America Will Shift Focus To Destabilize Russia

Joe Biden personally came to Europe to attend the Group of 20 summit in Rome. Immediately afterward, he went to another no less momentous event — the 26th U.N. conference on combating global climate change, which is taking place in Glasgow, in the U.K. until Nov. 12. Perhaps the most anticipated Biden event will take place in December (an event that was announced at the end of 2019, when the struggle for the presidency in the United States was just beginning): the Summit for Democracy.

The White House has announced an ambitious international agenda for the next two months, but no one is enthusiastic about it anymore. We don’t get the impression that anything significant is happening, despite all the American media’s best efforts.

The G-20 summit could probably solve many world problems, but recent history has shown that the countries which produce approximately 90% of the world’s gross domestic product are not going to do anything significant together. Nonetheless, the American delegation traveled to the Old World with the intention of "demonstrating American leadership" with respect to boosting economic growth and ending the COVID-19 pandemic.

This sounds somewhat strange, since the world economy today is in a state of convulsive shock largely due to Washington, both recent action and action that has taken place over the last three decades. Dollar inflation, the destruction of global supply chains, disruption of labor markets, panic in the global energy market — all this, if it has not depressed the international division of labor, it has definitely reduced the credibility of Washington’s management in this area.

The global financial system has been driving demand since 2008. This has been accomplished through quantitative easing — to put it simply, additional issuing of the main reserve currencies and the related increase in the government debt of their issuers. For some time, everything went relatively well, if not perfectly. The U.S. officially overcame the 2007-2009 recession, although the growth rate has still not recovered. And in 2021, dollar inflation began, which casts doubt on the very tactics of stimulation. The situation is increasingly described by the term stagflation — the depreciation of money in the face of slowing growth. On the eve of the big summits, the Federal Reserve "delighted" the world with the news that this state of affairs will continue in 2022.

But diplomatic courtesy has not yet disappeared, despite the undeniable gravity of the situation. Nobody laughed at the statements about "American leadership." Biden, the die-hard Democratic Party soldier, has managed to keep a modest tone even when discussing the COVID-19 pandemic. But in the United States, more people have died from COVID-19 than from the Spanish flu 100 years ago, despite the obvious success of biotech and a well-developed medical industry.

In addition, American politics turned vaccinations, face mask mandates and other anti-pandemic measures into a desperate ideological struggle. Everything that you read today in internet posts by people opposed to vaccines, all the arguments, logical moves and rhetoric, was invented in the United States. As with all the restrictions imposed on unvaccinated people and which have been discussed, you can judge for yourself how well that is working.

Of course, one can argue that the World Health Organization has done a very poor job, and the influence of other players is reflected in WHO actions. This is partly true, but in addressing one of today’s main pandemic issues — the mutual recognition of vaccines — it is the United States that has been stepping on the brakes lately. That is, the United States, more precisely the Biden administration, is interfering with at least a partial return to normalcy. At the same time, those crumbs of vaccine that Western Big Pharma allocates for the poorest countries are completely insufficient to immunize the world.

Do not forget that Biden flew to Europe after a very ugly story surrounding the AUKUS alliance, the creation of which dismantled the contract between France and Australia for the construction of submarines. The exemplary outrage of the Old World’s capitals did not last long, but it eft an unpleasant aftertaste. Worse, Europeans still worry that the United States will move to contain China and abandon its longtime allies to their fate. At the same time, the EU will not lose American strategic cover as much as it will lose access to global emission resources. Since there is no consensus on U.S. European foreign policy in Washington itself, one of Biden’s tasks is to reconcile the contradictions in a way that does not prematurely alarm a still united West.

And so Biden meets with Emmanuel Macron. The protocol of being corralled by the press begins. It was impossible not to ask about French-American relations, and the press expected a diplomatic and succinct response from the U.S. president. In prior years, the press officers would have armed the leader of the free world with a dozen prepared answers for different issues raised by the media. What happened this time was, at best, a big embarrassment.

Question from the press pool: “Is the relationship repaired?”

Biden: “You’re asking me?”

Pause.

Biden: “Well the answer is, I think what happened was ... to use an English phrase ... what we did ... was clumsy. It was not done with a lot of grace. I was under the impression that certain things had happened that hadn’t happened.”

Maybe this was the point. It seems that, to the liberal elite who returned to power at the zenith of glory, nothing had happened, but “some things” did happen? It's not even about the increased influence of China, or the fact that the Russian economy has not been torn to shreds. The problem is that the Washington establishment’s authority has dropped to an all-time low, an establishment that was the target of many prior complaints. However, they maintained order at home, controlled technology and economic development, demonstrated capability and strategic thinking in foreign policy and were able to formulate an agenda that invariably became the “only correct” one for “advanced” people around the world.

Today, all these people, in the words of their global leader, are in an awkward position. Almost all the troubles in the world today are the fault of the very establishment which Biden is the face of. Sure, this establishment may stay aggressive or selfish, Biden could refuse to listen to anyone and do only what he sees fit. But the situation has changed.

A U.N. forum on climate change followed the two-day G-20 summit. The "greenhouse" agenda is central to Washington's foreign policy paradigm. Three or four months ago, it seemed that climate change would become a serious tool in managing the international division of labor.

Now previous expectations about how effective climate change would be appear to have been overestimated, to put it mildly. On the eve of the climate event, the Indian government announced that it would simply not be able to fulfill its earlier commitments to reduce coal consumption in the energy sector and in industry. The Chinese authorities did not make any clear statement, but against the background of the growing energy crisis, they almost certainly canceled the "green" restrictions imposed on the industry. It’s worth remembering that India and China are No. 2 and No. 3 in terms of contribution to atmospheric pollution by greenhouse gases.

But Biden has nothing to brag about! The White House really wanted Congress to pass the second part of the infrastructure bill, which in addition to providing social engineering, provides for significant green investments. But again there was failure. And this time it was not about the "damn Trumpists," but about the division among the members of the majority Democratic Party. In addition, it no longer seems impossible that the Republican Party will return to the White House in 2024 — if not led by Donald Trump himself, then by some of his allies. Democrats are rapidly losing both popularity and the real levers of power.

Biden’s meeting with Pope Francis, which preceded all the other events, gave a special piquancy to what was happening in the Eternal City. At home, Biden was excommunicated by the Council of Bishops of the Catholic Church for his fanatical commitment to same-sex marriage and abortion. The Holy See minimized media coverage of the Vatican meeting and did not comment on the outcome of the meeting. Biden hastened to assure the journalists that he and the Pope did not discuss the problem of abortion, and that Francis considers the U.S. president "a good Catholic" who "must continue receiving communion." There was no confirmation from the Vatican.

To top it off, The Summit of Democracy is also close to failing. According to the State Department website, it will take place in December 2021, but virtually. Basically, the agenda of the Western liberal establishment is on the verge of complete collapse.

All in all, I have no doubt that in the coming weeks and months, the U.S. will attempt to mobilize everyone it can to support its failing state of global leadership. In our country, we will start to hear familiar arguments that this White House , even if it is culturally unpleasant to us, is nevertheless negotiable and predictable. Perhaps it is impossible to agree to friendship, but it is possible to get less interference from the administration in our internal affairs, to support it at least in something.

I have sad news for you. This administration will simply have no choice but to increase pressure on Russia (as well as on China) and throw additional resources into destabilizing our country and the entire post-Soviet space. In 2024, something will have to be presented to voters and the world; it will definitely not be the economy, it will not be success in the fight against global warming and it will not be the victorious tread of the "alliance of democracies." Under these conditions, any policy aimed at leaving Russia to its own devices and reducing the American presence at its borders will be simply suicidal.

It will take a miracle to prevent a confrontation, and by no means a small one.