Most of the battles, in the past, have been fought on the religious-social ideological grounds, and many are still being fought now. After each battle ends, a new social order takes shape. Any plan to be successful must reckon with such new order.
World went through a long cold war era, and at the end of that era world order has changed drastically. In the new world order, many countries that once considered enemies have become friends and partners. China is a prime example of the new word order.
But, in case of Russia, it seems that American politicians, both Republicans and Democrats, are still stuck in the cold war mindset of fighting socialist hegemony around the world. Russia is still considered as the enemy number one, which appears to be odd, isn’t it?
The fact that – after the end of the Cold War, rapid reform has taken place throughout the former Soviet-bloc to transition to free market driven economy. In this perspective, modern Russia is not different from the USA; both need access to free market around the world for growth and progress, as do other countries in the European Union, Far East and South East regions.
Therefore, Russia is West’s business competitor, not ideological enemy. But, when we see the US political establishment still identifying Russia as enemy number one, it appears old habits die hard, which can take the West in the wrong direction. The answer to the question – why America is not winning lately may lie in the mundane politics of Washington DC.
Washington DC politics need also reform, for sure; it’s dysfunctional. The process may have started already, as ordinary Americans seem to be ready for changing the dysfunctional Washington DC political system. They have demonstrated it in the last US Presidential election. The move for such political change started within the Republican Party, thanks to political outsiders, such as, Donald Trump, Ben Carson, and Carle Fiorina. .
Political establishment in DC is fighting tooth and nail against the outsider movement. As a result, the success of this movement still remains to be seen. It’s going to be hard, especially, because media seems to be against this movement as well. Media propaganda machine can distort the truth by painting biased views. Only a charismatic leader, such as Donald Trump, can overcome such adverse situation.
We live in a very different world, and, truth be told that – in today’s world, Russia, China, India, etc. are not the enemies of the USA, but simply contenders in the global economy, like any other countries in the world, competing for the global market.
If that is so, what’s the immediate existential threat to the world?
If you ask US Republicans they will unequivocally say – radical Islam, and then climate change. Former US President Obama, on the other hand, will say – climate change is the existential threat. In fact, former US Vice President, Joe Biden, went as far as to claim that – climate change caused the ISIS uprising, so fighting climate change will alleviate radical religious terrorism. Go figure! This administration has been fighting Sunni-ISIS in Syria with moderate Sunni-forces from the neighboring countries. As you know, this fight will go nowhere. This could be the reason why Syrian conflict is not coming to an end.
Now that France and Russia are there, it should not be so difficult to bring this fight to an end, if current US administration joins hands with Russia and France. Will that happen with this administration? Not at all; for that, America needs a new breed of political leadership, ready to think politics in the light of the new world order.