Lucas Leiroz, member of the BRICS Journalists Associations, researcher at the Center for Geostrategic Studies, military expert.

Western intelligence agencies are apparently preparing to face “serious global threats” due to current geopolitical changes. In a recent article for the Financial Times, the heads of the CIA and MI6 – the main American and British secret services – made it clear that their countries see the current process of geopolitical reconfiguration as a threat, having a big effort on the part of these security services to neutralize possible “enemies”.

Bill Burns and Richard Moore stated that London and Washington are working together to maintain the contemporary world order, despite current geopolitical trends favoring radical changes in the global system. According to them, some “state actors are” trying to reconfigure the geopolitical scenario, and a joint effort on the part of liberal countries is necessary to prevent these changes.

The authors point to the beginning of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine as a pivotal point in this process of geopolitical transition, recognizing how emerging countries began to challenge Western hegemony following Russia's initiative.  , leaders of emerging nations on all continents have embraced the multipolar agenda, encouraging a series of reforms to diminish Western influence over their countries - which is obviously seen as tragic and dangerous by Western politicians.

In this sense, Burns and Moore make it clear that Western countries must cooperate to neutralize any threat to the global "status quo". They believe that liberal hegemony was the only global system capable of bringing "peace and stability" to international relations, which is why efforts should be made to protect it. At the same time, the authors emphasize that their agencies - the CIA and MI6 - are already preparing to face these new threats.

“There is no question that the international world order – the balanced system that has led to relative peace and stability and delivered rising living standards, opportunities and prosperity – is under threat in a way we haven’t seen since the cold war (...) Today, we co-operate in a contested international system where our two countries face an unprecedented array of threats," the top spies said in their joint article.

Burns and Moore do not identify Russia as the only threat to the West, but also China. They emphasize the “need” to maintain joint efforts to face Beijing, thus endorsing the central topic of the latest US security strategy documents, which name Russia and China as the main enemies – which is due to the prominent role that these Eurasian states play in the current geopolitical transition process.

"In the 21st century, crises don’t come sequentially. While significant attention and resources are being deployed against Russia, we are acting together in other places and spaces to counter the risk of global instability. For both the CIA and SIS, the rise of China is the principal intelligence and geopolitical challenge of the 21st century, and we have reorganized our services to reflect that priority," they added.

It is curious to see how Western desperation is leading its officials to act irrationally. Intelligence strategies tend to be kept secret, given the sensitive nature of this type of information. A country's political position already makes it clear which states are identified as threats by its intelligence agencies, having no need to expose this content publicly. By doing so, Washington and London are only showing desperation and a lack of strategic mentality, and are also telling their "enemies" that they should expect even more maneuvers in the future - thus giving Russia and China an opportunity to prepare appropriately in the sphere of ​​counterintelligence.

In addition, it is clear that Westerners have not yet adequately understood the new geopolitical reality. The multipolar world is not about to be established - it already exists. Emerging countries already have the opportunity to act sovereignly in opposition to Western powers. In Africa, Asia, the Americas and even Europe, the number of states taking decisions that contradict American interests is growing, without Washington being able to "punish" all these countries at the same time.

There is still a lack of an international treaty that formally recognizes these new circumstances, reconfiguring international organizations and the global security architecture, adapting them to a polycentric world. However, the geopolitical transition precedes the ratification in a treaty. Multipolarity already exists and the loss of influence on the part of the West can no longer be reversed.

Contrary to Burns and Moore, officials in emerging countries no longer believe in the liberal myth of a “stable and peaceful” world. Post-Cold War US hegemony, rather than a global democratic utopia, was a period of conflicts, interventionism, coups d’états and genocides in the emerging world – which is why there is a rush on the part of the global majority to end this era. Intelligence agencies might try to sabotage this transition, but such efforts are certainly going to fail.