Russia Shouldn’t Regret Trump’s Defeat

It is unclear why everyone was so depressed after the U.S. news media proclaimed Joe Biden the winner of the presidential race in the United States. Many political analysts are sad that President Donald Trump was unable to win using various methods of electoral schemes and hope that he will still be able to win with the help of lawsuits. Journalists lament that Biden’s likely victory will not bode well for Russia.

Moscow has not had reason to expect any good relations with Washington, D.C., for the past 20 years. In fact, there have been no positive trends in U.S.-Russia relations since 1945. The exception was in the 1980s-90s, and this resulted only in the collapse of the USSR and the attempt to maximize the political and economic dependence of the newly formed Russian Federation on the U.S.

Even bigger and tougher anti-Russian sanctions? Yes, of course. President-elect Biden and his fellow Democrats will gladly arrange this. First, we have seen this under Barack Obama’s administration, if not since 2008, then certainly since 2014. And second, over the past four years, sanctions against Russia have also been imposed. What difference does it make to us whether the “pro-Russia” Trump does it without much desire, or the “Russophobe” Biden does it with great desire?

Isn’t it Russia, not China, Iran or North Korea who will become the number one foreign policy target for the United States? I doubt it. If the late Republican Sen. John McCain had prevailed in 2008, it probably would have been. As for representatives of the Democratic Party, everything is completely different. Remember Obama’s list of the world’s top threats? In addition to the Russian Federation, it also included Ebola and international terrorism. Terrorism has not gone anywhere, and instead of the strange foreign policy priority surrounding Ebola, there is now COVID-19. Furthermore, a global Black Lives Matter campaign has unfolded, which the Democrats will certainly not be able to ignore. So Washington, D.C., is unlikely to be able to fully concentrate on Moscow alone.

There is hardly anything that Russia has not seen or been prepared for. But the likely election of Biden has a downside. First of all, that is connected to the fact that he wants to put an end to all the undertakings of his predecessor.

So what has Trump done in his four years as president? He managed to lower taxes for businesses, create a large number of new jobs, revive the extraction of energy resources in the United States, introduce a number of measures to increase the competitiveness of American products in the domestic market, encourage many companies to return production facilities to the U.S. and reduce domestic budgetary costs. This is because all these Trump assaults on NATO allies who refuse to pay for themselves and withdrawals from supranational structures, such as WHO, the Paris Climate Agreement and others, are nothing more than saving public funds, as well as reducing participation in protracted and unprofitable military conflicts. Even the fight against the inflated and largely uncontrolled immigration situation is about the country’s economic security.

In addition, the incumbent head of the White House actively increased the U.S. military budget, improved the structure of the armed forces (new types of troops, command, etc.), and also tried to reorganize the work of U.S. foreign intelligence, which has recently been slacking, for example, in terms of undercover work.

Trump also promoted the modernization of nuclear and conventional weapons and military equipment. A good example is the policy to increase the Navy’s strength and the abandonment of the stalled program of coastal ships in favor of slightly larger and more powerful equipment. A separate aspect is the withdrawal from military agreements that tie the hands of the U.S. military, like the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.

In other words, Trump has made serious efforts to strengthen the U.S.’ economy and military power. At the same time, he also simultaneously exerted pressure on China, which according to these parameters, creates real competition for the United States. That is, Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign is nothing more than an attempt to revive the Americans’ world superiority.

The new administration in Washington, D.C., wants to reverse and destroy all these undertakings. Biden has already managed to undermine the international credibility of the American election. It is likely that his team will be as diverse and as marginalized as possible (Sen. Kamala Harris as vice president-elect is just the beginning), and this is unlikely to give strength to the U.S. political system, which has recently been somewhat shaken.

If at the same time the Democrats also weaken the economy and the armed forces of the United States, then Moscow is certainly one of the last who should regret it, and Beijing is right to celebrate this.