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recently.
At the same time, the Middle East is an extremely complicated region, one where it may be quite
difficult to find a long-term partner. There are many reasons for this. They include a religious
and ethnic diversity and numerous conflicts that tend to move from a latent to a violent phase
from time to time.
To sum up, it is obvious that military action alone cannot solve all the problems, and that a lack
of a verified strategy and failure to use soft power, primarily economic, social, and cultural meth-
ods, may have negative international effects and adverse domestic consequences in Russia.
As an observer in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Russia would be able to put forward
some initiatives to raise its prestige in the Muslim world. In this connection, Vladimir Putin's
support for the proposal of Nursultan Nazarbayev, president of Kazakhstan, for setting up an
"Islam against terrorism" forum is important and would have a long-term positive effect.
A. Fursov: Kerim Bey says that the naval activity of the Russian Federation in the Middle East
will bring Russia into confrontation with an extraregional actor, the United States. But no matter
what the Russian Federation does today, the United States is near our borders already. It's part
of an anaconda strategy, which wasn't invented by Brzezinski but was first described in 1854 by
our brilliant political economist Vernadsky Sr, the father of the geochemist, in the book Political
Balance and Britain. Today, Russia is pushing this anaconda away from its borders.
A. Oganesyan: Many thanks to all the participants. What makes our meetings interesting and
substantial are the speeches and debates. I want to thank everyone who stated their points of
view. I think we will remember this conference.
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