Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, at a conference at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, explained to the audience what the foreign policy of the Russian president was based on. According to the chief intelligence officer, Putin wants his country to be perceived as a great power.
“Putin sees Russia as a great country, a great power. It is extremely important for him that his country be respected and treated as a world power on a par with the United States, ”Mr. Clapper quotes. "Lenta.ru".
According to Klapper, Russia is one of the key countries in the international arena. “We have moved from a bipolar system of the Cold War to a multipolar construction of international relations, where countries such as Russia and China see themselves - and they are such - important, if not dominant players,” said the intelligence officer. In his opinion, it is "historical a process that cannot be influenced. ”
Impossible, by the way, even through sanctions. On this topic argues one of the authors of the publication. Bloomberg.
In the article “US Stuck With Nobody's Left to Sanction in Russia Over Syria,” Nick Wadhams notes that Washington hardly has any way to exert pressure on Moscow through restrictive measures.
The US has already imposed sanctions against exporters weapons and leading Kremlin officials. Even a motorcyclist nicknamed the Surgeon, and he was "sanctioned."
Today in Washington they are eager to "punish Moscow" for actions in Syria, but they do not know how to do this. It turns out it's hard!
The White House is talking about new sanctions, but there is no specifics and, it seems, will not. John Kerry from the State Department is also silent. And the European allies of the United States, like water in their mouths, scored: they could not agree on toughening the sanctions.
Michael Kofman, a staff member of the Kennan Institute in Washington, ironically: they say, the US president can impose sanctions against Russia, but in Moscow there is no one left who did not satisfy these sanctions - well, except that the Kremlin janitor.
There is simply no place to expand commercial and financial sanctions: the United States has reached the "limit".
You can, of course, strengthen the existing sanctions, but then the world economy will be under threat. Former Director for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia at the National Security Council, Andrew Weiss, explains that the White House is acting extremely cautiously so as not to harm the sanctions of the American and European economies and the global financial system.
In the meantime, analysts are scaring the world community with a likely US-Russia war. And they seem to be inclined to believe that the leaders of the United States, not Russia, are provoking the war.
John Dietrich in edition "American Thinker" makes the following thought: the prediction of war with Russia smacks of panic. Nevertheless, the members of the current Kremlin administration "are following exactly the course that leads to war". Their “warlike policy”, built on a mixture of “deceit and incompetence,” moves in two directions: cyberspace and Syria, the author believes.
The conflict in cyberspace arose as a result of suspicion: the Russians allegedly interfere in the American elections through Wikileaks. However, Russia firmly denies that it is somehow involved in hacking. But America itself did not provide any evidence. Instead, the public was allowed to enjoy the chatter of "intellectual" Joe Biden (vice president). He publicly reported on the possibility of secret cyber attacks against Moscow, after which he was ridiculed.
The following is also interesting here: if Russia is subjected to such cyber attacks, the US will be ... the first suspect. “This is a great opportunity for a party interested in fomenting a conflict between the US and Russia,” the author sums up. “The most important thing is that an attack of this kind will lead to an increase in tension in an already tense relationship.”
As for Syria, the situation is being intensified by Washington: some consultants in the United States, including State Department officials (more than 50 diplomats), advocate direct military action — air strikes against Syrian military bases, warehouses, etc. “These officials support the act war, ”says John Dietrich.
The Russians, in turn, deployed C-300 and C-400 air defense systems in Syria. And they warn that any blow against the Syrian forces "will put Russian personnel at risk."
Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton is in favor of creating a no-fly zone in Syria. Even Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, criticized her ideas. Speaking to Congress, he said that in order to control the entire airspace, it would be necessary to “go to war against Syria and Russia.”
War is a terrible topic. Therefore, from her back to Mr. Klapper. If such a person as Klapper openly recognizes multipolarity in international relations and is ready to rank not only the United States, but also Russia and China as important and even dominant players in the world, this means that not everyone wants to fight in the United States.
Such an assessment on behalf of the head of the intelligence community hardly involves the outbreak of war. Rather the opposite.
“Clapper’s speech was as realistic as possible,” said "Free Press" Leading expert at the Center for Military-Political Studies MGIMO Mikhail Alexandrov. - Most importantly, he recognized that instead of a bipolar system, a multipolar world is being formed. True, Klapper did not mention that there was still a short period of unipolarity - it lasted 10-15 years - when the United States dominated the planet. But such “forgetfulness” is understandable: otherwise, we would have to admit that America’s role in the world has gone down. ”
According to the expert, the head of the National Intelligence "cools the hot heads in the American elite." Alexandrov recalls that Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton spoke in favor of introducing a no-fly zone. But Mr. Klapper warns: in this case, a confrontation with the Russian armed forces is possible, that is, a direct path to the Third World War.
It is also interesting that Klapper says nothing about the expansionist aspirations of Russia, and it was the Americans who “inflated the myth of the Kremlin’s imperial ambitions”. The head of the National Intelligence emphasizes: Russia sees itself as a great power, and therefore Washington should take into account the interests of Moscow.
“This, frankly, is a legitimate demand of Moscow - according to all the canons of political realism. Great powers have their own areas of interest. And they defend these interests. ”
In the United States, we add, the interests of the party of war and the party of peace clashed. That is, not the Republican Party and the Democratic Party, or even some small parties, of which there are a dozen four in the States, namely, those who want to start a world war and earn some money, and those who understand that the era of American dominance is a thing of the past. , and a new war can bury its very entertainers.
Klapper makes statements in the spirit of realpolitik, and Hillary Clinton needs militancy rather for elections than for the actual creation of a no-fly zone in Syria. Obama and Madame Clinton, who worked for several years as Secretary of State, had the opportunity to work on such a zone in Syria (when Russia was not there), but even then it was decided to abandon this idea. In addition, Obama took up the reduction of the military budget of the country due to the extremely swollen public debt. Now, the creation of a no-fly zone is fraught with not only financial costs, but also a clash with Russia - and neither Obama in the last months of his reign, nor Hillary, if she becomes president, will not accept this.
If Hillary wins (by the way, her campaign headquarters and she changed her anger to mercy and adhere to ideas about restoring relations with Russia), then she will most likely try to start something like a new “reset”. It will be fun if Michael McFaul comes to Russia again.
Observed and commented on Oleg Chuvakin
- especially for topwar.ru
- especially for topwar.ru