Moscow is Washington's main opponent
At the beginning of this year, the specialists of one of the leading think tanks of the political and military structures of the United States Heritage Foundation published a collection of papers by their scientists called “Solutions-2014”. On the 249 pages of collective creation, all aspects of the activities of federal authorities in the framework of domestic, foreign and defense policy in the current year were analyzed and recommendations were given on the most effective and expedient implementation of the necessary measures.
AGGRESSIVE AND UNRELIABLE RUSSIA
Figures in this document and Russia. It says that today Moscow is positioning itself as a political, economic and cultural opponent of the United States and the countries of the West as a whole. Recently in Russia such tendencies as nationalism, populism and tough government pressure on society have increased significantly and become quite stable. And the constantly growing level of corruption in the various branches of the echelons of power structures leads to an increase in the outflow of capital and emigration.
The Russian leadership, according to the foundation's experts, pursues a tough and uncompromising "real policy", using quite a wide political and military toolkit to conduct its foreign policy actions. It includes the so-called soft power, that is, the ability of Kremlin leaders to achieve the desired results based on the voluntary participation of various states in actions in favor of Moscow, which is based on their sympathy for Russia and the attractiveness of its foreign policy.
This “force” plays a key role in international relations, directly or indirectly influencing world politics and business ties. The Kremlin is promoting its interests in the world arena and in the arms and military equipment trade. He also continues to rather actively build up his military potential, which is the basis of "hard power", implying the use of coercion and violence in the interests of Russia. Such a set of foreign policy tools and methods is aimed at restoring Russian influence in the post-Soviet space, and above all in the Asian region.
In May, 2012, Vladimir Putin for the third time became the president of the Russian Federation. From this moment on, the influence of Russia in the international arena began to grow and at the same time the pressure of the authorities on Russian citizens and the infringement of their civil freedoms increased. At the same time, Moscow intensified its efforts to bring the former Soviet republics into a certain community under its influence. The rhetoric of the Kremlin towards the United States and the countries of the European Union has become more rigid and aggressive.
The appointment of Putin in September 2011 as a presidential candidate and rigged elections to the State Duma in December of the same year caused, say, the drafters of the document, a wide wave of public protests demanding more transparency from the authorities. The Russian government responded to these speeches by adopting a series of measures aimed at increasing the control of public life, and toughened their actions against Western countries in order to consolidate the mood of their citizens, presenting their external enemy in the extremely negative light.
The ruling elite of Russia is actively supported by the hierarchs of the Moscow Patriarchate, convincing believers that the internal opposition is the enemy of Russia and acts as a united front with America. Putin constantly declares that Russia is at the forefront of attacks from the West. Not so long ago, he accused former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the State Department that they were the initiators of the recent mass demonstrations of dissidents in Moscow.
According to the Kremlin, the civilian population of Russia is under the continuous influence of the West. In accordance with the law adopted by the State Duma, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) engaged in political affairs that are financed from foreign sources must be registered as foreign agents. This discriminatory terminology pushes Russia back to the days of Stalinism. Investigations by a number of NGOs conducted by the Russian police that criticized the electoral system of Russia and opposed the infringement of the rights of its citizens led to the prohibition of these organizations. And those of their leaders who, in their criticism, crossed the “red line” of the admissibility of anti-government speeches and declared the absence of the rule of law in the Russian Federation, even pleased the prison bars.
According to the scientists of the Heritage Foundation, the ruling circles of Russia are not taking any serious measures to combat corruption. They mainly continue to unreasonably pursue representatives of some bureaucratic structures, including officials of the Ministry of Defense, which is the main factor hindering the economic modernization of the country. How much global corruption corruption has acquired in Russia has become clearly visible in the process of preparing for the holding of the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi.
The lack of confidence in the Russian government and the weakness of the Russian legislative framework adversely affect its business climate and are the cause of capital outflows. In 2012 – 2013, the annual transfer of funds from Russian to foreign banks amounted to 60 billion. Investing in the Russian economy outside the natural resources sector is considered by many investors to be extremely dangerous.
The Kremlin’s reform of the Armed Forces in the coming 10 years will cost Russia 740 billion. As President Putin announced, spending on education and health care will be reduced, and the military budget will double compared to 2000 in the year. Despite many difficult problems in the Russian army, at present, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation are more prepared for combat operations than they have been in the last 20 years. However, army reform will take considerable time, and Russia will continue to pursue a policy of relying on its nuclear arsenal as the main means of ensuring national security.
On the foreign policy arena, Moscow has begun to pursue a more consistent policy and is trying to play the role of an independent pole in a multipolar world, denying Western values and effectively opposing the formation of an alliance with the West on an ideological basis. Recently there has been a significant rapprochement between Russia and China in various fields. And Iran, Syria and Venezuela began to support the Kremlin even more.
Russia recognizes the role of “soft power” in various areas of its activities and is trying to attract many neighboring countries by demonstrating its economic power, including its huge markets, the availability of jobs for foreigners, as well as significant financial and energy resources. However, in extreme conditions, Russia is always ready to resort to the use of military force and coercion, as was the case in Georgia in 2008.
The European Union (EU) is Russia's main partner. Due to their relatively close economic ties, which are much larger than those of Russia and the United States, Moscow and the EU cannot afford to realize their relations below a certain established threshold. However, relations between Russia and the EU continue to deteriorate.
The relations of Russia with China since the time of Gorbachev entered a new phase and are becoming more friendly than with the countries of the West, although the interaction between Moscow and Beijing is fraught with certain difficulties. After the demarcation of borders in 2008, China and the Russian Federation began to intensively improve their political, military and economic ties.
Russia and China have repeatedly vetoed UN Security Council resolutions aimed at authorizing the entry of international troops into Syria. Both countries believe that the democratic rhetoric of the United States is a threat to their interests and internal stability. However, tensions in relations between the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China on territorial issues in the Russian Far East and in the spheres of influence in Central Asia continue to grow. The Russian leadership fears that the deterioration of relations with China may lead to the undermining of its claims to the role of an independent leader on a global scale.
In the Middle East, Russia successfully continues to realize its economic and geopolitical interests at the expense of the influence of the United States and its allies in this highly unstable region. She blocked the entry of military contingents of the West into Syria and provided the necessary diplomatic and military assistance to President Bashar Asad in the fight against the armed opposition. Vladimir Putin's proposal to destroy the Syrian chemical weapons jointly by the international community blocked the plans of the US invasion of Syria, raised the rating of the Russian president in the world and, at least for a while, secured the Assad regime.
Russia continues to provide diplomatic support to Tehran’s theocratic regime that supports terrorists. Moscow continues to advocate for the implementation of a nuclear energy development program implemented by Iran, and maintains close economic ties with that country. She helped Tehran build and launch a nuclear power plant in Bushehr, and also provides training for hundreds of Iranian officers, nuclear specialists and engineers at their universities and in Iran.
During Soviet times, Eurasia was the sphere of exclusive influence of Russia. At present, Moscow is intensively carrying out activities for the integration of the states of the former Soviet Union at the expense of the Customs and Eurasian Unions, which should begin to act in full next year. The Customs Union has already included Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Armenia, while Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are waiting for their turn.
WISHES OF EXPERTS TO WASHINGTON
The experts of the Heritage Foundation formulated a number of recommendations to the White House on countering the strengthening of Russia's role on the world stage. They believe that Washington needs to recognize the importance of Eurasia for the geopolitical interests of the countries of the Eastern Hemisphere. The United States, according to scientists, should support the sovereignty, independence and integration of the countries of this region with the West. In addition, America needs full support for democratic and secularist forces in this part of the world.
Washington, scientists believe the fund should constantly develop bilateral diplomatic, political, military and economic relations with the countries of Eurasia, especially Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.
The US government also needs to improve the efficiency of the White House's expert structures working in geopolitical, linguistic, religious, and historical areas.
The United States should in every way keep the Eurasian Union states from restricting the access of western countries to their markets and from expanding the public sector of the economy.
America also needs to continuously counteract the violation of human rights in Russia and engage its authorities in a thorough and honest dialogue on the discussion of this problem, which should lead to its positive solution.
In addition, Washington should optimally develop its law enforcement agencies, and above all the Armed Forces. The ability of the US Armed Forces to effectively counter current and future threats to America should be provided with an optimal balance of equipment and combat capabilities of the troops for the long term.
To do this, the United States must continuously upgrade its aircraft. According to scientists, in the future, the Pentagon will have to spend more time in 1,5 on purchases of new weapons than it has spent and spent on developing them. The military needs to increase the number of promising, unobtrusive fifth-generation fighter-bomber F-35, submarines and SSBNs, new-generation bombers, attack helicopters, precision weapons capable of striking from long ranges, and create additional brigades capable of protecting the continental United States , combating terrorism and protecting the American population from a wide variety of threats. The size of the US Navy ship should be increased to 346 units instead of 285 now.
The Pentagon also needs to carry out many other rather expensive military construction activities. According to Heritage, the Pentagon needs to allocate a sufficient amount of funds to carry out R & D, purchase weapons and military equipment and maintain troops in a state of readiness to repel the blows of a potential enemy anywhere in the world.
In conclusion, I would like to note that on the last day of September, US First Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Wark, speaking to members of the Council on Foreign Relations, said that Moscow’s rather aggressive policy forces the United States and its NATO allies to be ready to resolve contentious issues and military means. True, he did not say a word by what means he intended to accomplish this task - ordinary or nuclear.
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