{"id":215584,"date":"2022-06-27T12:00:32","date_gmt":"2022-06-27T11:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=215584"},"modified":"2022-06-23T05:16:26","modified_gmt":"2022-06-23T04:16:26","slug":"st-petersburg-sets-the-stage-for-the-war-of-economic-corridors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2022\/06\/st-petersburg-sets-the-stage-for-the-war-of-economic-corridors\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Petersburg Sets the Stage for the War of Economic Corridors"},"content":{"rendered":"

In St. Petersburg, the world’s new powers gather to upend the US-concocted \u201crules-based order\u201d and reconnect the globe their way.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>

At St. Petersburg on Friday, backers of multipolarity pushed forward integration of their networks.\u00a0 Photo Credit: The Cradle<\/p><\/div>\n

18 Jun 2022 – <\/em>The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum <\/a>\u00a0has been configured for years now as absolutely essential to understand the evolving dynamics and the trials and tribulations of Eurasia integration.<\/p>\n

\n

St. Petersburg in 2022 is even more crucial as it directly connects to three simultaneous developments I had previously outlined<\/a>, in no particular order:<\/p>\n

First, the coming of the \u201cnew G8\u201d \u2013 four BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China), plus Iran, Indonesia, Turkey and Mexico, whose GDP per purchasing parity power (PPP) already dwarfs the old, western-dominated G8.<\/p>\n

Second, the Chinese \u201cThree Rings\u201d strategy of developing geoeconomic relations with its neighbors and partners.<\/p>\n

Third, the development of BRICS+, or extended BRICS, including some members of the \u201cnew G8,\u201d to be discussed at the upcoming summit in China.<\/p>\n

There was hardly any doubt President Putin would be the star of St. Petersburg 2022, delivering a sharp<\/a>,\u00a0detailed speech to the plenary session.<\/p>\n

Among the highlights, Putin smashed the illusions of the so-called \u2018golden billion\u2019 who live in the industrialized west (only 12 percent of the global population) and the \u201cirresponsible macroeconomic policies of the G7 countries.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Russian president noted how \u201cEU losses due to sanctions against Russia\u201d could exceed $400 billion per year, and that Europe\u2019s high energy prices \u2013 something that actually started \u201cin the third quarter of last year\u201d \u2013 are due to \u201cblindly believing in renewable sources.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also duly dismissed the west\u2019s \u2018Putin price hike\u2019 propaganda, saying the food and energy crisis is linked to misguided western economic policies, i.e., \u201cRussian grain and fertilizers are being sanctioned\u201d to the detriment of the west.<\/p>\n

In a nutshell: the west misjudged Russia\u2019s sovereignty when sanctioning it, and now is paying a very heavy price.<\/p>\n

Chinese President Xi Jinping, addressing the forum by video, sent a message to the whole Global South. He evoked \u201ctrue multilateralism,\u201d insisting that\u00a0emerging markets must have \u201ca say in global economic management,\u201d and called for \u201cimproved North-South and South-South dialogue.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was up to Kazakh President Tokayev, the ruler of a deeply strategic partner of both Russia and China, to deliver the punch line in person: Eurasia integration should progress hand in hand with China\u2019s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Here it is, full circle.<\/p>\n

Building a long-term strategy \u201cin weeks\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

St. Petersburg offered several engrossing discussions on key themes and sub-themes of Eurasia integration, such as business within the scope of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)<\/a>; aspects of the Russia-China<\/a> strategic partnership; what\u2019s ahead for the BRICS<\/a>; and prospects for the Russian<\/a> financial sector.<\/p>\n

One of the most important discussions was focused on the increasing interaction between the Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU) and ASEAN<\/a>, a key example of what the Chinese would define as \u2018South-South cooperation.\u2019<\/p>\n

And that connected to the still long and winding road leading to deeper integration<\/a> of the EAEU itself.<\/p>\n

This implies steps towards more self-sufficient economic development for members; establishing the priorities for import substitution; harnessing all the transport and logistical potential; developing trans-Eurasian corporations; and imprinting the EAEU \u2018brand\u2019 in a new system of global economic relations.<\/p>\n

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk was particularly sharp on the pressing matters at hand: implementing a full free trade customs and economic union \u2013 plus a unified payment system \u2013\u00a0with simplified direct settlements using the Mir payment card to reach new markets in Southeast Asia, Africa and the Persian Gulf.<\/p>\n

In a new era defined by Russian business circles as \u201cthe game with no rules\u201d \u2013 debunking the US-coined \u201crules-based international order\u201d \u2013 another relevant discussion, featuring key Putin adviser Maxim Oreshkin, focused on what should be the priorities<\/a> for big business and the financial sector in connection to the state\u2019s economic and foreign policy.<\/p>\n

The consensus is that the current \u2018rules\u2019 have been written by the west. Russia could only connect to existing mechanisms, underpinned by international law and institutions. But then the west tried to \u00a0\u201csqueeze us out\u201d and even \u201cto cancel Russia.\u201d So it\u2019s time to \u201creplace the no-rules rules.\u201d That\u2019s a key theme underlying the concept of \u2018sovereignty\u2019 developed by Putin in his plenary address.<\/p>\n

In another important discussion chaired by the CEO of western-sanctioned Sberbank Herman Gref, there was much hand-wringing<\/a> about the fact that the Russian \u201cevolutionary leap forward towards 2030\u201d should have happened sooner. Now a \u201clong-term strategy has to be built in weeks,\u201d with supply chains breaking down all across the spectrum.<\/p>\n

A question was posed to the audience \u2013 the cr\u00e8me de la cr\u00e8me of Russia\u2019s business community: what would you recommend, increased trade with the east, or redirecting the structure of the Russian economy? A whopping 72 percent voted for the latter.<\/p>\n

So now we come to the crunch, as all these themes interact when we look at what happened only a few days before St. Petersburg.<\/p>\n

The Russia-Iran-India corridor<\/strong><\/p>\n

A key node of the International North South Transportation Corridor (INTSC) is now in play, linking northwest Russia to the Persian Gulf via the Caspian Sea and Iran. The transportation time between St. Petersburg and Indian ports is 25 days.<\/p>\n

This logistical corridor with multimodal transportation carries an enormous geopolitical significance for two BRICs members and a prospective member of the \u201cnew G8\u201d because it opens a key alternative route to the usual cargo trail from Asia to Europe via the Suez canal.<\/p>\n

\"\"
The International North South Transportation Corridor (INSTC)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The INSTC corridor is a classic South-South integration project: a 7,200-km-long multimodal network of ship, rail, and road routes interlinking India, Afghanistan, Central Asia, Iran, Azerbaijan and Russia all the way to Finland in the Baltic Sea.<\/p>\n

Technically, picture a set of containers going overland from St. Petersburg to Astrakhan. Then the cargo sails via the Caspian to the Iranian port of Bandar Anzeli. Then it\u2019s transported overland to the port of Bandar Abbas. And then overseas to Nava Sheva, the largest seaport in India. The key operator is Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (the IRISL group), which has branches in both Russia and India.<\/p>\n

And that brings us to what wars from now will be fought about: transportation corridors \u2013 and not territorial conquest.<\/p>\n

Beijing\u2019s fast-paced BRI is seen as an existential threat to the \u2018rules-based international order.\u2019 It develops along six overland corridors across Eurasia, plus the Maritime Silk Road from the South China Sea, and the Indian Ocean, all the way to Europe.<\/p>\n

One of the key targets of NATO\u2019s proxy war in Ukraine is to interrupt BRI corridors across Russia. The Empire will go all out to interrupt not only BRI but also INSTC nodes. Afghanistan under US occupation was prevented from become a node for either BRI or INSTC.<\/p>\n

With full access to the Sea of Azov \u2013 now a \u201cRussian lake\u201d \u2013 and arguably the whole Black Sea coastline further on down the road, Moscow will hugely increase its sea trading prospects (Putin: \u201cThe Black Sea was historically Russian territory\u201d).<\/p>\n

For the past two decades, energy corridors have been heavily politicized and are at the center of unforgiving global\u00a0pipeline competitions<\/a> \u2013\u00a0from BTC and South Stream to Nord Stream 1 and 2, and the never-ending soap operas, the\u00a0Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) and Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipelines.<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s the Northern Sea Route alongside the Russian coastline all the way to the Barents Sea. China and India are very much focused on the Northern Sea Route, not by accident also \u00a0discussed in detail<\/a> in St. Petersburg.<\/p>\n

The contrast between the St. Petersburg debates on a possible re-wiring of our world \u2013 and the Three Stooges Taking a Train to Nowhere to tell a mediocre Ukrainian comedian to calm down and negotiate his surrender (as confirmed by German intelligence) \u2013 could not be starker.<\/p>\n

Almost imperceptibly \u2013\u00a0just as it re-incorporated Crimea and entered the Syrian theater\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Russia as a military-energy superpower now shows it is potentially capable of driving a great deal of the industrialized west back into the Stone Age. The western elites are just helpless. If only they could ride a corridor on the Eurasian high-speed train, they might learn something.<\/p>\n

_______________________________________________<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> Pepe Escobar, born in Brazil, is a correspondent and editor-at-large at <\/em>Asia Times and<\/em> columnist for<\/em> Consortium News and<\/em> Strategic Culture in Moscow. Since the mid-1980s he\u2019s lived and worked as a foreign correspondent in London, Paris, Milan, Los Angeles, Singapore, and Bangkok. He has extensively covered Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia to China, Iran, Iraq and the wider Middle East. He is the author of <\/em>Globalistan<\/a> (2007),<\/em> Red Zone Blues<\/a> (2007), <\/em>Obama Does Globalistan<\/a> (2009), <\/em>Empire of Chaos<\/a> (2014) and <\/em>2030<\/a> (2015), all by Nimble Books. Pepe was contributing editor to <\/em>The Empire and The Crescent and<\/em> Tutto in Vendita in Italy and is also associated with the Paris-based European Academy of Geopolitics. When not on the road he lives between Paris and Bangkok. <\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 thecradle.co<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

18 Jun 2022 – In St. Petersburg, the world’s new powers gather to upend the US-concocted \u201crules-based order\u201d and reconnect the globe their way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":215585,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[244,354,759,742,278,1043,1160],"class_list":["post-215584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-focus","tag-china","tag-economics","tag-india","tag-iran","tag-russia","tag-sco","tag-world-order"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215584\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/215585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}