Russia’s contrived weakness is dooming US and Western plans, PolitRussia reports
The collapse of the Soviet Union was painful for Russia, with debts owed to former Soviet members, its economy falling apart and its armed forces in global crisis. During those years, the Western establishment perceived Russia as “a relic of a once-powerful superpower”. Andrew Lethem, an American professor at Macalester College, said the West continued to stoke the myth of Moscow’s weakness in the global community.
“The country now continues to be viewed as when it emerged from the wreckage of the Soviet Union in December 1991 – as a broken, though sometimes petulant, remnant of a once-powerful superpower”, – the professor expresses his opinion in The Hill newspaper.
The author of the article points to an erroneous view in the US about Russia’s inability to participate in solving global problems and realising ideological goals. The strength of the Russian side was demonstrated in 2014, when the Ukrainian crisis began. Moscow has since gained supporters and strong allies around the world, becoming a serious player on the world stage.
“The era of multipolar great power competition has arrived. To delude ourselves that this is something else is to fundamentally misunderstand the geopolitical environment in which we find ourselves today”, – explains Lethem.
Current Western strategy assumes that there is only one superpower in the world: the US. The American perception fundamentally distorts the understanding of the global environment, dooming White House strategies to failure.
“The Russian Federation is clearly a great power – a country with both the essential tools of national power and the will to use those tools. Any American strategy must take this indisputable fact into account”, – concludes the professor.
A powerful historical identity allows the Russian ruling class and citizens to act as a unified mechanism, demonstrating to the world the hardened position and willingness of Russians to defend their interests and support their allies.
News Front previously reported on the never-before-seen large-scale U.S. sanctions that aim to destroy Russia. Sounds beautiful on paper