https://sputniknews.in/20251015/if-the-west-crumbles-down-global-souths-new-fears-9941599.html
If the West Crumbles Down: Global South’s New Fears
If the West Crumbles Down: Global South’s New Fears
Sputnik India
There is a new note in international discussions about the shape of the world to come, and that note is distinctly panicky. It sounds, like, what if this or... 15.10.2025, Sputnik India
2025-10-15T20:14+0530
2025-10-15T20:14+0530
2025-10-18T20:14+0530
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You may have heard that uncertain tone in last week’s comments on the visit of the British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to New Delhi. But then, some commentaries were all too certain, with headlines like: Starmer’s desperate dash to India. “With the UK’s economy sputtering under Starmer’s uninspired Labour regime—plagued by inflation, stagnant growth, and a tarnished global image—the British PM is scrambling to latch onto Modi’s coattails”, says the British analyst with good Indian ties. He concludes: “this is a flailing and failing leader begging for scraps from India’s booming table, hoping to mask his domestic failures with borrowed prestige”.Will someone tell me, when it ever was that a British PM have been called a coattail rider, creating uncertainty for someone’s foreign policy and economic plans simply by weakness of his nation?How about the Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand’s upcoming visit to India? No commentaries, so far, about “latching onto Modi’s coattails”, but still the same idea is lurking in typically diplomatic phrases like “Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy emphasizes the need to deepen economic partnerships in Asia to diversify away from overdependence on traditional Western markets”.No need to search Internet at length for the troubles of Western markets, and the whole Western political systems to boot. If you are tired of following England’s troubles, you may cross the English Channel and watch closely the throes of France. That great power hangs suspended between a no confidence vote to the twice-appointed Prime Minister, the President’s resignation and the complete reset of the whole political system. And how can it be otherwise, with such debt and deficit. Then there are smaller European nations on the verge of crumbling down, that’s Belgium and Finland, not to mention several others.But then, Europe is by far not the main suspect in the crumbling down case. Recently I’ve noticed a very telling analysis in Asia Times, with ideas like that: “There is a possibility that the American system could rapidly collapse in the coming years. China might decide to shut itself off, hoping, like in an apocalypse, to survive in partial isolation and then rebuild. Meanwhile, it would have time to consider how to put the pieces back together after the collapse, understanding that this also depends on how the disaster unfolds. Even if the world doesn’t fall apart, China will have gained time and will determine how to handle whatever happens next, based on the circumstances”.Not that I was impressed by that idea of China shutting itself off, but what exactly is collapse of American system? And what exactly is a possible collapse of Europe? Will the US split into two rivalling powers? Will European Union suffer the same fate? Would anyone list convincingly all the things we mean by collapse?Let’s have a look at yet another diplomatic plot, India-related and very global. There is going to be an ASEAN summit in a few days, and an APEC summit later on. The US President Donald Trump have been invited to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to attend some of the ASEAN meetings, maybe meet the PM Narendra Modi there, and reportedly have confirmed his attendance. And then, suddenly, Anwar Ibrahim, the Prime Minister of Malaysia, had to attend the meeting with the king and the sultans of the Malay states, discussing a possibility of cancelling that invitation due to street rallies protesting mass murders in Gaza. Now that trouble is probably gone, there is a chance that the awkward Gaza peace agreement, facilitated by Trump, will solve the problem.But – again – will someone tell me, when it ever was that a US President’s visit created an awkward regional diplomatic problem? It may not be a collapse of all of the American system, whatever it is, but it certainly is a new problem of the American diplomacy.New realties, especially the ones of global dimensions, are better to see looking backwards, from a considerable distance. What we can definitely say by now, is that the tone of the global economic and political symphony is changing. No more.But, still, only recently the main nerve of foreign relations was an uneasy dialogue of the so-called Global North and Global South, that has replaced the previous competition of the West and the East (not to mention the Third World, that tried to stay away from that contest). And there was that inner conviction of all the participants, that the North was something rich, powerful, often unpleasant to deal with, but still that troublesome North was needed as the source of finance, technologies and maybe protection – if you know how to deal with it and keep some of your autonomy.Talking about the North-South clash, nobody in the world knew it better than India, that has, in 2023, chaired the G20 meeting. To remind, that G20, twenty top economies of the world, have split evenly into 10 and 10, these being the mentioned North and South. We, the analysts, have been watching avidly Indian effort to push the North into listening to the South and go easy with all these trade and other sanctions on Russia, China and the rest, since sanctions were hurting nations that had nothing to do with the West’s regional conflicts.But, in any case, mentality of most nations of the South still belonged to the 20th and several previous centuries. South is small and weak, prone to crumbling down in this or that way, while North is often predatory and wrong, but still strong and invincible, so it’s wise not to antagonize it too much. The idea of these powers of the North bringing more trouble than benefits due to their inherent weakness – that idea is still fresh and, as I said, sounds rather like a new note, not a whole symphony.But that note is very much here, nevertheless. We may safely predict that very soon the idea of big powers, like the US, England or France crumbling down and dragging others underwater – that idea will take hold. The finance people have been chewing on it for quite a while, anyway, maybe since the financial crisis of 2008-2009.I may also predict reports on that subject ordered by serious people, in business and politics. And then other analysts, less serious, will be eager to join the discussion on that enchanting subject, namely, what will happen to us all if (or when) somebody in the West goes belly up in this sense or that. Finally, the very fact of that discussion going on will become a factor of uncertainty in the world to come.Dmitry Kosyrev is a Russian writer, author of spy novels and short stories. He also did columns for the Pioneer and Firstpost.comThe compact versionThere is a new note in international discussions about the shape of the world to come, and that note is distinctly panicky. It sounds, like, what if this or that great power crumbles down, how will it affect us?You may have heard that uncertain tone in last week’s comments on the visit of the British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to New Delhi. But then, some commentaries were all too certain, with headlines like: Starmer’s desperate dash to India. “With the UK’s economy sputtering under Starmer’s uninspired Labour regime—plagued by inflation, stagnant growth, and a tarnished global image—the British PM is scrambling to latch onto Modi’s coattails”, says the British analyst with good Indian ties.Will someone tell me, when it ever was that a British PM have been called a coattail rider, creating uncertainty for someone’s foreign policy and economic plans simply by weakness of his nation?How about the Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand’s upcoming visit to India? No commentaries, so far, about “latching onto Modi’s coattails”, but still the same idea is lurking in typically diplomatic phrases like “Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy emphasizes the need to deepen economic partnerships in Asia to diversify away from overdependence on traditional Western markets”.No need to search Internet at length for the troubles of Western markets, and the whole Western political systems to boot. If you are tired of following England’s troubles, you may cross the English Channel and watch closely the throes of France. That great power hangs suspended between a no confidence vote to the twice-appointed Prime Minister, the President’s resignation and the complete reset of the whole political system. And how can it be otherwise, with such debt and deficit. Then there are smaller European nations on the verge of crumbling down, that’s Belgium and Finland, not to mention several others.But then, Europe is by far not the main suspect in the crumbling down case. Recently I’ve noticed a very telling analysis in Asia Times, with ideas like that: “There is a possibility that the American system could rapidly collapse in the coming years. China might decide to shut itself off, hoping, like in an apocalypse, to survive in partial isolation and then rebuild.”.Not that I was impressed by that idea of China shutting itself off, but what exactly is collapse of American system? And what exactly is a possible collapse of Europe?Only recently the main nerve of foreign relations was an uneasy dialogue of the so-called Global North and Global South, that has replaced the previous competition of the West and the East (not to mention the Third World, that tried to stay away from that contest). And there was that inner conviction of all the participants, that the North was something rich, powerful, often unpleasant to deal with, but still that troublesome North was needed as the source of finance, technologies and maybe protection – if you know how to deal with it and keep some of your autonomy. South is small and weak, prone to crumbling down in this or that way, while North is often predatory and wrong, but still strong and invincible, so it’s wise not to antagonize it too much.The idea of these powers of the North bringing more trouble than benefits due to their inherent weakness – that idea is still fresh and, as I said, sounds rather like a new note, not a whole symphony. But that note is very much here, nevertheless.Dmitry Kosyrev is a Russian writer, author of spy novels and short stories. He also did columns for the Pioneer and Firstpost.com
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If the West Crumbles Down: Global South’s New Fears
20:14 15.10.2025 (Updated: 20:14 18.10.2025) There is a new note in international discussions about the shape of the world to come, and that note is distinctly panicky. It sounds, like, what if this or that great power crumbles down, how will it affect us? That note is kind of unbelievable, but there it is.
You may have heard that uncertain tone in last week’s comments on the visit of the British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to New Delhi. But then, some commentaries were all too certain, with
headlines like: Starmer’s desperate dash to India. “With the UK’s economy sputtering under Starmer’s uninspired Labour regime—plagued by inflation, stagnant growth, and a tarnished global image—the British PM is scrambling to latch onto Modi’s coattails”, says the British analyst with good Indian ties. He concludes: “this is a flailing and failing leader begging for scraps from India’s booming table, hoping to mask his domestic failures with borrowed prestige”.
Will someone tell me, when it ever was that a British PM have been called a coattail rider, creating uncertainty for someone’s foreign policy and economic plans simply by weakness of his nation?
How about the Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand’s upcoming visit to India? No commentaries, so far, about “latching onto Modi’s coattails”, but still the same idea is lurking in typically
diplomatic phrases like “Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy emphasizes the need to deepen economic partnerships in Asia to diversify away from overdependence on traditional Western markets”.
No need to search Internet at length for the troubles of Western markets, and the whole Western political systems to boot. If you are tired of following England’s troubles, you may cross the English Channel and watch closely the throes of France. That great power hangs suspended between a no confidence vote to the twice-appointed Prime Minister, the President’s resignation and the complete reset of the whole political system. And how can it be otherwise, with such debt and deficit. Then there are smaller European nations on the verge of crumbling down, that’s Belgium and Finland, not to mention several others.
But then, Europe is by far not the main suspect in the crumbling down case. Recently I’ve noticed a very telling analysis in Asia Times, with
ideas like that: “There is a possibility that the American system could rapidly collapse in the coming years. China might decide to shut itself off, hoping, like in an apocalypse, to survive in partial isolation and then rebuild. Meanwhile, it would have time to consider how to put the pieces back together after the collapse, understanding that this also depends on how the disaster unfolds. Even if the world doesn’t fall apart, China will have gained time and will determine how to handle whatever happens next, based on the circumstances”.
Not that I was impressed by that idea of China shutting itself off, but what exactly is collapse of American system? And what exactly is a possible collapse of Europe? Will the US split into two rivalling powers? Will European Union suffer the same fate? Would anyone list convincingly all the things we mean by collapse?
Let’s have a look at yet another diplomatic plot, India-related and very global. There is going to be an ASEAN summit in a few days, and an APEC summit later on. The US President Donald Trump have been invited to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to attend some of the ASEAN meetings, maybe meet the PM Narendra Modi there, and reportedly have confirmed his attendance. And then, suddenly, Anwar Ibrahim, the Prime Minister of Malaysia, had to
attend the meeting with the king and the sultans of the Malay states, discussing a possibility of cancelling that invitation due to street rallies protesting mass murders in Gaza. Now that trouble is probably gone, there is a chance that the awkward Gaza peace agreement, facilitated by Trump, will solve the problem.
But – again – will someone tell me, when it ever was that a US President’s visit created an awkward regional diplomatic problem? It may not be a collapse of all of the American system, whatever it is, but it certainly is a new problem of the American diplomacy.
New realties, especially the ones of global dimensions, are better to see looking backwards, from a considerable distance. What we can definitely say by now, is that the tone of the global economic and political symphony is changing. No more.
But, still, only recently the main nerve of foreign relations was an uneasy dialogue of the so-called Global North and Global South, that has replaced the previous competition of the West and the East (not to mention the Third World, that tried to stay away from that contest). And there was that inner conviction of all the participants, that the North was something rich, powerful, often unpleasant to deal with, but still that troublesome North was needed as the source of finance, technologies and maybe protection – if you know how to deal with it and keep some of your autonomy.
Talking about the North-South clash, nobody in the world knew it better than India, that has, in 2023, chaired the G20 meeting. To remind, that G20, twenty top economies of the world, have split evenly into 10 and 10, these being the mentioned North and South. We, the analysts, have been watching avidly Indian effort to push the North into listening to the South and go easy with all these trade and other sanctions on Russia, China and the rest, since sanctions were hurting nations that had nothing to do with the West’s regional conflicts.
But, in any case, mentality of most nations of the South still belonged to the 20th and several previous centuries. South is small and weak, prone to crumbling down in this or that way, while North is often predatory and wrong, but still strong and invincible, so it’s wise not to antagonize it too much. The idea of these powers of the North bringing more trouble than benefits due to their inherent weakness – that idea is still fresh and, as I said, sounds rather like a new note, not a whole symphony.
But that note is very much here, nevertheless. We may safely predict that very soon the idea of big powers, like the US, England or France crumbling down and dragging others underwater – that idea will take hold. The finance people have been chewing on it for quite a while, anyway, maybe since the financial crisis of 2008-2009.
I may also predict reports on that subject ordered by serious people, in business and politics. And then other analysts, less serious, will be eager to join the discussion on that enchanting subject, namely, what will happen to us all if (or when) somebody in the West goes belly up in this sense or that. Finally, the very fact of that discussion going on will become a factor of uncertainty in the world to come.
Dmitry Kosyrev is a Russian writer, author of spy novels and short stories. He also did columns for the Pioneer and Firstpost.com
There is a new note in international discussions about the shape of the world to come, and that note is distinctly panicky. It sounds, like, what if this or that great power crumbles down, how will it affect us?
You may have heard that uncertain tone in last week’s comments on the visit of the British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to New Delhi. But then, some commentaries were all too certain, with
headlines like: Starmer’s desperate dash to India. “With the UK’s economy sputtering under Starmer’s uninspired Labour regime—plagued by inflation, stagnant growth, and a tarnished global image—the British PM is scrambling to latch onto Modi’s coattails”, says the British analyst with good Indian ties.
Will someone tell me, when it ever was that a British PM have been called a coattail rider, creating uncertainty for someone’s foreign policy and economic plans simply by weakness of his nation?
How about the Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand’s upcoming visit to India? No commentaries, so far, about “latching onto Modi’s coattails”, but still the same idea is lurking in typically
diplomatic phrases like “Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy emphasizes the need to deepen economic partnerships in Asia to diversify away from overdependence on traditional Western markets”.
No need to search Internet at length for the troubles of Western markets, and the whole Western political systems to boot. If you are tired of following England’s troubles, you may cross the English Channel and watch closely the throes of France. That great power hangs suspended between a no confidence vote to the twice-appointed Prime Minister, the President’s resignation and the complete reset of the whole political system. And how can it be otherwise, with such debt and deficit. Then there are smaller European nations on the verge of crumbling down, that’s Belgium and Finland, not to mention several others.
But then, Europe is by far not the main suspect in the crumbling down case. Recently I’ve noticed a very telling analysis in Asia Times, with
ideas like that: “There is a possibility that the American system could rapidly collapse in the coming years. China might decide to shut itself off, hoping, like in an apocalypse, to survive in partial isolation and then rebuild.”.
Not that I was impressed by that idea of China shutting itself off, but what exactly is collapse of American system? And what exactly is a possible collapse of Europe?
Only recently the main nerve of foreign relations was an uneasy dialogue of the so-called Global North and Global South, that has replaced the previous competition of the West and the East (not to mention the Third World, that tried to stay away from that contest). And there was that inner conviction of all the participants, that the North was something rich, powerful, often unpleasant to deal with, but still that troublesome North was needed as the source of finance, technologies and maybe protection – if you know how to deal with it and keep some of your autonomy. South is small and weak, prone to crumbling down in this or that way, while North is often predatory and wrong, but still strong and invincible, so it’s wise not to antagonize it too much.
The idea of these powers of the North bringing more trouble than benefits due to their inherent weakness – that idea is still fresh and, as I said, sounds rather like a new note, not a whole symphony. But that note is very much here, nevertheless.
Dmitry Kosyrev is a Russian writer, author of spy novels and short stories. He also did columns for the Pioneer and Firstpost.com
