Kenyan diplomats have busy schedules that epitomize the changing global order. Since 2023, the work of Kenyan diplomats has been exceptionally busy. In May, Indian frigates docked in waters off Mombasa, Kenya's second-largest city, for joint naval exercisesAt the same time, the British Royal Marines began training for Kenya's first commandos. June was followed by a series of high-level visits, including the United States, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and the European Union, who came to negotiate a free agreement, to sign an economic partnership agreement. In July, Raisi visited Kenya as the first stop on her trip to AfricaAt the same time, China's first minister, Wang Yi, also visited Kenya. It is worth recalling that the day Iran** stepped on the red carpet of Kenya's welcome, Kenya was regarded as an important partner at the beginning of China's cooperation with Africa 20 years ago. Now, China is once again investing in Kenya to build infrastructure from the coast of the Indian Ocean to the interior. Located in eastern Africa, Kenya has a population of more than 50 million people and a GDP of about $120 billion.
Once upon a time, Kenyan diplomats rarely had the opportunity to host delegations from world powers, but today there are few gaps in their official schedules. Under the changes in the global pattern, the era of the United States as the sole superpower is gradually fading, and the world is entering a period of turbulent and changeable order reshaping. Unlike the global order of the Cold War era of the United States and the Soviet Union, many countries today are free to choose their partners. According to the Financial Times, the current world landscape can be described as a "la carte" world: where countries used to have to order from a fixed menu, now competition between major powers offers more opportunities for many countries to work together, and more and more countries are "taking it both ways" with increasing skill. Some international experts have pointed out that the G20 group became a key political voice during the financial crisis and played a role in propping up the global economy. However, with the competition between the United States and China, the G20 began to emerge and a new era of more opportunism was coming. This is an era of intermediate countries, and the "middle" here refers to the geographical location of these countries between China and the United States, not to their national strength.
It is worth noting that some powerful countries, such as traditional allies of the United States such as Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Israel, and Germany, as well as countries such as Indonesia and India, are clearly emerging as great powers. The global order has changed dramatically over the past decade, as Nader Mousavezadeh, adviser to the former UN Secretary-General, put it. He pointed out that the competitive relationship between China and the United States has opened up a broad space for other countries to develop more effective bilateral relations and deeper strategic relations with these two powers. This new geopolitical order was embodied at the BRICS summit in August 2023. After testing the waters in previous years, the BRICS has achieved a historic expansion in 2023 and is gaining momentum. The BRICS countries, which expanded for the first time in 12 years, welcomed Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Argentina, Iran and Ethiopia as full members. Twenty-two countries submitted their bids to join the BRICS ahead of the meeting, including the stalwarts of the Global South, such as Venezuela and Vietnam, as well as Middle Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Iran, as well as other regional powers such as Indonesia, Nigeria, and Mexico.
Experts believe that the expansion of the BRICS shows that countries are looking for new ways to meet some of their economic or security needs. The countries in the middle may not be big enough or strong enough to shape the international order, and their ambition is to raise their voice. In the case of Turkey, in terms of its position on the Russian-Ukrainian war, Turkey has sometimes entered into an alliance with the West and sometimes confronted it. At this summer's NATO summit, Turkey's attitude towards Sweden made a 180-degree turn, nodding in agreement with Sweden's accession to NATO, highlighting its inadmissibility. Among such countries, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have emerged more assertively on the global stage and more independent from their traditional ally, the United States. They have strengthened their involvement in African politics and have also hosted Russia's peace talks with Ukraine. An EU senior ** said the EU needs to rethink its foreign policy priorities and priorities: "We need to engage more with these countries ......A significant part of our foreign policy structure is 20 years old. During a visit to Washington in 2023, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that "the trust between the United States and India has reached an unprecedented level."
However, in its stance on Russia, India has cleverly avoided the Western camp and maneuvered between the United States and Russia, buying more than 60% of its seaborne oil from Russia. India** said, "[This is in our own interest]. "On June 22, 2023, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the White House in the United States. The countries in the middle have demonstrated their flexible diplomacy and vagaries of their ability to push for change more than ever before, and during the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, the Non-Aligned Movement had to rely on moral and emotional sustaining rather than economic or political influence. Today, however, the BRICS countries have an increasing share of the global economy and hold many of the important minerals that the West desperately needs. As a result, the Western world is closely watching the rise of the intermediate state and reassessing the need for its worldview. Germany can also be seen as an intermediate country, according to Germany: "We clearly believe that the world should not be a G2 world dominated by two great powers, but a multipolar world, and Germany can be more in the middle. This means that the era of Western style ** is a thing of the past, and although the new menu is heavily influenced by the two chefs in China and the United States, it is still being written.
Therefore, it would be very dangerous for the West to assume the identity of its predecessors in the 20th century and to turn its nose up at what is currently happening.