As history has taught us, Russia has one way and ONE WAY ONLY of diplomacy — bangs its fists on the table and makes demands. With slight variations. Sometimes it could be one fist, other times it’s both of them.
The US, on the other hand, tries to forge some sort of relationship with each country. The sort that depends on its interests and that country’s position vis-à-vis the US. It could be with some help, some mutual collaboration, or some pressure (its nature depending on what assets the US has inside that country).
While Russia has always played the Big Bully with no patience for tiny big-mouthed countries, the US is the many-faces Big Player. It can be kind and generous, or mean and aggressive.
What does it matter you ask? Well, Russia has 6-7 circumstance allies and no friends. The US has many allies and several friends. Which helped the US keep Russia in check and keep the global peace. It’s one thing to wage war on Iraq, which remained a local confrontation, and it’s a different thing to wage war against Russia, which would turn very quickly into a Third World War.
When Russia deals “diplomatically” with its allies is with a mixture of bribe and bullying. When it deals with its neighboring countries is by showing up at their borders with tanks and rockets and making demands. That’s a very short version of the “Russian Reward Program”. A card that it plays over and over again to gain strategic territory or to create dissension inside NATO allies.
President Trump has deleted 200 years of American diplomacy in one swift move and converted it to “Russian Reward Program” overnight. He has declared himself many times a fan of Russia’s methods and prowess, so it was only a matter of time until he adopted their ways.
The difference though is that Russia deals carefully with its allies. Remember? It bribes and bullies to get its way. It never makes a show of force. Always deals internally with its allies, far from the public eye. It publicly bullies ONLY its neighbors and those small countries with big mouths.
But president Trump didn’t understand this subtle difference. He performed the Russian Reward (read “Bully”) card on his allies. In his eagerness to become feared as the Russian president Putin, he bullied his allies. And not one of his advisors told him that if Russia had done so with, let’s say, China or North Korea, Russia would be alone today.
It’s one thing to bully your way into a business, by threatening with punitive financial measures the business competition, and it’s a VASTLY different thing to do this with nuclear powers, with rich and strong countries. And not only against one at a time, but against all. And not only against one ally and several neighbors, but against ALL YOUR ALLIES.
Now, I know he says it’s for the American people, for delivering better deals for them and thus improving their lives. But this has always been the platform of nationalistic leaders for the people who turn a blind eye to the consequences.
And just imagine the lighter consequences — a world in which the US stands alone. No more trade with Europe and Canada, and Mexico. Just imports from China and no exports at all, because China doesn’t need US products. It just needs the US money and more than that, it needs the control over the US through its increasing debt.
Beyond trade, that also means tense relations with its former allies. No NATO anymore. The US has problems with the Middle East? It will fight alone, with no more troops from Europe and Canada. And if president Trump has told you that the US doesn’t need its allies because its armies are vast and mighty, just look at the statistics and see how many US troops fight in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, etc. and how many ally troops. How much logistical help its allies give to the US troops in these wars. And then subtract all the allies’ help and see what remains the US has to confront an entire world turned against it.
It has never been the US ways to stand alone in the world and defy EVERYBODY. The powerful and rich US that we know today has become so ONLY by respecting its allies.
#absolutism
Illustration by Costi Gurgu