Hegemonic America Not Russia’s Partner
by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org – Home – Stephen Lendman)
America seeks dominance over all other nations. Its alliances, notably in NATO it controls, aim to achieve this objective.
That’s how imperialism works, diabolically pursuing what’s harmful to most people worldwide.
US endless wars of aggression, financial wars, currency wars, sanctions wars, bloody coups, color revolutions, political assassinations and other tactics show how far it’ll go to achieve its goals.
It wants all other nations subjugated to its will, wanting democracy eliminated wherever it exists.
All sovereign independent countries are US adversaries or enemies, earmarked for regime change – Russia and China most of all, the only two nations able to challenge Washington’s hegemonic aims.
The Kremlin viewing America as a partner is suicidal, a road to vassalage, the way post-Soviet Russia was in the 1990s. Destructive US neoliberal shock therapy harshness created nightmarish conditions for its people.
Financial terrorism described it, including privatization of state enterprises, mass layoffs, deregulation, deep social spending cuts, wage freezes or cuts, free market access for Western corporate predators, anti-trade unionism, and harsh crackdowns on nonbelievers.
Western bankers and other corporate predators strip mine countries for maximum profits at the expense of ecosanity and social justice – eliminating democratic values, hollowing out nations into backwaters, destroying middle class societies, turning workers into serfs paid poverty or sub-poverty wages.
Perpetual debt bondage substitutes for freedom. A race to the bottom benefits a privileged few at the expense of most others.
Entrapped nations are forced to pay homage to their money masters, surrendering their sovereignty in the process.
Neoliberal harshness mandates unrestrained corporate empowerment and eliminating social spending to devote state resources for maximum profit-making, national security and internal control.
Nations are entrapped in debt, suffocating them, requiring new loans to service outstanding ones. Bankers are paid first. Human needs go begging. Poverty, unemployment, underemployment and deprivation follow.
Paul Craig Roberts discussed Russian expert John Helmer’s article titled “Vice President for Capitulation – Putin Decides What Job to Give Kudrin.”
PCR: “If reports coming out of Russia are true, Vladimir Putin is considering appointing Washington’s agent, Alexei Kudrin, to negotiate Russia’s surrender to Washington.”
He worked for pro-Western Boris Yeltsin’s regime in the 1990s, later serving as deputy prime minister and finance minister under Putin/Medvedev – a pro-Western “free market” ideologue, hostile to sovereign Russian interests.
He may have prime ministerial or presidential ambitions in mind. PCR explained most Kremlin officials close to Putin distrust him.
A Financial Times article written on his behalf may have overstepped, saying Putin may appoint him to negotiate with Washington on removing sanctions on Russia.
“(S)uch an appointment could be read in western capitals as a signal of compromise from the Russian president in the face of conflict with the west on all fronts,” said the FT.
An unnamed Russian official was quoted, saying “(t)he most likely scenario is that Kudrin gets a post in the presidential administration.”
“His title could be something like: the president’s representative for international economic co-operation.”
Political and economic analyst Yevgeny Gontmakher was quoted, saying “(i)f Kudrin joined the administration or government, it would indicate they have agreed on a certain agenda of change, including in foreign policy.”
“…Kudrin is the only one in the top echelons with whom they will talk in the west and towards whom there is a certain trust.”
Washington considers Russia its mortal enemy. It doesn’t negotiate. It demands. Pro-Western Russian officials can’t be trusted.
If Kudrin is appointed by Putin as vice president to deal with Washington, is Kremlin capitulation next?
According to a source PCR trusts, perhaps Putin intends “purg(ing) the Russian Fifth Column – Kudrin and the pro-Washington faction.”
Events as they unfold will tell. Helmer said Putin hasn’t decided whether to appoint Kudrin to negotiate with Washington or follow advice by key Russian officials to avoid him.
Russia’s future is East, not West. Nothing suggests any chance for improved relations with Washington short of subjugation to its will.
Hopefully Putin understands what’s crucial to know in dealing with hegemonic America – wanting Russia transformed into another imperial trophy.
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