“The hatred for Moscow on Biden’s team is staggering” In connection with the Electoral College’s recognition of Joe Biden as president-elect of the United States, The New York Times published a large article on December 18 which is a kind of edict to the next White House host The author of the article is 77-year-old […]
Biden gets his marching orders
“The hatred for Moscow on Biden’s team is staggering”
In connection with the Electoral College’s recognition of Joe Biden as president-elect of the United States, The New York Times published a large article on December 18 which is a kind of edict to the next White House host
The author of the article is 77-year-old Robert Gates. He was Director of the CIA from 1991-1993, visiting Moscow in that capacity; from 2006-2011, he was Secretary of Defense in the George W. Bush administration. – He has been defense secretary under Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Barack Obama.
A central tenet of Robert Gates’ article is that “unparalleled military power must remain the backdrop of America’s relationship with the rest of the world.” Gates reiterates the president-elect’s campaign promise, one of whose agenda items is a plan to “restore” U.S. global leadership, which the Biden team believes has been lost under Trump.
Another important message from Gates is that a tougher policy must be applied to everyone, including allies, who are not in step with America. Pressure on such countries “must continue”. And in particular: “Germany must be held accountable not only for its extremely low military spending. It must also be held accountable for its attempt to trade economic and security interests in Poland and Ukraine for the benefits of Nord Stream 2 from Russia to Germany.” This, by the way, is Trump’s line, but expressed more harshly.
The former Pentagon chief suggests that the next US president should also be tougher on Turkey, which has not given up its purchase of Russian S-400 air defence systems. Furthermore, “Ankara should be held accountable for its actions in Libya, the Eastern Mediterranean and Syria”, writes Robert Gates.
In other words, it is proposed to draw logical conclusions from the US hegemonic position in the Atlantic Alliance: “The United States should take the lead in NATO, in this ‘alliance of democracies’, to work out the consequences arising from its actions on those member states – Turkey, Hungary and increasingly Poland – that are moving towards totalitarianism or already fully using its tools”.
Note that the ease with which strategists in Washington use the term “totalitarianism” to apply not only to Russia (and previously to the USSR) or China, but also to those NATO allies that do not repeat all the turns of US foreign policy, could provide rich material for researchers of American political vocabulary.
A very important point from Robert Gates: It is proposed that the U.S. offensive in the area of information warfare be sharply stepped up. “Our ability to spread our message and influence governments and peoples is totally inadequate and obsolete,” exclaims the Pentagon chief, who has served under two administrations, Republican and Democratic. He recalls: While China has spent $7 billion on expanding information policy and influence, in America, Congress abolished the news agency in 1998 and driven it “into a corner of the State Department”.
Russia is not mentioned once in Gates’ article, the emphasis is on confrontation with China. However, this does not mean that Russia may somehow fall off the radar screen of Anglo-Saxon strategists. The British Times writes: “Unlike Trump, Biden believes Russia clearly interfered in the 2016 election and did everything possible to achieve the same result last month [in the November 2020 US election]… Some things do not change, but the West’s response will. And it’s going to start very soon.” The Times article we quoted is titled: “Biden: leave aggressor Putin out in the cold”.
“The US, along with its allies, must get the power politics right or their hopes for a more peaceful and sustainable world order will disappear,” The Wall Street Journal also urges.
The Financial Times makes an important statement, quoting a senior Western diplomat in Washington: “We expect a serious hardening of the position on Russia. The hatred for Moscow in Biden’s team is really striking.” Such assessments should be taken into account, all the more so since there is no reason to expect otherwise.
Alexei Pushkov, chairman of the Federation Council`s Information Policy Committee, warned ahead of the US election that should Biden win, a “neoliberal Trotskyist coalition” would come to power in America and “rush to impose its ‘values and ideals’ on the rest of the world… Russia would be the first target.
Vladimir Malyshev
