The most important thing that should happen in Saudi Arabia is the discussion between two world leaders, representatives of great nuclear powers, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, about the architecture of the future world order.
We see that in America recently, a truly profound ideological revolution has taken place, the significance of which is hard to overestimate. Trump and his team, the Trumpists, have a completely different view on the fate of humanity, on the West, on the East, on friends and enemies, than the Biden administration, and before that, Obama, George W. Bush, Clinton…
In recent decades, America has been dominated by a liberal globalist model and ideology, including the idea that we should gradually move towards the desovereignization of nation-states and the transformation of humanity into a single mass under the leadership of a world government. This model dominated both global processes and domestic politics — from economics to culture. But Trump has abolished this liberal globalism.
For globalism, Russia as a sovereign state and society, defending traditional values and having its own unique cultural, diplomatic, political, and civilizational profile, was a huge obstacle. And it was precisely this that was connected to the provocation against our country, which led to the war with the globalist collective West in Ukraine.
Trump, however, represents a completely different, directly opposite ideology to liberalism and globalism. He is not a liberal, but a post-liberal or illiberal nationalist. A supporter of America as a sovereign state. And he shares almost no common positions with those who ruled before him. Another matter is that during his first term, Trump was unable to insist on his own agenda. Now, however, he has prepared and come to power with like-minded individuals. With a very cohesive and ideologically precise team, which in the three weeks since Trump has been in the Oval Office has already managed to do what sometimes entire nations do not accomplish in a century.
These are truly enormous changes, and Putin and Trump need to discuss precisely this. Will Trump continue the war with Russia or stop it? What does he think about Europe, China, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America… All of this matters to us, because as a great power, we have our own perspective on all these issues.
All of this, in my opinion, is extremely important and should be discussed in Saudi Arabia. The world order that Trump wants to build, and the world order that Putin is building. And how to understand and interpret multipolarity, the recognition of which we have already heard even from the US Secretary of State.
Accordingly, it is in this context, finding some common ground or, conversely, noting conflicts and a lack of mutual understanding, that we can move forward. And only after the contours of the world order between the two representatives of the two great powers are defined and clarified, can the conversation turn to Ukraine. I emphasize: without this understanding, talking about Ukraine is pointless. And impossible.
At the same time, it is worth noting the very serious, high level of our delegation. These are Yuri Ushakov and Sergey Lavrov, Putin’s closest associates in international politics and completely, totally in agreement with him. And therefore, it is they who will help our president prepare for this meeting.
On the American side, there is no such confidence yet that Trump’s team will be of similar significance and weight (his team itself is still in the transitional process of formation). But in any case, these people will also try to help their president. And, hopefully, provide him with adequate basic information for this fundamental summit between two civilization states, which is of extreme importance.
(Translated from the Russian)
