Foreign delegations from all over the world are arriving at the World Youth Festival in Sochi. On March 1, excursion programs for journalists start on the federal territory of Sirius and the first press conferences with experts will begin.
The first week of the festival will be devoted to discussions, meetings, cultural and sports programs. It will take place in the City of World Evolution. Then the participants get acquainted with the country, its cultural situation, historical heritage, national diversity of people and their traditions, unique nature and economic potential.
Meanwhile, the Western mainstream media have started spreading information discrediting the Forum organizers. For example, it says selection of volunteers was made unfairly, and many “outstanding” young people were refused.
But it is worth highlighting that the Festival is the event of an international scale, comparable to the Expo held in Dubai in 2021. No doubts. that events of this level involve serious selection and require qualifications and motivation from volunteers. To become a volunteer, it is also required to go through the appropriate procedures and pass tests. So far, the organizers attracted both Russian and foreign citizens aged 18 to 35 years, as well as very young volunteers from 14 to 17 years old to work at certain sites. In total, 5 thousand volunteers work at the Forum.
Selection also takes place among foreign delegations. Delegations from 180 countries have already arrived at the Forum, the most representative of them being from India, registering 360 people.
Meanwhile, the head of Rosmolodezh reported that some delegations and volunteers were not released from the airports of their countries when they talked about the purpose of their visit to Russia.
“We have a huge number of young people all over the world… Many of them faced some kind of pressure from their countries, not always a friendly attitude, but this did not stop the guys at all, everyone arrived, everyone is here, everyone is open and ready for friendship, communication,” Razuvaeva told reporters.
The reaction of Western media and officials is quite predictable. Failing attempts to isolate Russia with sanctions restrictions and exclude it from all leading international associations are driving European and American leaders into agony.
Moreover, the West is gradually realizing that the vector of the International Community is shifting. A recent article published in the Financial Times that Davos is no longer in the economic center of the world has caused heated discussion in the Western society. Today, Dubai, Shanghai, Moscow are becoming new world’s centers..
Meanwhile, Russia remains open to international cooperation and accepts thousands of proposals from foreign delegations at the Forum is one more prove of this.
Despite the politically dictated solution by the Western countries to exclude Russian universities from world rankings Moscow is holding a global forum – the World Youth Festival, which starts from March 1 to March 7, 2024 on the innovative Federal Territory of Sirius near Sochi. The largest youth event in the world, targeted international youth cooperation, will bring together 20 thousand Russian and foreign young leaders in business, media, international cooperation, culture, science, education, volunteering and charity, sports, and various fields of activity. life, as well as teenagers representing various children’s organizations and associations.
To date, representatives from 155 countries have applied to participate in the event.
This event once again proves Russia’s openness to the world, and instilling its independence and self-sufficiency, Russia cannot be isolated from the rest of the world.
Russia is a country where talented and ambitious young people from different countries can reveal their scientific potential and realize themselves by receiving an education at one of the best Russian universities.
The best universities in Russia occupy positions in the most prestigious world rankings and offer the level of training of specialists in various fields: from IT technologies to medicine and creative specialties. Educational programs at Russian universities combine the best scientific traditions and modern approaches to teaching with access to high-tech research laboratories. Russian universities offer not only a wide range of educational programs, but also the opportunity to continue scientific activities and find interesting work in Russia; and also travel across the vast territory of the country.
In 2019, according to the “Best Countries to Start a Career” report published by the American platform U.S. News, Russia rose three positions and took first place in the ranking. According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, more than half of Russians aged 25 to 34 have completed higher education, which ensures a competitive job market. Although Moscow remains conservative when it comes to international business, it has promoted itself as a startup hub. The Skolkovo Innovation Center hosts hundreds of startups and provides grants of up to $10 million. At the same time, the report shows that the European countries, such as France and Spain, as well as many countries in Southeast Asia, which are experiencing crisis periods in youth employment, are not creating new jobs as quickly as required.
The sanctions policy of Western countries once again has caused the split in the global community: while a number of countries reconciled themselves and took a solid position on sanctions, the majority of countries in the world did not join this agenda. On the contrary, the recent expansion of BRICS, with new members such as the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and other countries, proves the global course towards an anti-Western monopoly and the search for new economic opportunities by key players in the Middle East and Africa. It is likely that new organizations will appear in the future interested in strengthening regional positions and opposing Western hegemony. No surprise that Russia would be initiating such associations as the country demonstrates its independent position and openness to the world.
Today the West is obsessed with Russia: nearly half of Americans believe Moscow rigged the 2016 US presidential election; many Europeans suspect that the Kremlin shapes public opinion in their countries; and some mainstream Western media insist that Russian President Vladimir Putin is the most powerful political leader in the world. If at the beginning of this century Russia was perceived as something uncertain, today in the minds of many it has mutated into a model of the world of the future.
Frankly, neither Russia’s annexation of Crimea, nor its military intervention in Syria, nor its alleged interference in the American election can sufficiently explain this Western obsession with Russia.
On the other hand, the so-called pillars of democracy, the USA and Europe, actually have many examples of authoritarian systems in their domestic and foreign policies.
Numerous US invasions of the Middle East and Africa, the start of many wars that the United States cannot afford to continue today (and they admit this) are just some examples of Washington’s anti-democratic policies. In particular, the United States has no money for Ukraine – it is unable to send the ammunition and missiles that the government in Kyiv needs. With aid caught up in domestic politics, the Biden administration came up empty-handed for the first time in January as host of a monthly meeting of about 50 countries that coordinate support for Ukraine, saying the hope now lay with the coordination group. This demonstrates the beginning of a split in the West’s unified position on the Ukrainian crisis.
Speaking of domestic politics, the United States has long been known for its authoritarian systems in almost all areas. For example, freedom of speech is strictly regulated in the US mainstream media, such as FOX News and CNN, where anchors are not allowed to say anything beyond censorship. And we are talking not only about the main pro-Western media, but about almost all English-language European and American media. Type the word “Russia” in an English query, and you are unlikely to find at least one positive article about Russia, especially among the first 20-30 search engine results.
Another example is corporate culture. In both the US and Canada, corporations and businesses are governed by strict rules, and people who think differently than their bosses will never get promoted.
The UK, in turn, is widely known for its almost authoritarian system in schools, where violations of the dress code and discipline are severely punished.
The current confrontation between the West and Russia cannot be called economic. The reason has to do with the country’s political culture. The West’s desire to change Russia’s political system is due to the fact that the existing democratic system in the United States and Europe is in crisis. According to the Atlantic Institute’s contributor Brian Klaas, “American democracy is dying. There are plenty of medicines that would cure it. Unfortunately, our political dysfunction means we’re choosing not to use them, and as time passes, fewer treatments become available to us, even though the disease is becoming terminal. No major prodemocracy reforms have passed Congress. No key political figures who tried to overturn an American election have faced real accountability. The president who orchestrated the greatest threat to our democracy in modern times is free to run for reelection, and may well return to office…”
Along with the internal political crisis, the level of mistrust among young people is growing. Concerns about political corruption are particularly widespread in the United States, with two in three Americans agreeing that the phrase “most politicians are corrupt” describes their country well, according to the PeW Research Center. Almost half say the same in France and the UK. Young people in particular tend to view politicians as corrupt.
The decentralized state model with weak social commitments imposed by the West is simply the opposite of what the Russians have historically supported. Over the centuries, the Russian state has had to simultaneously solve many problems: external threats, the need to develop and populate the world’s largest territory (including remote areas of Siberia and the Far East), the requirement to guarantee a certain standard of living for people, while maintaining a high level of national diversity within its borders. Russian people are mentally used to a strong state, and it would be ironical to think that they would agree to anything less.
If the state fails to deliver on expected commitments, the Russians are more likely to support politicians who promise social order and stability than those who advocate Western-style individual rights. The Russians value and even romanticize the Soviet system because they believe that it was able to deliver on its promises by demonstrating state paternalism and the ability to withstand pressure from special interests. Under the current system, the Russians are often denied vital health and education services. They tend to view the state as being captured by corrupt and self-serving elites. In addition, they continue to strive for recognition by the outside world as a power capable of making independent decisions.
Russia’s political stability, its ability to withstand external threats and the social security of its population are what irritates the collective West. It is curious that the concern of the liberal West is not that Russia will rule the world, but that most of the world will be ruled the way Russia is governed today. Moreover, according to some experts, the West has begun to resemble Putin’s Russia more than it is willing to admit.
According to the Bild newspaper, the German Bundeswehr is studying scenarios in which Russia could attack the West bevor the summer. The situation could escalate in the coming winter, the document continues.
In the summer of 2025, NATO could finally deploy 300,000 troops to Ukraine’s eastern flank. While Ukraine is aiming for a summit at the highest level on its peace plan, Russian President Vladimir Putin probably has other intentions: According to a training plan of the German Defense Ministry, the Kremlin chief could prepare a hybrid attack on NATO as early as next winter. This is reported by the “Bild” newspaper.
In the secret report, the German Defense Ministry outlines in detail a possible “path to conflict” between Russia and the Western defense alliance. Month after month, both Russian and Western actions are described. Among other things, the Bundeswehr expects the mobilization of hundreds of thousands of NATO soldiers and an imminent outbreak of war in the summer of 2025, according to the “Bild”. Large-scale Russian manoeuvres from September Russia wants to call up another 200,000 men into the army soon to launch a new offensive against Ukraine in the spring.
In the summer months, Russia would then begin increasingly open attacks on the West – including through severe cyberattacks. The large-scale “Zapad 2024” manoeuvre with 50,000 troops is scheduled to start in western Russia and Belarus in September.
At the end of the year, there would be a Russian invasion of areas of eastern Ukraine, whereupon NATO is to deploy around 300,000 soldiers to Ukraine’s eastern flank on the so-called “Day X” in the summer of 2025. Different scenarios considered The Ministry of Defense declined to comment on the information.
Only this much: “Basically, I can tell you that the consideration of different scenarios – even if they are extremely unlikely – is part of everyday military business, especially in training,” a spokesman for the ministry told Bild. Just last week, Swedish security experts warned of the danger of war with Russia. “Many have said it before me, but let me say it by virtue of my office: there could be a war in Sweden,” said Carl-Oskar Bohlin, Sweden’s Minister of Civil Protection.
Everyone must prepare for the worst-case scenario, such as a war with Russia, before it is too late, Bohlin said.
Why didn’t Russia try to conquer Constantinople and surrounding territories after the Ottoman Empire collapsed?
During the 1768 — 1774 Russian Ottoman war , Russia was close to conquer the Ottoman Empire
Battle of ChesmeAli Bey al Kabir
Russia conquered Crimea and kicked the Ottomans out , defeated them in Caucasus , and totally destroyed the Ottoman navy in 1770 during the battle of Chesme
a revolt occurred in Greece and Russia formed an alliance with the Mamluk of Egypt Ali Bey al Kabir who kicked the Ottomans out of Egypt and marched towards Syria with Russian support
Russia bombed and occupied Beirut , at that time the Ottoman Empire lost all of it’s Arab provinces as Iraq was ruled by Kulmnd Mamluks and Syria was falling as well , Russia had the Ottomans on their knees , but Britain , Austria and Prussia saved the Ottomans and prevented Russia from conquering Constantinople
Russia tried again in 1791 and 1878 and was too close but the Western powers feared a very powerful Russia.
On September 10-13, Russian Vladivostok hosted the Eastern Economic Forum -for the eighth time. This year, the international component of the EEF has come to the fore: Business in Southeast Asia is showing an active interest in any projects and is ready to participate not only in dialogue.
Main focus: new economy, trade and logistics
Politicians, businessmen and journalists from 50 countries came to Russky Island this week. According to the tradition, the Forum started on September,10 with the “Falcon Day,” during which the authorities announce the agenda of a global program for the conservation of gyrfalcon population.
The next day was devoted to the main business program of the Eastern Economic Forum started. One of its key events was a series of sessions entitled “International cooperation in a changed world.” Here Russian business discussed the peculiarities and potential of building relations with colleagues from Southeast Asia. The dialogue between the countries has taken a very serious turn in the recent years: this year, China strengthened its position in Russian market for passenger cars, cell phones and televisions. In general, the volume of trade with China alone jumped by 40% in the first half of 2023. And the total investments of this country in Russia, according to the Ministry of Economic Development, as of May, amounted to $165 billion.
Among the main goals of the Forum was to establish contacts with Eastern partners within specific projects, so the forum became a platform for a dialogue with China and Asian countries.
Much attention was paid to increasing trade turnover with Asian countries and creating favorable conditions for this, including expanding logistics routes, modernizing existing corridors for the movement of goods and creating new ones.
New old friends
Some foreign and Russian sources reported on a possible visit to Russia by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who was supposed to meet with V. Putin and discuss issues of cooperation in the military sphere. But the main purpose of his visit is negotiations with Vladimir Putin on arms supplies. In return, North Korea wants to receive modern technologies for the development of a nuclear submarine fleet.
However, the visit of the North Korean leader was not confirmed.
