By Aaron Miller-
The friction between Russia and the West is at its worst since the cold war.
It is no secret that things have plummeted to real lows. White House press secretary said on Tuesday that a range of proportional responses to alleged Russian hacking of U.S political groups was considered. The tension over Syria has kept both countries on opposing sides, and Hilary Clinton has ready been in attacking mode against Russia, ahead of the next U.S elections.
Moscow nuclear missiles moved
Moscow also recently moved nuclear-capable missiles to the edge of NATO territory, its representatives not shying away from talks of the potential use of nuclear weapons if necessary.
Sensible communications between both superpowers have reduced drastically, and a competition of egos seems to have taken over in these very dangerous political times.
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Russia clearly feels that America has always wanted to solely be the mighty super power in the world- a position Putin and his henchman have long refused to bow to. Rhetoric between America and Russia have been sounding increasingly reckless and arrogant.
The testing of the ground-launched cruise missile by Moscow, in violation of security treaty, has been an example of tensions gradually escalating beyond control. Russia’s ambassador confirmed that the risk of miscalculations has increased, ”especially with NATO forces being deployed next to our borders”.
Communication
Normal channels of communication are frozen between the U.S and Russia”. We see the United States taking unfriendly steps against Russia, including sanctions, there are calls for isolating Russia, adding ”it doesn’t work with Russia, it isn’t going to work”. Russia pulled out of the nuclear security pact on plutonium on October 3, because of ” aggressive anti-Russia tendencies at the basis of the U.S policy on Russia”, according to the Russian Foreign Minister in an interview to Russia one.
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The worst level of friction between the White House and Russia since the cold war and the fall of the Berlin wall, these are indeed worrying times for world peace. The political heavyweights are not showing the intellectual will to diffuse the friction. The White House And Kremlin should have some clever diplomats to solve the problem, but all we keep hearing school boy talk of vengeance and retaliation. Not since the cold war has the friction between the White House and Russia been this bad.
John Kerry calls for investigation
Secretary of state, John Kerry, has called for an investigation into Russian war crimes- and is in that respect shoulder to shoulder with similar calls from U.K foreign secretary, Boris Johnson. Kerry promised a retaliation, without specifying what form such retaliation would take. ”They are not getting away with it for free’ he stated. This kind of talk is always unhelpful and keeps the state of affairs in backwards gear. Hilary Clinton does not have a good track record with Russia and was accused of being behind demonstrations against Putin five years ago when she was secretary of State. Clinton is on record in 2008 as joking that President George Bush could not have gotten a sense of Putin’s soul, she had claimed, because the Russian president is a former KGB agent, ”by definition doesn’t have a soul”.
Strong words that cannot possibly be easily forgotten by Putin. The automatic implication being that there will be no love between the pair should Clinton win the next U.S elections next month, Putin will not be celebrating. Which is what make sit plausible that Russia may indeed have been behind the hacking of Clinton emails, though plausibility is not a certainty, as required for such definite assertions. We all will just have to watch and see how things pan out- but they look dangerous at the moment. A logical voice of resolution is needed in these dark times.
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