These days, American liberals and their loyal followers worldwide are celebrating a victory. To them, the future of the world seems clear and bright. The days of the “impractical Donald Trump” remain in the past, the strife in the West is about to end — and the triumph of the liberal world order will be complete.
However, the problem is that victory is not certain, especially the final one. This is rather well understood by people who are about to rejoin the ranks of high-ranking Washington bureaucrats but who are in no hurry to share this secret knowledge either with Western voters or with the rest of the world.
The practically rigged American election,* strict bans on social sites, threats (already partially initiated) to prosecute the rioters for criminal acts, and promises to restore the shattered world order to the full extent — this is not the end of the war, but the very beginning. Yes, not just one war, but several — violent, costly and with an unpredictable outcome.
The new administration will have to fight a civil war domestically, two cold wars on the international stage and a large cultural war — first within the U.S., and then internationally. Perhaps the administration will also face several local military conflicts. They’ll have to fight on all fronts simultaneously while facing an increasing shortage of resources.
No one should be misled by the electoral (more precisely, administrative) victories of the liberals, the complete demoralization of what is left of the Trump administration and the cowardly betrayal of the majority of Republican members of Congress. There are 70 million angry Americans who are left behind after Biden’s inauguration. Right now they are shocked, depressed and confused. But for how long?
Judging by the actions of the “big figure” companies, federal agencies and Democratic Party leaders, the winners are very afraid that Trump supporters will retaliate. That’s why they faced widespread campaign of intimidation and repression. The Senate Democratic leader demanded that participants in the Jan. 6 protest in Washington immediately be banned from traveling around the country (even before a trial). In the indictments, prosecutors dealing with the Capitol protest alleged that the participants in the event “had plans to capture and kill” members of Congress, as well as to “violently overthrow the U.S. government.” Instinctively one is reminded of the Soviet “triples” of the 1930s, in which the repressed “turned out” to be both conspirators and Japanese spies.
Yet, it’s one thing to repress intellectuals and a generally loyal and ideologically similar bureaucracy, and another thing entirely to try to wipe out farmers, teachers, entrepreneurs, workers, engineers, Army veterans, etc. Here, as history shows, there’s no away to avoid a civil war. There’s no other way to erase half of the country.
The new civil war will be completely different than past wars, with front-line attacks and storming of cities. Though the likelihood of several serious violent conflicts occurring within the U.S. in upcoming years is still quite high, the new American civil war will be fought everywhere.
First of all, it will manifest itself in the loss of state sovereignty. There will be an impassive party system due how unyielding a significant part of the population is. The tea party, a development of Trumpist activism that originated in 2007, has extensive experience in resisting federal politics. Attempts to restore manageability and the struggle around the decision-making nodes of local and regional authorities will be accompanied by ever increasing hatred of some citizens for others and inevitable violence in such cases.
The situation will get worse as internal migration between states begins. Communities today are fairly split, but by mixing populations, local conflicts will erupt with exceptional force. It’s possible that the tax system will be eroded and this will greatly complicate things at the federal level.
The defeat of the resistance will be quite problematic precisely because of how divided it is and the many factors that gave birth to it. Restoring order requires a fair amount of time and considerable strength, not to mention the losses, most notably resources and reputations. In order for American liberals to be able to reunite a divided country, they will have to spend a substantial amount of money on reconciling American communities, once again exposing themselves to the whole world.
And there will be world unrest. At a minimum, Biden declared two cold wars before his administration was in place, involving confrontations with Russia and China.
Since the Trump administration played a rigorous economic game with Beijing designed to make China’s economic and geopolitical expansion difficult, the new administration has serious ideological differences with China and its leadership. China is inconvenient for the U.S. because it represents an alternative to Western liberal democracy, but has been demonstratively working.
Various types of trade and tariff restrictions against China will continue, as well as targeted financial restrictions and administrative restrictions against specific companies and individuals. That’s why, in several interviews with the American media, Biden previously stated that “for the first time” he is not going to abandon Trump policies.** However, the purpose and nature of the economic measures will considerably change.
For Trump, what China did and not do was not particularly important. The focus was on the interests of American business, its entrepreneurs and workers. Chinese companies and political leaders were considered competitors. Very different methods were used to defeat China, but the true victory was in the lack of Chinese influence on U.S. industrial development and employment growth.
For U.S. Democrats, on the other hand, it is very important how China operates. If China agrees to become a part of the liberal world order, and not only in terms of the international division of labor, but in terms of values, Democrats will tolerate its rise. If China doesn’t demonstrate “good behavior,” they’ll try to isolate it and, if possible, suppress China’s growth. This is how liberal U.S. think tanks see the world. And this is the thinking that shapes high-ranking officials in the Biden administration. First, they will try to negotiate with Beijing and force it to tame its appetite. But if China continues to declare itself an industrial and technological leader, and even insists on being ideologically independent, then a cold war between the two powers is inevitable. When adjusted for the needs of the military and the availability of resources and development of technology, the nature of this war will be slightly different from the Cold War with the Soviet Union.
The situation with Russia is somewhat different. In reading the works of American strategists, it is sometimes difficult to shake the feeling that Russia is always being contained because it is not clear what else can be done with it. Making Russia an ally means providing certain guarantees (including guarantees against China) and including it in the global economic scheme as more than just a supplier of raw materials. It is impossible to eliminate Russia. Ignoring it doesn’t work either.
Barack Obama’s attempts during his first term to prove that Moscow wasn’t an enemy did not convince the establishment because it was impossible to declare Russia a friend. In his second term, the 44th U.S. president tried to undervalue Russia’s significance (remember his words about a “regional power?”) but as a result, he was accused of colluding with “Putin’s insidious plans.” It culminated in sanctions and a near break in diplomatic relations.
Then, the very people that have now returned to power concocted a story about “Russian hackers” and Russia’s general culpability for everything bad that happens in the U.S. and Europe. This story is currently part of the liberal mainstream; it is distinguished by the fact that its ideological approach is consistent. Like it or not, liberals have to follow. So the image of being enemies will continue in Washington-Moscow relations, regardless of how much it benefits the White House and the evolving situation in the world in general. The Biden administration will simply have to “stand up to Putin” and spend resources on it.
Finally, another war that will face leaders in Washington is tied to the strengthening of far-left groups and movements in the U.S., a development that occurred during the struggle with Trump. On the one hand, the Democratic Party and their multinational corporation supporters still greatly need leftist street fighters; on the other hand, they have become a serious threat to the party leadership.
The new administration cannot let the left wing dominate politics, but also it cannot “merge” with it or suppress it. The only way out is to burn down the left-wing movement in the intra-American civil conflict, even if it will result in sacrifices by “obnoxious” conservatives but also by “well-respected liberals.” It’s similar to how the #MeToo movement destroyed liberal demigod Harvey Weinstein, but allowed corporate standards and rules to be reformed with respect to the presumption of innocence and the state.
The United States will have a kind of reverse cultural revolution. It will be a struggle for control of the postindustrial and declassified street, supported by the academic environment and the entertainment industry.
Contemporary left-wing moments are only minimally concerned with socioeconomic issues. Far more important to them are the rights of various minorities and the demolition of the traditional way of life in developed countries. At the same time, they are global in nature. Thus, the red guards of the cultural war will be at the door of the establishment and residential homes in various countries. Washington will support them and limit them simultaneously. It will be a strange war, but no less fierce.
One can only hope that Russia is fully ready for the challenges tied to the inevitable conflict of the new American administration. However, liberals in all countries would do well to realize that they didn’t receive a victory, but four new wars, for which they are now mobilizing.
*Editor’s Note: There were no substantiated claims of wide-scale election fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
**Editor’s Note: This quotation, accurately translated, could not be verified.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.