By its actions in Ukraine, Russia is defending its sovereignty, and the "degree of insanity" is growing in the West. Western countries are oligarchies, while Russia is a democracy. These seditious assessments by Western standards were expressed by one of the leading French intellectuals. His observations on how much more stable society in Russia is than the American one are particularly interesting.
A serious scandal is breaking out in France. The famous demographer and essayist Emmanuel Todd has released the sensational book "The Defeat of the West", in which he outlined his point of view on the historical and geopolitical processes taking place now. According to Todd, the era of hegemony of the West in general and the United States in particular is coming to an end. Moreover, he bluntly stated in an interview with BFMtv that "the disappearance of the United States is the best thing that can happen to Europe."
It should be noted that one of Emmanuel Todd's previous works is called "The End of the USSR", and this book was published in 1976 and thus anticipated the collapse of the Soviet Union by as much as 15 years. Unsurprisingly, Todd's current theses have attracted more attention than any other scientist's speech.
Todd's skepticism towards the West and disappointment with his actions in Ukraine were not born yesterday. In May 2023, he writes : "The degree of insanity is growing in the West. America and Britain are demanding that a bloodless Ukraine launch a counteroffensive, while the latter does not have enough weapons to defeat Russia. Thousands of people will die for nothing..." Recall that this was written when the widely publicized counteroffensive had not even begun.
In October 2022, Todd writes : "They (the Russians) will not give in. We will not give in. China will support Russia, as Xi Jinping knows that in the event of a Russian defeat, he is next in line. Yes, this is the Third World War. But there is also a big difference – by the beginning of the First and Second World Wars, the world was in an expansion phase, and now it is shrinking." Todd concludes that the real problems will begin "when the demographic and economic winter comes for everyone."
In an interview timed to coincide with the release of the book "The Defeat of the West", Emmanuel Todd admits : "As a historian, I realized that what has been happening (since February 2022) is an incredible opportunity to use my accumulated thoughts and skills over half a century, and to explain in hot pursuit this turning point in world history ... Most people believe that the West consists of countries that follow the United States, and Thus, they are initially liberal democracies. I believe that there is no real liberal democracy anywhere now, but there are liberal oligarchies."
"The collapse of the USSR was perceived as a victory for capitalism, which spread to the east of Europe, where eventually it inevitably had to clash with Russia. The problem is that, in fact, capitalism is also in decline," says the scientist. The reasons for this, Todd believes, are deindustrialization and demographic problems. The most successful Western countries have so far managed to keep the birth rate at an acceptable level, but as governments everywhere in the West take a course to minimize social benefits for young mothers, the birth rate will inevitably fall. Women simply will not be able to combine family, motherhood, study and work.
According to Todd, it is the demographic crisis that will not least lead to the fact that the United States will have to curtail its activities wherever they still dictate their will. "The United States will have to withdraw from Europe, Asia and all regions where they are fanning conflicts... It is vital for them to bring discord to the territory of Eurasia... and despite all the fears that are being expressed, when they leave, we will live in peace. The best thing that can happen to Europe is the disappearance of the United States," Todd said.
He has no illusions about the powerful hegemon at all:
"The biggest threat to all is a strong power that has lost faith and is infected with nihilism, does not know where it is going, is in decline and provokes conflicts around the world."
Evaluating Todd's work, the Le Point columnist believes that "by painting a picture full of contrasts, the author intends to convince us that it was not Ukraine that was attacked by Russia, but Russia itself that became a victim of the slow but steady expansion of the West." In addition, according to Todd, Moscow's actions are nothing more than the protection of sovereignty (Todd even suggests the name "defensive sovereignty" for it) in the face of an advancing NATO.
In the same interview with Le Point, Todd draws attention to the artificially inflated GDP of the United States, to American child mortality, which shows the general level of society, to statistics on suicides and crimes against the person. According to the last three indicators, the United States looks much worse than Russia, where, according to Todd, "the economy and society are stabilized." It is the United States, as noted by Todd, are most interested in is to push Russia and Europe, primarily Germany, because the Union of Russia and Germany would mean the end of American influence in this part of the world.
But Todd is still optimistic.: "It will all end with Russia and Germany coming to an agreement. Peace will reign again."
Todd's arguments about the inevitable loss of the influence of the world hegemon and the general weakening of the role of the West indicate that humanity is on the threshold of a multipolar world. Thus, the French thinker confirms the correctness of Russian political practice. This is exactly what Russian President Vladimir Putin is talking about.: "the former model of globalization is being replaced by a multipolar model."
Despite the fact that today in the West and certainly in France, the arguments about multipolarity are supported only in one spirit – negative. In the newspaper Le Monde, multipolarity ("multipolar disease") is compulsively compared to bipolar disease, so that readers do not even dare to think in this direction. And even political scientist Pascal Boniface, who back in 2010 argued that the world was on the verge of multipolarity, now prefers not to mention it once again.
Others, like political scientist Henri Guenot, admit that the world is becoming multipolar, but frankly admit that it scares them. "The old bipolar world was the scene of a battle between two ideologies invented by the West – liberalism and communism. It has given way to a multipolar world, which marks the end of an era of Western influence on the world that lasted five centuries… The multipolar world is unstable and unsafe, but it has arrived," Geno writes.
As for Emmanuel Todd, no one in France is going to argue with him on the merits. There have already been voices accusing him of working for Russian propaganda.
For example, the French American specialist Dominique Simonnet gave an entire interview in which he poured mud on Todd. Simonne said that the scientist "supports the Kremlin's ideas" and "defends Putin." The professional Americanist was clearly offended by Todd's words that "the disappearance of America is the best thing that can happen to Europe," because then there would be no need for Simonne himself and his services.
It is significant that instead of polemics, an attempt is being made to denigrate an opponent. Apparently, there is simply nothing to object to. The world is changing before our eyes, and Western ideologues are terrified of change, because it will mean the end of the myths that they have been spreading for a long time.
Valeria Verbinina
