countries and advocated for a common African currency and increased trade. Well … we see what happened to Libya."
China's Belt and Road project, which seeks to develop infrastructure and economies around the world, has also come in the West's crosshairs, the think tank's vice president noted. "Many western countries, led by the US, have openly opposed it and seek to thwart China’s efforts to cooperate with many developing countries," he pointed out.
"The US desires to maintain its supremacy and global hegemony," Rasmussen noted. "This is spelled out in number policy papers and doctrine. The US will stop any nation from challenging its supremacy even if it is only within a given region. There is no sovereignty unless the country adheres to the so called 'rules based order', note this is not based on international law but rather an adjusting set of rules that apply to others but not to those that are the creator or care-keeper."
