From the Yalta Conference to a playground

By Vestnik Kavkaza

Today is the 70th anniversary of the start of the Yalta Conference of the heads of the anti-Hitler coalition countries. The meeting of Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill, which was devoted to the post-war world order, was the start of building a new system of international relations. The bipolar world which was built in Yalta and the division of Europe were preserved for more than 40 years, till the late 1980s. Experts note that some mechanisms of the system are still functioning: the UN, unchanged borders in Europe (except for the Balkans) and the Far East.

However, the current relations between Russia and the USA and Europe, which have worsened since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine, are going through another crisis. Alexei Pankin told Vestnik Kavkaza why Europe supports the position of the US rather than Russia’s.

The expert stresses that there are certain factors – both military and economic ones – which make the EU support the US: “Firstly, there is security. The USA is a nuclear power; the USA is de facto the same as NATO; and America is actually a guarantor of European security. 

Secondly, economics: the USA is a country where the printing machine is working. They can print as many dollars as they want. It is a very complicated banking system, which controls European finances through American banks. Thirdly, there is a powerful ideological apparatus; the Western press and Western media borrow motifs from the American media. There are numerous ties, and America has all the opportunities for providing control in its own interests.”

According to Pankin, “the USA holds Europe hard, especially Germany, which has no armed forces, even though it is a great power, but it will always be dependant on the United States. Europe is a playground for the USA. In general, they don’t care what is going on there. They need infinite anti-Russian chaos there. Europe will tear around, but I believe we shouldn’t expect any serious changes.”