Photo: Natalia Gubernatorova
US President Joseph Biden has set a trap for Russian President Vladimir Putin by demonstrating his supposedly good intentions, writes Tim Kirby, a journalist in the American edition of Strategic Culture. Therefore, the Russian leader must be on the alert. “Mr. Putin, this is a trap. Still the same old trap, ” the American notes.
Now the relations between Russia and the United States are more intense than they were during the Cold War. Russia should be suspicious of the “peaceful” initiatives of the United States. The incident of a decade ago, when US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presented Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov with a button with the inscription “overload” (instead of “reset”).;) very accurately reflects the attitude of Washington to Moscow:it worked at full capacity, and eventually it caused a “breakdown”. In particular, it can be considered the active participation of the United States in the Euromaidan in Ukraine, which led to the change of power and the war in the Donbass.
“After such an experience, can we really expect any optimism from the Russian side just because Biden seems to have retreated a little in the history of the Nord Stream-2?» & ndash; asks a reasonable question to Kirby. The goals of Russia and the United States are exactly the opposite: Russia is trying to take the place of one of the leading powers in a changing world, while the United States wants to maintain its monopoly on power.
The United States will not meet Russia halfway. There are issues on which they cannot agree ,for example, about the recognition of the Crimea as Russian. The Americans are afraid that they will create a dangerous precedent, and Russia will take full advantage of it. Nor will it be possible to mitigate the consequences of the scandal of “Russian interference” in the elections-this has already become part of the Democrats ‘ narrative. It will also not be possible to agree on the lifting of sanctions:the Americans do not want to retreat here, and Russia is taking advantage of the isolation that has arisen.
The Russians can’t buy into Washington’s fake kindness. “Russians believe that people who smile too often are pathetic, stupid, and generally harmless. American politicians were able to intuitively take advantage of this and seemed naive, trusting fools during negotiations for decades, ” the author noted.