On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump made a speech in which he proclaimed a new National Security Strategy. On the one hand, it's full of American oversized ego.
Donald Trump, US President: "We have liberated captive nations, transformed former enemies into the best of friends, and lifted entire regions of the planet from poverty to prosperity".
Sounds pretty "convincing" with regard to Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, Syria, Ukraine, and now, Yemen. The USA has already managed to intrude, while there's been a cholera epidemic announced. The severe epidemic is ravaging the country. The Yemeni suffer from hunger and water shortages. Now, the USA is scheming up plans on bringing this kind of prosperity to North Korea and Iran.
Surely, many words have been said about the global mission and overall greatness of America. By all means, the USA acted heroically in Iraq and Syria where they defeated everyone.
Donald Trump, US President: "The coalition to defeat ISIS has now recaptured almost 100 percent of the land once held by these terrorists in Iraq and in Syria."
Sounds great, if it wasn't for a couple of minor omissions.
First: ISIS appeared in Iraq as the result of the senseless American aggression against Saddam Hussein.
Second: there was nothing successful about the Syrian campaign except for Raqqa being turned into a pile of gravel.
Once Russian troops engaged in the conflict, Syrian ISIS units were completely defeated. The Americans, whom no one had even invited there shamed themselves. It's time for them to leave Syria. For them, there's not much sense in staying there. What is more, it's against the law.
For Trump, these imaginary victories are just an excuse to enlarge the military budget. Next year, it will be as much as $700 billion.
Donald Trump, US President: "We are demanding extraordinary strength, which will hopefully lead to long and extraordinary peace".
It hasn't been that way until today. The USA has been constantly fighting somewhere in recent decades. There haven't been many victories so far, but every US President still needs to have his own war. And now, here's the core part of the new US National Security Strategy.
Donald Trump, US President: "We also face rival powers, Russia and China, that seek to challenge American influence, values, and wealth."
It means, that the opposition of the USA to Russia and China has become a part of the Strategy. This is where the self-admiration has turned into a lack of confidence. I understand that. In military terms, Russia is still able to deliver guaranteed nuclear retaliation. As for China, its economic power is a pain in the neck for the USA.
Nevertheless, according to Trump, American diplomats will always feel confident speaking from a position of strength... ...and so on. Fighting for peace with military forces, and the same goal from different angles.
But Russia still remains the main military rival for the USA, even though the Russian military budget is 15 times smaller than the American one.
Trump announced the new Strategy on Tuesday. On Friday, at the final session of the Board of Ministry of Defense, Putin responded to the new American strategy, outside the formal part of his speech. Of course, we had expected him to answer that way.
Vladimir Putin, President of Russia: “There's a question whether we can stay self-sufficient in these conditions, and with these set of capabilities. whether we can ensure the defense capability of our country credibly and unconditionally. We can do this. We are obliged to do this. We will do this. Well, you may ask how we're going to do this. Long ago, Alexander Suvorov told us not to try to outnumber the rivals, but to overcome them with technique. There are many traditional sayings about that. For example, "strong back, weak mind". So, the mind is what we need. We won't fully depend on " military muscles" only. We won't get involved in a senseless arm race which is dreadfully harmful for the economy. We'll never do that.
So, what shall we rely on in terms of the national security and the defense capabilities of our country? The answer is as simple as this: on the brain, on intellect, on self-discipline in terms of military issues. We have much backup which we inherited from previous generations, but there's already much been done in that area by young researchers, designers, and engineers".
What exactly is that "backup" that the President mentioned?
Vladimir Putin: "It's the development of the new, perspective, high-precision, high-tech weapons, unique from the view of their effectiveness. To achieve these goals, we should be creative, disciplined, and responsible. I have no doubt we'll do that. This confidence is based on calculations and on our common experience. We will definitely ensure the defense capability of our country".
There's one more important thing to mention. It's the essence of Russian foreign politics.
Vladimir Putin: "There's another thing we can rely on when we make those calculations. I'm talking about our peaceful foreign politics, and I mean it. It's important, because we don't have to establish military bases all across the world. And we're not planning to act the global police. In any case, we can't afford it, it's too expensive. So, it's not the plan".
It means, that while the USA is still excited about the idea of world domination, Russia has a different plan for the USA. We need the reliable defense systems which would ensure that our retaliation will turn America into radioactive dust, as many of you have already heard me say. To make it clear, I mean, in case the USA strikes us first.
You see, it's a limited task, but it's precise, and it's much cheaper than the global military domination which is the goal of the USA. As for the strategies of other countries, it's more important for us to live due to our own agenda, but not the one that someone imposes on us. The sovereignty of the state is the main issue for this is the basic requirement for anything else. I mean, economic condition, technological growth, kids, nature, culture, and arts.
Let them be unreasonable. Why should we care?
