Interview with the
expert of the Moscow Economic Forum Srdjom Trifkovic, editor of the
foreign policy department of the magazine Chronicles (USA). The 6th
IEF was held on April 3-4, 2018 in the Russian Academy of Sciences.
It looks like we
are already at the start of a new cold war. What does it have in
common with the Cold War of the 20th century, and what are the
differences?
The very formulation
of the question is wrong - the Cold War never ended. This was
reflected in the expansion of NATO to the east for 15 years after the
collapse of the USSR and the development of the crisis in Ukraine in
2004 -2014. The challenges that Russia faces are not connected with
its current policy today. They are a reflection of the deep hatred
that Western political and media elites have against Russia as such.
This hostility exists, and expresses itself clearly since the Crimean
War.
What new world
order can appear as a result of the current confrontation?
There are three
scenarios. The first that President Trump can defeat the "deep
state" in the US, will fulfill his election promises, including
that he will discharge his relations with Russia. But this is very
optimistic and unlikely. The second scenario - the US continues
foolhardy confrontation, with unintended consequences, escalation and
a tragic military outcome. This is more likely than the first option,
but so far this scenario has not yet been implemented. And the third,
the most probable. Long-term unstable balance with tendencies towards
multipolarity, which will be resisted by the weakening unipolar
hegemonism. This scenario requires Russia to adhere relentlessly and
resolutely to the preemptive challenges of the West. The Russian
leadership must understand that those whom they call "Western
partners", seriously want to destroy Russia. And Russia must
with its firmness force them to recognize their equal status as a
great power, with legitimate security interests and regional
interests. But such recognition will never be obtained through
concessions, expressions of goodwill and call to reason.
How do you see
the alignment of forces in the world between the US, China, Europe
and Russia?
"Europe"
is no longer an autonomous independent player. The countries of
continental Europe follow the Anglo-American leadership in
Russophobic hysteria. And this represents a further triumph of
Atlantic domination in Europe. It should be especially noted that
both Germany and France, the alleged leaders of an independent
European foreign policy, are now reduced in their status to automatic
followers of the "Anglo-sphere". We simultaneously observe
in the West a hysterical phase of the discourse of Russophobia, which
defies any rational arguments; and also we saw the successful
degradation of European diplomacy to the status of obliging
satellites.
Is the
demonization of Russia and Russophobia only an instrument of
geopolitical play in the West, or are these inalienable essential
characteristics of Russia's perception?
The two pillars on
which the West stands, and primarily Anglo-American Russophobia, are
mutually complementary. First, in geopolitical terms, we observe the
usual aspiration of maritime empires (Britain before World War I, the
USA after World War II) to "contain", encircle, and if
possible, squeeze out the Eurasian Heartland, whose heart is of
course Russia. And secondly, we also have an instinctive, deep
cultural antipathy: the perception of Russia as the eternal "other"
by Western elites, and the consequence is the desire not only to
influence Russian politics and behavior, but to make an irreversible
change of regime in Moscow - and fundamentally transform Russian
identity into Western postmodernism. And let me add that some of the
worst, most insanely hateful anti-Russian stereotypes come from
Russia itself, from those representatives of the liberal
"intelligentsia" and emigrants who passionately hate the
country where they were born and the people of Russia.
