Who is the main enemy of the United States: China or Russia?
The collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, as it seemed at the beginning of the 1990-s, put an end to the question of world domination. No one else could compete with the United States of America either in military power, or in economic development, or in political influence.
The last decade of the twentieth century was the era of a unipolar world in which the United States dictated its political will to the rest of humanity. Russia, weakened by the post-Soviet chaos, market reforms and the collapse of industry, political instability and conflicts in the North Caucasus, could not oppose American influence, and the “friend Boris” with his pro-Western liberal environment was in power. China quietly resolved its own economic modernization issues and preferred for the time being not to lean out, but to gather strength.
Friend Bill and friend Boris. Then, in 1990, it seemed that Russia would no longer gain its former influence ...
The only countries in the world who then openly challenged the American world order were the so-called. “Outcast countries” that did not fit into the picture of “world democracy” imagined by Washington - Iran with its theocracy Ayatollah, Iraq, the hard ruler Saddam Hussein, Libya with the extravagant Muammar Gaddafi, North Korea and Cuba with the still living Latin American legend Fidel Castro. And, nevertheless, in the 1990-ies, the US has not yet conducted large-scale operations aimed at overthrowing political regimes in unwanted countries. The Desert Storm did not end with the liquidation of the Saddam regime in Iraq. From Somalia, the American soldiers were almost forced to flee, and with respect to Yugoslavia, Sudan, and a number of other states, the Americans preferred to conduct a bombardment and stop there. Apparently, it seemed to the owners of the White House and the Pentagon that there was nothing to fear. American propaganda lived for a long time without the image of an enemy - the Soviet Union was defeated, Russia seemed to follow the path of market democracy, and China was still too weak.
The situation began to change rapidly at the beginning of the 2000s, which coincided with the activation of radical Islam in the Near and Middle East, with the September 11 attacks. Then the main enemy of the United States was proclaimed "international terrorism". What is behind this vague formulation is difficult to understand, since terrorism has a “face” - either religious, or political, or national. “International terrorism” in Washington at that time was understood as the most radical trends in Islamic fundamentalism, including the Taliban movement in Afghanistan (prohibited in the Russian Federation) and al-Qaida (prohibited in the Russian Federation). The fight against terrorism has become a convenient screen for the aggressive penetration of the US into the Middle East - the invasion of Iraq with the elimination of Saddam Hussein’s regime and intervention in Afghanistan with the establishment of control over part of the country’s territory. Of course, Americans were interested in oil and geopolitical opportunities, and not at all the mythical struggle with some abstract evil - “terrorism”. But, nevertheless, while the Americans were looking for bearded leaders of the terrorist groups in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Russia strengthened and prepared for the revival of itself as a power.
The turning point was 2008 the year when Russian troops conducted an operation in South Ossetia, after a few days neutralizing the resistance of the Georgian army, prepared by NATO instructors. Then in the West they spoke openly about the Russian threat, and our country again returned to its usual position for the Americans - to the role of "the enemy of progressive humanity." But 2008 has not yet meant a catastrophic deterioration in relations between Russia and the West.
The next “black line” passed between Russia and the West in 2011, when the Middle East and North Africa were shaken by a wave of “orange revolutions” - the so-called "Arab spring". Egypt, Libya, Yemen - this is not the Czech Republic, not Moldova, or even Georgia. The "Orange Revolutions" led to an increase in violence, terrorism, and the fall of the economy in Egypt and Tunisia, to bloody civil wars in Yemen and Libya. At the same time, after the assassination of Gaddafi, Libya virtually ceased to exist as a single state.
Finally, 2014 was a year with events in Ukraine, the reunification of the Crimea and the beginning of the war in the Donbass was the final touch in the deterioration of Russia's relations with the West. The United States finally identified Russia as the main enemy of “American democracy” in the modern world, after which a real information war began against our country.
It must be said that giving Russia the role of an enemy greatly facilitated the functioning of the American political system. At one time, well-known political scientist Samuel Huntington drew attention to the fact that the entire American political system functions on the basis of the US opposition to a certain “other”. In other words, we are dealing with a classical model of “negative identity”, that is, uniting against something, and not for something. This is how America developed from the very first years of its existence as an independent state. At first, the role of the enemy belonged to the former metropolis - the British Empire, then it was replaced as a "most important threat" by Kaiser Germany, then Soviet Russia and the international communist movement.
During the Cold War, the role of the main enemy of the United States clearly belonged to the Soviet Union. When the place of the enemy number 1 was vacant, the crisis began and the American ideology and political system. Therefore, as soon as Russia returned to the role of the enemy, Washington was indeed able to breathe a sigh of relief - the American propaganda machine, the military-industrial complex, and the armed forces again began to function as usual.
Recently, however, the American elites are inclined to believe that, nevertheless, not Russia, but China represents the main threat to the United States. In contrast to the ideological confrontation with Russia, the deterioration of relations with the PRC has not only and even not so much a political, as an economic background. For example, in recent years, the United States became friends with Vietnam - also formally a socialist country, which, moreover, waged a long and bloody war with the United States, costing millions of Vietnamese lives. But relations with China are getting worse and worse. The reason is economic competition. Now the economy of China is the fastest growing in the modern world. China has long been the third largest economy in the world after the United States and united Europe, and even surpasses them in scale of growth.
After Donald Trump became the new president of the United States, one of the most ambitious steps he took was the beginning of a “trade war” with China. In order to harm the Celestial Empire, Trump even went so far as to harm the American economy. After all, it is known that even in the 1990-s, many US companies moved their production to China. At first, they were guided by considerations of the benefits of using labor, then they saw enormous advantages in China compared to the United States — both in terms of convenience and infrastructure development, and, more importantly, in the scale of the consumer market. Nearly a half billion people are ready-made consumers, which are several times more than residents of the United States. Having established themselves in China, American companies no longer wanted to leave this country. It is even easier for them to suffer losses due to a trade war and higher trade duties than to withdraw their production from China to their native American states.
In the White House, China’s policy is considered to be expansionary. The United States is making the PRC a traditional accusation of violating human rights, religious and national freedoms in Xinjiang and Tibet and in encroachment on disputed territories in the South China Sea. However, not so long ago, the United States Vice President Mike Pence made a keynote speech in which he stressed that they wanted to see “another American president” in Beijing. In fact, this means that the vice president accused China of interfering in US domestic politics. Previously, the same accusations against Trump’s opponents were against Russia, saying that Russian hackers took an active part in the American election campaign in order to influence the outcome of the elections and prevent Hillary Clinton from winning.
In fact, the position of both President Trump and Vice President Pens testifies to a progressive mismatch in the American political elite. Now the American establishment can be divided into two large “parties” - these are right-wing conservatives and cosmopolitan liberals. The interests of the first expresses Donald Trump. For them, the main enemy is China, since the right-wing thinks in more specific categories, it is important for them to ensure the economic domination of the United States and in the Celestial Empire they see the most dangerous threat to the economic domination of the States. Therefore, Trump and focuses on the trade war against China, and Vice President Pence is trying to bring it under ideological justification.
For American liberal circles, not China, but Russia is a more dangerous adversary. This is due to the fact that liberals focus not so much on the issues of US economic domination, but on ideology. It seems to them that it is Russia that is now the main opponent of those cosmopolitan liberal values that are spreading around the planet at the speed of light following the globalization of the economy and culture.
Which accusations most often throw Russia liberals? This is a violation of human rights, freedoms of sexual minorities, persecution of the opposition, irremovability of power, closeness of the army and police. That is, the liberals focus on political and ideological components of the confrontation. Their position is more principled and less dependent on the economic environment. It is even more difficult to interact with the liberals than with the right, because they are fanatical and full of sincere hatred for all who do not fit into the picture of the world they formulated.
At the same time, in the eyes of a part of American conservatives, the figure of Vladimir Putin, his policies meet with understanding, and even sympathy. This is due to the fact that the United States is rooted in the idea of Russia as an outpost of traditional and conservative values that are close and clear to the Western right. This part of the American conservatives thinks about the existence of common problems facing the United States, Russia, Europe and all "white" humanity. Therefore, for them Russia is a much smaller enemy than China.
Finally, there are several other countries that are traditionally viewed in the United States as hostile. Firstly, it is Iran, which took the position of the enemy immediately after the Islamic revolution 1979. For the regime, the Ayatollahs of the USA is the “big Satan”, the main ideological, military and political opponent and patron of Israel hated by Tehran. In turn, the United States seeks to drive Iran into the position of a complete outcast by all means, without fear of even spoiling relations with all countries of Western Europe for this purpose. Of course, oil also plays a role, one of the largest exporters of which is Iran, but on the whole, the confrontation with Iran is much more motivated by ideological and geopolitical factors.
The second “dangerous country” is North Korea. Americans are deeply incomprehensible and unpleasant political regime established in the DPRK seventy years ago. But to overthrow the “Kimov Dynasty” is not so simple - the DPRK has a strong and numerous army, and its main position is its geographical position. China and Russia will not allow to unleash a full-scale war in close proximity to their borders, and to overthrow the ruling regime through the "Orange Revolution" will not work - not the country. Nevertheless, Washington continues to zealously demonize the DPRK, talking about North Korean hackers and their mythical interference in American politics and presidential elections.
As for Syria, Venezuela, Nicaragua and a number of other "disadvantaged" states, they are, of course, not considered as serious opponents by the United States, and Washington’s attempts to change the political systems in these states and overthrow the existing regimes are primarily due to the desire to weaken Russian, Chinese or Iranian influence.
Thus, in the modern world, the USA has only two serious enemies - China and Russia. At the same time, it’s not yet necessary to talk about Russia as a serious economic competitor to the United States, but for Washington the ideological confrontation with our country is very important. Russia has become that “other” state, which American propaganda gives the most negative features. As for China, it represents a serious competitor in the economic sphere, but for political opposition, China is too far away and poorly known to the Americans.
We also note that this is only a political confrontation. As for the military confrontation, this is a separate aspect that requires special study. But now the United States is not ready for a big war, neither with China nor with Russia. During the three decades that have passed since the weakening and collapse of the Soviet Union and the socialist camp, the US military has been transformed to solve problems in local wars and conflicts, focused on antiterrorist activities and the fight against rebel groups in the Middle East, Africa and Latin America.
The last decade of the twentieth century was the era of a unipolar world in which the United States dictated its political will to the rest of humanity. Russia, weakened by the post-Soviet chaos, market reforms and the collapse of industry, political instability and conflicts in the North Caucasus, could not oppose American influence, and the “friend Boris” with his pro-Western liberal environment was in power. China quietly resolved its own economic modernization issues and preferred for the time being not to lean out, but to gather strength.
Friend Bill and friend Boris. Then, in 1990, it seemed that Russia would no longer gain its former influence ...
The only countries in the world who then openly challenged the American world order were the so-called. “Outcast countries” that did not fit into the picture of “world democracy” imagined by Washington - Iran with its theocracy Ayatollah, Iraq, the hard ruler Saddam Hussein, Libya with the extravagant Muammar Gaddafi, North Korea and Cuba with the still living Latin American legend Fidel Castro. And, nevertheless, in the 1990-ies, the US has not yet conducted large-scale operations aimed at overthrowing political regimes in unwanted countries. The Desert Storm did not end with the liquidation of the Saddam regime in Iraq. From Somalia, the American soldiers were almost forced to flee, and with respect to Yugoslavia, Sudan, and a number of other states, the Americans preferred to conduct a bombardment and stop there. Apparently, it seemed to the owners of the White House and the Pentagon that there was nothing to fear. American propaganda lived for a long time without the image of an enemy - the Soviet Union was defeated, Russia seemed to follow the path of market democracy, and China was still too weak.
The situation began to change rapidly at the beginning of the 2000s, which coincided with the activation of radical Islam in the Near and Middle East, with the September 11 attacks. Then the main enemy of the United States was proclaimed "international terrorism". What is behind this vague formulation is difficult to understand, since terrorism has a “face” - either religious, or political, or national. “International terrorism” in Washington at that time was understood as the most radical trends in Islamic fundamentalism, including the Taliban movement in Afghanistan (prohibited in the Russian Federation) and al-Qaida (prohibited in the Russian Federation). The fight against terrorism has become a convenient screen for the aggressive penetration of the US into the Middle East - the invasion of Iraq with the elimination of Saddam Hussein’s regime and intervention in Afghanistan with the establishment of control over part of the country’s territory. Of course, Americans were interested in oil and geopolitical opportunities, and not at all the mythical struggle with some abstract evil - “terrorism”. But, nevertheless, while the Americans were looking for bearded leaders of the terrorist groups in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Russia strengthened and prepared for the revival of itself as a power.
The turning point was 2008 the year when Russian troops conducted an operation in South Ossetia, after a few days neutralizing the resistance of the Georgian army, prepared by NATO instructors. Then in the West they spoke openly about the Russian threat, and our country again returned to its usual position for the Americans - to the role of "the enemy of progressive humanity." But 2008 has not yet meant a catastrophic deterioration in relations between Russia and the West.
The next “black line” passed between Russia and the West in 2011, when the Middle East and North Africa were shaken by a wave of “orange revolutions” - the so-called "Arab spring". Egypt, Libya, Yemen - this is not the Czech Republic, not Moldova, or even Georgia. The "Orange Revolutions" led to an increase in violence, terrorism, and the fall of the economy in Egypt and Tunisia, to bloody civil wars in Yemen and Libya. At the same time, after the assassination of Gaddafi, Libya virtually ceased to exist as a single state.
Finally, 2014 was a year with events in Ukraine, the reunification of the Crimea and the beginning of the war in the Donbass was the final touch in the deterioration of Russia's relations with the West. The United States finally identified Russia as the main enemy of “American democracy” in the modern world, after which a real information war began against our country.
It must be said that giving Russia the role of an enemy greatly facilitated the functioning of the American political system. At one time, well-known political scientist Samuel Huntington drew attention to the fact that the entire American political system functions on the basis of the US opposition to a certain “other”. In other words, we are dealing with a classical model of “negative identity”, that is, uniting against something, and not for something. This is how America developed from the very first years of its existence as an independent state. At first, the role of the enemy belonged to the former metropolis - the British Empire, then it was replaced as a "most important threat" by Kaiser Germany, then Soviet Russia and the international communist movement.
During the Cold War, the role of the main enemy of the United States clearly belonged to the Soviet Union. When the place of the enemy number 1 was vacant, the crisis began and the American ideology and political system. Therefore, as soon as Russia returned to the role of the enemy, Washington was indeed able to breathe a sigh of relief - the American propaganda machine, the military-industrial complex, and the armed forces again began to function as usual.
Recently, however, the American elites are inclined to believe that, nevertheless, not Russia, but China represents the main threat to the United States. In contrast to the ideological confrontation with Russia, the deterioration of relations with the PRC has not only and even not so much a political, as an economic background. For example, in recent years, the United States became friends with Vietnam - also formally a socialist country, which, moreover, waged a long and bloody war with the United States, costing millions of Vietnamese lives. But relations with China are getting worse and worse. The reason is economic competition. Now the economy of China is the fastest growing in the modern world. China has long been the third largest economy in the world after the United States and united Europe, and even surpasses them in scale of growth.
After Donald Trump became the new president of the United States, one of the most ambitious steps he took was the beginning of a “trade war” with China. In order to harm the Celestial Empire, Trump even went so far as to harm the American economy. After all, it is known that even in the 1990-s, many US companies moved their production to China. At first, they were guided by considerations of the benefits of using labor, then they saw enormous advantages in China compared to the United States — both in terms of convenience and infrastructure development, and, more importantly, in the scale of the consumer market. Nearly a half billion people are ready-made consumers, which are several times more than residents of the United States. Having established themselves in China, American companies no longer wanted to leave this country. It is even easier for them to suffer losses due to a trade war and higher trade duties than to withdraw their production from China to their native American states.
In the White House, China’s policy is considered to be expansionary. The United States is making the PRC a traditional accusation of violating human rights, religious and national freedoms in Xinjiang and Tibet and in encroachment on disputed territories in the South China Sea. However, not so long ago, the United States Vice President Mike Pence made a keynote speech in which he stressed that they wanted to see “another American president” in Beijing. In fact, this means that the vice president accused China of interfering in US domestic politics. Previously, the same accusations against Trump’s opponents were against Russia, saying that Russian hackers took an active part in the American election campaign in order to influence the outcome of the elections and prevent Hillary Clinton from winning.
In fact, the position of both President Trump and Vice President Pens testifies to a progressive mismatch in the American political elite. Now the American establishment can be divided into two large “parties” - these are right-wing conservatives and cosmopolitan liberals. The interests of the first expresses Donald Trump. For them, the main enemy is China, since the right-wing thinks in more specific categories, it is important for them to ensure the economic domination of the United States and in the Celestial Empire they see the most dangerous threat to the economic domination of the States. Therefore, Trump and focuses on the trade war against China, and Vice President Pence is trying to bring it under ideological justification.
For American liberal circles, not China, but Russia is a more dangerous adversary. This is due to the fact that liberals focus not so much on the issues of US economic domination, but on ideology. It seems to them that it is Russia that is now the main opponent of those cosmopolitan liberal values that are spreading around the planet at the speed of light following the globalization of the economy and culture.
Which accusations most often throw Russia liberals? This is a violation of human rights, freedoms of sexual minorities, persecution of the opposition, irremovability of power, closeness of the army and police. That is, the liberals focus on political and ideological components of the confrontation. Their position is more principled and less dependent on the economic environment. It is even more difficult to interact with the liberals than with the right, because they are fanatical and full of sincere hatred for all who do not fit into the picture of the world they formulated.
At the same time, in the eyes of a part of American conservatives, the figure of Vladimir Putin, his policies meet with understanding, and even sympathy. This is due to the fact that the United States is rooted in the idea of Russia as an outpost of traditional and conservative values that are close and clear to the Western right. This part of the American conservatives thinks about the existence of common problems facing the United States, Russia, Europe and all "white" humanity. Therefore, for them Russia is a much smaller enemy than China.
Finally, there are several other countries that are traditionally viewed in the United States as hostile. Firstly, it is Iran, which took the position of the enemy immediately after the Islamic revolution 1979. For the regime, the Ayatollahs of the USA is the “big Satan”, the main ideological, military and political opponent and patron of Israel hated by Tehran. In turn, the United States seeks to drive Iran into the position of a complete outcast by all means, without fear of even spoiling relations with all countries of Western Europe for this purpose. Of course, oil also plays a role, one of the largest exporters of which is Iran, but on the whole, the confrontation with Iran is much more motivated by ideological and geopolitical factors.
The second “dangerous country” is North Korea. Americans are deeply incomprehensible and unpleasant political regime established in the DPRK seventy years ago. But to overthrow the “Kimov Dynasty” is not so simple - the DPRK has a strong and numerous army, and its main position is its geographical position. China and Russia will not allow to unleash a full-scale war in close proximity to their borders, and to overthrow the ruling regime through the "Orange Revolution" will not work - not the country. Nevertheless, Washington continues to zealously demonize the DPRK, talking about North Korean hackers and their mythical interference in American politics and presidential elections.
As for Syria, Venezuela, Nicaragua and a number of other "disadvantaged" states, they are, of course, not considered as serious opponents by the United States, and Washington’s attempts to change the political systems in these states and overthrow the existing regimes are primarily due to the desire to weaken Russian, Chinese or Iranian influence.
Thus, in the modern world, the USA has only two serious enemies - China and Russia. At the same time, it’s not yet necessary to talk about Russia as a serious economic competitor to the United States, but for Washington the ideological confrontation with our country is very important. Russia has become that “other” state, which American propaganda gives the most negative features. As for China, it represents a serious competitor in the economic sphere, but for political opposition, China is too far away and poorly known to the Americans.
We also note that this is only a political confrontation. As for the military confrontation, this is a separate aspect that requires special study. But now the United States is not ready for a big war, neither with China nor with Russia. During the three decades that have passed since the weakening and collapse of the Soviet Union and the socialist camp, the US military has been transformed to solve problems in local wars and conflicts, focused on antiterrorist activities and the fight against rebel groups in the Middle East, Africa and Latin America.
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