In his interview today, Tuesday, he said that major Western colonial powers have worked to flood developing countries with debts and wars and imposed blockades on them. They have manipulated international institutions to work in their favor as much as possible. The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are among the modern tools after World War II. We all hear about the conditions imposed by the fund and the bank on borrowing countries, most importantly the ‘structural reforms’ in exchange for loans, which mean privatization, lifting subsidies, and opening markets. The result is getting drowned in debts that are difficult to repay, with examples evident in Sri Lanka and Zambia.
Abdul Qader continued, in addition to the above, we find that the second tool of Western colonial powers is sanctions and freezing assets, as happened with Russia, which had 300 billion dollars of its assets frozen. Iran has been financially besieged since 1979, Venezuela was prevented from freely selling its oil, Afghanistan had 7 billion dollars of its funds frozen after the Taliban took control, and Libya had its funds frozen during 2011.
Abdul Qader pointed out that during the bipolar period, when the Soviet Union was present, it presented itself as an alternative to the West at that time. The Soviet Union supported liberation movements with weapons, through training and scholarships, as happened in Vietnam, Cuba, Angola, Mozambique, Algeria, and South Yemen. These are examples, along with its support for the principle of self-determination, which the United Nations established with Resolution 1514 in 1960 concerning the end of colonialism. Moreover, the former Soviet Union provided aid without declared political conditions, for example, building the High Dam in Egypt, iron factories in India, and arming entire armies.
The political analyst explained that Russia today is trying to restore its previous role and present itself to the world as the heir to this line. It canceled more than 20 billion dollars of debt owed by African countries in 2023 and concluded many agreements with developing and poor countries without political conditions. It offered wheat, weapons, and nuclear energy deals with Egypt, Algeria, Mali, and Burkina Faso. Russia focuses on the idea of a multipolar world and rejects unilateral sanctions. We have seen the expansion of the BRICS group, which primarily aims to break the dominance of the dollar and the global SWIFT system.
He concluded by saying: “The fundamental difference between previous and current colonialism is that the previous conflict was ideologically clear ‘socialism against capitalism,’ but today the conflict is about ‘who controls the rules of the game’: the dollar, technology, supply chains, and international standards.”
