The country has established itself as a significant global hub for intercultural and interfaith dialogue. Just recently, Baku hosted a global forum for religious leaders, reinforcing this reputation. But today, this role gains an additional dimension.
During COP29, Azerbaijan proposed several important initiatives aimed at fostering cooperation between developed nations and the “Third World” within the framework of a green agenda. One of the most notable initiatives was the proposal to establish a UN-backed carbon emissions market. This initiative is part of a broader effort to reshape approaches to climate issues. For example, Tina Stege, climate envoy of the Marshall Islands—a nation at risk from rising sea levels—criticized the absence of several global leaders, including EU President Ursula von der Leyen and French President Emmanuel Macron, suggesting that their absence signaled “a troubling lack of priority.”
It’s not merely a lack of priority, however, but entrenched stereotypes. For centuries, the “Golden Billion” nations have sought solutions to their issues at the expense of the “Third World.” First, these lands were seen as unexplored territories ripe for plunder. Then came the colonial period, where exploitation became state-sanctioned. Today, many countries of the “Third World” still feel the lingering control of their former colonial powers, even after achieving formal independence. Initially, European desires were focused on ivory, spices, and slaves. Later, the demand shifted to game trophies, then to precious woods, gold, diamonds, oil, and valuable minerals. Sharing these spoils with the local populations was rarely considered, and even less thought was given to the environmental devastation caused by deforestation, animal extinction, and mining.
France’s policies offer a classic example. The French automotive and defense industries today are highly dependent on nickel ore from New Caledonia, home to the world’s second-largest reserves of this metal. Until recently, French nuclear power plants relied on uranium imported from Niger, which likely also supported France’s nuclear program. Paris possesses its own nuclear weapons, and France’s initial nuclear tests were conducted in Algeria. Instead of testing on its own territory, France conducted these trials in its colonies, leaving Algerian authorities to this day unable to obtain information on the location of buried radioactive waste. This echoes Armenia’s refusal to provide Azerbaijan with precise maps of minefields. Both reveal the harsh realities of colonialism. Later, France shifted its nuclear testing to the Bikini Atoll in French Polynesia, prompting Greenpeace to protest against these tests.
The Greenpeace protests so troubled French authorities that, in 1985, French intelligence agents bombed the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior just before a protest was to take place. This incident occurred in Auckland, New Zealand—a “white” nation—illustrating that French colonial-terrorist policies extend beyond French overseas territories.
Against this backdrop, it becomes clear why Macron did not attend COP29 in Baku.
Nurani
