The document was notable for the insertion of elements of realpolitik over idealism, and also for recognizing Russia and China as rivals, characterizing them as follows:
"China and Russia challenge American power, influence and interests, attempting to erode American security and prosperity. They are determined to make economies less free and less fair, to grow their militaries, and to control information and data to repress their societies and expand their influence.China and Russia each took issue with this, with Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying responding:
Through modernized forms of subversive tactics, Russia interferes in the domestic political affairs of countries around the world. Russia uses information operations as part of its offensive cyber efforts to influence public opinion across the globe. Its influence campaigns blend covert intelligence operations and false online personas with state-funded media, third-party intermediaries, and paid social media users or 'trolls.'"
"We urge the United States to stop deliberately distorting China's strategic intentions, and abandon outdated concepts such as a Cold War mentality and a zero-sum game, otherwise it will only harm everyone," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters on Tuesday.And the Kremlin:
Meanwhile, the Chinese embassy in the US said it is "completely selfish" for Washington to put its interest above others, warning that such an approach "will only lead to isolation." The Chinese mission also accused the US of "self-contradictory rhetoric" that diminishes the countries' cooperation.
"On the one hand, the US government claims that it is attempting to build a great partnership with China. On the other hand, it labels China as a rival. The self-contradictory rhetoric of the US betrays the truth that China and the US are becoming increasingly interdependent and have growing intertwined interests," the embassy said in a statement.
"For China and the United States, cooperation leads to win-win outcomes, while confrontation can only lead to a lose-lose situation," the diplomatic mission added, calling the US "to abandon its outdated zero-sum thinking" and "engage in win-win cooperation."
"Looking through [the strategy], particularly those parts concerning our country, one can see the imperial nature of the document, as well as persistent unwillingness to abandon the idea of a unipolar world and accept a multipolar world," [Press Secretary Peskov] said. Peskov stressed that Moscow strongly disagrees with Washington's stance towards Russia expressed in the document, which designates the country as a threat to US security. And yet, there are some positive signs too.Indeed, on Sunday we learned that US president Trump received a phone call from Russian president Putin - their second in four days incidentally - thanking him for his assistance with foiling a terror plot against a cathedral in St Petersburg. Putin specifically let it be known that he asked Trump to pass on his thanks to the CIA for providing the intelligence. Where that fits into Russiagate, inquiring minds would like to know.
"[The strategy] has some positive moments, particularly those regarding cooperation with Russia in fields corresponding to US interests. It is totally in line with our approach, voiced by [President Putin], because Moscow is also seeking cooperation with the United States in areas which are beneficial for us, and depending on how far our US counterparts are ready to go," President Vladimir Putin's press secretary said. When asked about "a perfect example of US-Russia cooperation," Peskov mentioned the recent exchange of information between the two countries' special services, which made it possible to thwart terrorist attacks in St. Petersburg and "helped save many lives."
The new US national security strategy is a long document with "rather impressive" wording "which needs to be thoroughly assessed" by relevant Russian agencies, the presidential spokesman said.
Overall then, there are indications of slight shifts in a direction away from the status quo. While they of course found it necessary to rebuff the specific allegations made against them, the two 'rivals' will have noted that the fact that the US even felt it necessary to single them out as competitors elevates them to - or towards - being seen as equals of the US. However misconstrued, mischaracterized, or misunderstood US foreign policy under Trump is with respect to those two nations, the document nevertheless marks a fundamental shift in perception towards a global outlook that takes stock of the new geopolitical reality that Russia and China cannot be regime-changed, 'enlightened' or otherwise 'subsumed' into Pax Americana.
Also yesterday, the US was the only UN Security Council member to vote against a resolution drafted by Egypt declaring any decisions aimed at altering Jerusalem's status null and void, further isolating the US in its unilateral decision regarding the erstwhile Israeli capital. Even France and the UK, beholden as they too are to the Zionist Lobby, didn't support the US on this. To add insult to injury, Russia's UN ambassador offered that Russia step in to 'fill the vacuum' by replacing the US as "an honest mediator" between Israel and Palestine.
In realpolitik terms, as long as it remains the dominant military and financial power, America still reigns supreme. But perception of that power is as foundational to it as its physical reach. With even CNN asking the question 'Is Russia the Middle East's New Power-Broker?', it is clear that the US is becoming increasingly isolated on the international stage.
The way things are going, the transition away from Pax Americana will be gradual, with the stewards of empire using up, bit-by-bit, what is left of their credibility. As global perception of the US as 'global leader' diminishes towards becoming a thing of the past, so too will its military-financial empire. Certainly this is in part due to active measures taken by the Russians, Chinese and others, who are chipping away at US 'interests' abroad - largely by bypassing those interests - but the death-knell or push over the edge will ultimately be the result of the US' reputation being destroyed.
Strangely enough, Trump is facilitating that process. Not intentionally, as the myth of 'Russian collusion' would suggest, but simply by virtue of his being 'a normal American' rather than 'a privileged insider' schooled in American 'exceptionalist' ideology. Trump lacks the 'Wizard of Oz factor' imbued in American leaders who are reared to see the whole Earth as their protectorate. What he means when he says 'America First' is fundamentally at odds with how the US establishment has long viewed it. Driven as he is to 'make America great again', he is contributing to the gradual shift in global perception from seeing America as 'The All-Powerful Oz' to just 'America'.
This, I believe, is the key to understanding why the US 'deep state' did not want him to become president, and have been trying fervently to get rid of him, even at the great risk of catastrophically tearing apart the social fabric of the USA.
Reader Comments
That's why the Russian and Chinese responses, following the rules of diplomacy, have to reciprocate by 'strongly protesting' the specific allegations. But we get a sense that, actually, the Chinese welcome Trump's turn towards national sovereignty as the basis for US governance. That red-carpet treatment they gave Trump recently was, literally, unprecedented: [Link]
And that wasn't them 'fooling an old dotard' by the way. That was them signalling to Trump - behind the spoken words of 'protest' and 'indignation' - "we bigly approve." The US/Western media may have ridiculed it and played it down, but it was broadcast to 1 billion Chinese.
The worst part about neo-cons is that they think they are using realpolitik, when in fact, they long ago lost the necessary knowledge (and they lack the character and temperament) and now simply pantomime "What would Kissinger Do?" based on their own substandard understanding of how to actually be a statesman.
This is why they are constantly outplayed by both Putin (and Russian politicians) and China, which has expended significant effort in cultivating statesmen and loyal politicians.
Unfortunately, America is facing an internal war on two fronts, one against the Left and the other against the RINOs/neo-cons, and this puts Trump in an incredibly difficult position. He is having to compromise more than I think he would like, and this NSP shows how much he has had to through the entryists some bones.
I think he is counting on the fact that both Russia and China will roll with the punches for the time being, and he can pick up the pieces post mid-terms.
The real work in the US right now is tearing out the republican establishment. It needs a controlled burn before it explodes taking the whole country down. To make headway on the political front, the neo-cons have to go, and to make headway on the cultural front, the cuckservatives have to go.
Just my two cents.
That nasty fat US exceptionalist streak is thoroughly imbued in him imo.
US foreign policy under Trump may yet amount to 'same old, same old'. I don't offer the above so much as 'hope' that things may be different but, more prosaically, to try to account for the data that does not fit with the status quo. We know, for example, that he did not want to extend the anti-Russia sanctions, but Congress tied his hands on it.
His bombastic, 'ugly American' knack for wading into sensitive topics (Jerusalem recently, and that bombastic speech at the UN in September, come to mind) is his 'art of the deal' cunning where 'he who shouts loudest and aims highest, wins'. It's "so much 'Murica!" It's that bold, industrious quality that propelled America to its greatness, and took the rest of the world in tow.
The flip-side to Trump being a brash American is that, while he's going around loudly proclaiming his 'God-given right to bear arms' and making sure that everyone sees the Colt.45 in his holster, he is not scurrying around in the dark covertly setting up the conditions that 'prove him right', all the while donning a handsome smile and assuming to speak for 'the international community'.
Yes, the agencies, 'NGOs' and media organs continue to do so - if for no other reason than because of the inertia of having gotten away with doing so for 7 decades. But Trump's 'honesty' is betraying their duplicitous game. In the process, he's saying a couple of things to the world: "this is how America actually is," and: "this is how many if not most people actually are, so can we please all just do business and dispense with the BS?"
Yes, it is primarily the US that needs to 'cut the BS', reject gunboat diplomacy and embrace, as the Chinese would put it, 'win-win cooperation'. But the fact that the US even has a president who recognizes in principle that that is the way to go suggests improvement.
It's still likely though that the US will undergo some sort of fundamental upheaval. A significant swathe of the American population refuses to recognize the improvement Trump represents and actively resists him. When an immune system fights off its own because it perceives it to be a foreign body, the results are terrible for the organism. And because the organism in question is America, its 'auto-immune disorder' will likely have terrible consequences - to a greater or lesser degree - for most of the rest of the world.
Claiming the moral high ground by imposing million dollar fines? Sharing that with our Asian buds?
One suspect that the opioid crisis --well publicized--here in the US was partly to draw the suckers into shipping heroine inside the cargos just so we could wear the white hat.
Sheesh!!
It was a cut and paste from my WordPress champ.
I handed it over to SOTT'S comment box and look what they done to it.
I noticed your Nazi cap on your gravatar Atreides, are you a girl, do you use a cane on the bad grammar kids...hmm.
Six on the backside for me...hmm.
Reminds me of my catholic schoolboy days. That were I learned to be; 9talking too much, and that's a story for another day.
Maybe.