Over the last few years - and one can argue it is more accurate to suggest that it has in fact been decades - many people feel that the political winds have been blowing so strangely lately in the United States, that the country is hardly recognizable.
One might wonder if this was the end game, so to speak, that Russia was looking for all along in interfering with American elections, and trying their best to put a clown like Donald Trump into the highest office in the land. Remember, the appeal of Trump for many was that his win would serve as a big "F U" to many establishment politicians and "the system," according to a certain logic. Other than being a kind of protest vote, however, Trump's policies are, in fact, further entrenching the rigged system.
Trump had given voice some ideas that some extremists had been toying with, but which few had actually taken seriously. Things like pulling out of international agreements, like the Paris Climate Accord based on a skepticism towards climate change, or pulling out of the Iran Nuclear Deal, or pulling out of NAFTA and/or the TPP. Some countries, including China, actively tried to step up into leadership vacuums previously occupied by the United States. Indeed, upon meeting Trump in person, the Pope, of all people, looked visibly sick. And within hours of meeting with Trump, several European leaders declared publicly that they no longer felt that the United States was a reliable partner any longer.
That takes some doing! But that was the effect that Trump had. Hell, Trump even had the world community laughing to his face, quite literally, during an address before the United Nations. Increasingly he was viewed as a joke by most people around the world, and by a growing number of people even within the United States.
It all felt like a cruel joke.
And now, this rather convenient diagnosis by a Russian government official, outright suggesting that the United States is no longer a country that can be trusted.
Indeed, if the Russian government did not orchestrate people to actively interfere in the American elections, than it is a wonder just how much of this seems to be playing into their hands. And frankly, who could really blame them? After all, Russians - particularly Vladimir Putin - justifiably felt that they owed the United States some payback after the American role in actively trying to bring the Soviet Union to it's knees during the Cold War, succeeding eventually, and then proclaiming themselves to have won the Cold War and seemingly rejoicing at the pain that a former superpower nation was going through in the aftermath of the end of the Cold War. Talk about American hubris.
So, on some level, it is not too shocking that the Russians remained the one European nation that seemed not overly keen to get on too friendly terms with the West, and particularly with the United States. Relations did improve, to be sure. The ice from the Cold War melted quite a bit, particularly with Gorbachev and Reagan in the eighties, and Clinton and Yeltsin in the nineties. I even remember my father marveling at how much the world seemed to have changed when Clinton and Yeltsin both broke out laughing uncontrollably during a meeting.
Well, times have changed again, because Putin replaced Yelstin when 1999 ended, and 2000 began. And few would find it arguable, from that time onward, that relations between the two nations cooled considerably. Things began to reach new iciness in the aftermath of the Russian invasion and takeover of the Crimea and interference in Ukraine, which was shortly followed by Russia's interference in the American elections of 2016.
Turns out that Putin felt understandably bitter that Russia/the Soviet Union had fallen from grace, and lost it's superpower status. And so, he seemed to work with the specific intent of undermining America's own superpower status. If this seemed perhaps a laughable notion in 2000, when Putin first took over, and when the United States stood relatively tall still as the world's undisputed leading (and at the time, sole) superpower. But look around now, when China has risen at such an incredible rate, and when many world leaders have outright expressed their distrust of the United States shortly after meeting with Trump, claiming that it can no longer be viewed as a reliable partner. China quickly tried to position itself in a leadership position once Trump announced that he was pulling the United States out of the Paris Climate Accord. Europe is still trying to make the Iran Nuclear Deal work, even after Trump pulled the United States out of that. And indeed, many countries in the world are working out trade agreements between one another because of Trump, particularly since he initiated trade wars against so much of the rest of the world, whether they were viewed before as rivals or enemies, or even as allies.
Well, times have changed again, because Putin replaced Yelstin when 1999 ended, and 2000 began. And few would find it arguable, from that time onward, that relations between the two nations cooled considerably. Things began to reach new iciness in the aftermath of the Russian invasion and takeover of the Crimea and interference in Ukraine, which was shortly followed by Russia's interference in the American elections of 2016.
Turns out that Putin felt understandably bitter that Russia/the Soviet Union had fallen from grace, and lost it's superpower status. And so, he seemed to work with the specific intent of undermining America's own superpower status. If this seemed perhaps a laughable notion in 2000, when Putin first took over, and when the United States stood relatively tall still as the world's undisputed leading (and at the time, sole) superpower. But look around now, when China has risen at such an incredible rate, and when many world leaders have outright expressed their distrust of the United States shortly after meeting with Trump, claiming that it can no longer be viewed as a reliable partner. China quickly tried to position itself in a leadership position once Trump announced that he was pulling the United States out of the Paris Climate Accord. Europe is still trying to make the Iran Nuclear Deal work, even after Trump pulled the United States out of that. And indeed, many countries in the world are working out trade agreements between one another because of Trump, particularly since he initiated trade wars against so much of the rest of the world, whether they were viewed before as rivals or enemies, or even as allies.
All of this can hardly fail to receive considerable notice from the world community.
And guess what? Turns out that the Russians, who clearly wanted Trump to become the next president in 2016, are now using all of this chaos that has really accelerated under Trump to undermine American authority and credibility around the world.
And guess what? Turns out that the Russians, who clearly wanted Trump to become the next president in 2016, are now using all of this chaos that has really accelerated under Trump to undermine American authority and credibility around the world.
At an annual address to Moscow's diplomatic academy, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov hailed on Friday a new geopolitical era marked by "multipolarity," stating that "the emergence of new centers of power to maintain stability in the world requires the search for a balance of interests and compromises."
He said there was a shift in the center of global economic power to East from West, where a "liberal order" marked by globalization was "losing its attractiveness and is no more viewed as a perfect model for all." "Unfortunately, our Western partners led by the United States do not want to agree on common approaches to solving problems," Lavrov continued, accusing Washington and its allies of trying to "preserve their centuries-old domination in world affairs despite objective trends in forming a polycentric world order."
He argued that these efforts were "contrary to the fact that now, purely economically and financially, the United States can no longer—singlehandedly or with its closest allies—resolve all issues in the global economy and world affairs.
"In order to artificially retain their dominance, to regain indisputable positions, they employ various methods of pressure and blackmail to coerce economically and through the use of information," said Lavrov.
Well, there you go!
It's enough to make you think that the Russians used our own collective national hubris against us, that they used our heavyweight status against us martial arts style, to make sure that we fell on the sword of our own thinking. We feel superior to the rest of the world, and this is what allowed our own standards domestically to keep sinking, and the bar kept getting lower and lower. It was inevitable that this would impact our relations with the rest of the world before too long, and this has now come to pass. The rest of the world sees our decline for what it is, and Trump has greatly hastened this decline. This has greatly contributed to the United States literally being viewed as a basket case and, increasingly, as a joke around the world. Hell, he was laughed at in front of the entire world during a United Nations address. Many of his decisions and actions are blasted around the world, and his supporters are enthusiastically applauding him every step of the way.
If the Russians actually wanted to do everything in their rather limited power to undermine us, they could not have done a more brilliant job than getting us to do it to ourselves. Perhaps there is even some poetic justice to it all.
One could be forgiven for the belief that this might have been the end game that they were working towards all along.
Perhaps we got played, eh?
But let's face it: this is not the fault of the Russians. This is something that we did entirely to ourselves, through a mixture of our own arrogance and ignorance. Nobody forced this on us. We did this to ourselves, every step of the way. Maybe, you could make the argument that the Russians helped to hasten our decline, but we collectively seemed in a hurry to get there ourselves.
It seems like we have gotten there now.
Thanks Trump! And, of course, all of your wonderful, stomping, rowdy supporters, for bringing all of this "winning" to the United States. None of this could have come to pass without you!
As Charlie Sheen might say, "Winning!"
Here is the article that I used in writing this blog entry, and from which I obtained the quotes used above:
RUSSIA: WORLD NO LONGER TRUSTS U.S. TO LEAD, IT'S TIME OTHERS STEP IN TO STOP 'BLACKMAIL AND PRESSURE' BY TOM O'CONNOR ON 4/12/19
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