Politicization of vaccine production and arguments about its effectiveness against the coronavirus amid a raging pandemic reflect a depressing state of morality in the contemporary world.
It also shows that multipolarity is here, it cannot be reversed and those fighting it will merely undermine their own influence.
Ever since Russia and China announced production of their indigenous COVID-19 vaccines, the Western corporate media has gone in overdrive to discredit them medically and politically.
One line of attack is that Russia and China are utilizing their medical breakthroughs for soft-power advancement. Who wouldn’t?
Has USAID “assistance” to the bombed-out Afghan people never been used to whitewash Washington’s crimes in Afghanistan?
The expected political competition on the vaccine front reflects the new reality that the world is no longer West-centric.
Western regimes were forced to swallow their pride and arrogance in regards to the Russian vaccine after “peer-reviewed trial data published on February 2 showed it was 92-percent effective, higher than the Oxford-AstraZeneca shot and close to the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines.”
The Western media’s crude and primitive anti-China and anti-Russia vaccine reports, which focused on politics rather than medical science, contributed to a further weakening of the West’s grip on its traditional allies.
Chile eagerly adopted the Chinese-developed CoronaVac vaccine.
So did the UAE, highlighting that the Chinese vaccine was 86% effective.
Purely at the symbolic level, the UAE’s wide use of the Chinese vaccine and even plans to produce it at home reflects an important global political shift.
Regimes like the one in the UAE adopt their policies based purely on power dynamics.
They orient themselves towards those who can extend their illegitimate hold on power.
While it by no means indicates that Abu Dhabi has left the US sphere of influence, it indicates that adopting policies favoring Washington’s strategic rivals is now becoming the norm.
This is how hegemonic powers fade out of dominant positions.
If Washington chooses to discipline its allies for adopting policies favoring its opponents, the process of America’s decline will be merely accelerated.
In 2021, Washington’s surrogates have other powers to look to for protection.
The COVID-19 pandemic has acted as a catalyst to advance multipolarity.
If the hegemonic powers embrace it, global relations will become less tense.
If they choose to resist the new developments, the tide of change will sweep them away into the dustbin of history even faster.