Sergey Lavrov’s Straight Talk on Imperial America
by Stephen Lendman
Is he reading my articles? In remarks days earlier, he was uncharacteristically more straightforward about how Washington operates. More on what he said below.
Repeatedly I’ve stressed that diplomacy with Washington is futile. With rare exceptions, it never worked before.
It won’t ahead as long as dark forces run things, nearly the entire Congress and executive branch going along with their hegemonic agenda to rule the world, endless brute force their favored strategy.
The US doesn’t negotiate. It demands, operating by its own rules alone, time and again breaching international treaties, conventions, bilateral agreements, Security Council resolutions, as well as its own Constitution and statute laws.
Its contempt for rule of law principles, democratic values, peace, equity and justice is well documented - including by the late William Blum in his book titled “Rogue State: A Guide to the World’s Only Superpower.”
Michael Parenti called it “a superb antidote to officialdom’s lies and propaganda.”
Peter Dale Scott said “it is an invaluable corrective to the establishment portrait of America as the world’s greatest force for peace.”
Along with must-reading works of numerous other distinguished scholars, academics, historians, political scientists, and activists I greatly admire, Blum’s book and others he wrote greatly influenced my thinking, writing, and public comments.
US history isn’t pretty. The late Howard Zinn stressed that “(y)ou can’t be neutral on a moving train,” explaining that “events are already moving in certain deadly directions, and to be neutral means to accept that.”
He stressed that “war brutalizes everyone involved, begets a fanaticism in which the original moral factor (like fighting fascism) is buried at the bottom of a heap of atrocities committed by all sides.”
He explained how impossible it is to wage war on terrorism since war is the worst kind of terrorism - the most “vicious” enemy of human and civil rights.
His People’s History of the United States explained it’s centuries-long global expansionism, its wars on humanity, its contempt for principles it claims to support - from the point of view of ordinary people, workers, minorities, the poor and disadvantaged, persecuted and oppressed, victimized, forgotten and ignored.
It covered the period from 1492 to new millennium imperial hubris and arrogance under Bush/Cheney - another book that greatly influenced me, an antidote to how history is taught in America from grammar school through higher education, pretending a nation abhorring democracy is governed by its principles.
America’s Constitution is no masterpiece of political architecture. It’s a conservative document the founders crafted so the nation could governed to “resist the pressure of popular tides (and protect) a rising bourgeoisie(‘s freedom to) invest, speculate, trade and accumulate wealth,” Michael Parenti explained.
Throughout its history, America has always been governed the way its first Supreme Court Chief Justice John Jay explained - by “(t)he people who own the country,” serving them exclusively at the expense of most others.
Russia has been America’s enemy since its 1917 revolution, an ally of convenience during WW II against the scourge of Nazi Germany. Any pretense of alliance vanished during the Cold War, bilateral relations more dismal today than ever.
Rare exceptions proved the rule earlier, notably when Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan signed the landmark 1987 INF Treaty - abandoned by Trump regime hardliners along with the JCPOA Iran nuclear deal, anti-peace and stability actions, risking greater wars than already.
Peace and rapprochement initiatives by Kennedy, Nixon and Reagan were considered threats to Washington’s hegemonic agenda.
Long knives wielded by dark forces cooked up Watergate to remove Nixon from office on trumped up charges. Reagan’s efforts to the end the Cold War came near the end of his two-term tenure.
Jack Kennedy wanted rapprochement with Soviet Russia, denuclearization, and peace in Southeast Asia, not war. His fate was sealed, assassinated by CIA hitmen.
The only language both right wings of US duopoly governance understand is toughness. Anything less shows weakness. It’s counterproductive and self-defeating.
Washington isn’t Russia’s partner, ally or colleague. US bipartisan hardliners comprise a large majority in the nation’s capital. They consider Russia, China, Iran, and other sovereign independent nations their mortal enemies.
On a path toward possible war with countries not already attacked, they’re delusional believing a nuclear war is winnable - what no nation can win, what can kill us all if waged.
Days earlier, Sergey Lavrov commented on dismal Russia/US relations. Domestic politics in Washington “influence(s) our bilateral relations and create(s) additional difficulties in building a dialogue,” he explained, adding:
“(O)ne can expect that as the next presidential election in November 2020 approaches, attempts to play the ‘Russian card’ will be undertaken by individual politicians in Washington more actively and more persistently.”
If past is prologue, bilateral relations may deteriorate more than already. There’s virtually no chance for improvement any time soon, despite Lavrov’s hope for things moving in this direction.
Russia’s advocacy for “normal, predictable dialogue with the United States based on the principles of mutual understanding and respect for interests” is rejected by Republicans and undemocratic Dems.
Things haven’t moved in this direction “because of Washington’s unfriendly actions, incessant attempts to exert pressure on us with the help of economic, political, military, and other tools.”
Lavrov saying “bilateral and international efforts for maintaining stability and security in the world…stalled” misses what’s most important.
Efforts for peace and mutual cooperation by Russia, China, Iran, and other countries aren’t reciprocated by Washington and its imperial allies.
Things didn’t stall. They never began. They conflict with Washington’s aim for unchallenged global dominance, wanting all nations transformed into US vassal states.
Lavrov: “Russia for the American political establishment is an object. We are demonized in order to keep Europe in check and to strengthen the trans-Atlantic bond.”
“(M)any in Washington suffer from…an illusion…dictated by the desire to make us a tool to serve US interests…(T)his will not work with us.”
As long as bipartisan US policymakers continue seeking this aim, relations with Russia “will not change.”
Moscow seeks world peace, stability, multi-world polarity, and mutual cooperation with other nations. These objectives are unfulfilled because of longstanding US hegemonic aims.
Pullout from the INF Treaty and JCPOA by Trump regime hardliners were shots across the bow of likely worse to come, notably an arms race, including greater nuclearization instead of stepping back from the brink.
Lavrov warned the Trump regime, saying “we cannot and will not ignore the deployment of new American missiles that threaten us and our allies.”
“There should be no doubt that we have the necessary set of means to ensure our own security, and we can also further strengthen our defense capabilities.” Steps are being actively taken in this direction.
Russia’s diplomatic outreach on issues of mutual interest have gone unanswered by US officials. “(T)here has so far been no desire to negotiate with us from the US side,” he said.
“They shy away from dialogue. They do not offer any guarantees, apparently preferring to have completely ‘free hands.’ ”
War between the US and Russia would be disastrous for both sides and humanity.
Lavrov persists in urging US and other Western officials “to act in a predictable way, to scrupulously abide by the principles and rules of international law, to rely on the United Nations Charter.”
US policymakers are implacably hostile to these principles, and everything else conflicting with their aim to rule the world unchallenged - by eliminating key rivals Russia and China, along with co-opting and colonizing all other sovereign independent states.
That’s the cold, hard reality Russia must deal with. Diplomatic outreach to the US achieves nothing - not earlier (rare exceptions noted), not now, and surely not ahead any time soon, maybe never.
Since Reagan’s outreach to Gorbachev over 30 years ago, US relations with Russia have been on a downward trajectory.
Things today are worst of all, continuing to deteriorate, not improve. Diplomacy with Washington is futile, achieving nothing.
Russia’s only alternative is toughness, the only language bipartisan US hardliners understand. Appeasement never works.
It’s up to Moscow, Beijing, and allied nations to save humanity from disaster by challenging the US, contesting its hegemonic agenda short of WW III.
It may be the only way to avoid it.
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My newest book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."
