New cold war

The US-Russia relationship seems to be under major stress over allegations that Russia interfered in the US presidential election. The US Senate’s decision to ratify a proposal for new sanctions against Russia was met with Russia asking the US to reduce hundreds of diplomatic staff in the country as well as seizing two diplomatic compounds operated by the US in Russia. The move is also a delayed response to the US decision to deport 35 Russian diplomatic staff as well as seizing two Russian compounds on its territory. The reality, though, is that much of the current outrage is indeed political gimmickry. The fact is that the US is having to deal with a much more weakened position as a global hegemon. Russia has treaded slowly after the demise of the Soviet Union but has made itself into a global power, which the US must now negotiate with as an equal. American refusal to do so has left the US-Russia relationship spiraling downwards over the past few years. But the speed with which it has deteriorated after the Trump election that has been the most stunning. 

It seems the era of superpowers fighting for global hegemony is back. Despite the soft optics of Trump and Putin meeting recently in a cordial setting, elected legislators in the US do not share the same position. That is not surprising, also given that the Democratic Party has had little else left to run on. But there is a case that this is more about the impunity of those who desire power. There seems to be clear evidence that intermediaries for the Russian side approached individuals in the Trump campaign as high up as Trump’s son and son-in-law. Both of them have been called before a running Senate hearing on Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election. It is this inquiry which has brought Russia back as the ‘big bad wolf’ into the everyday political debate in the US. As it stands, there is little chance of improvement, despite Russia’s warning. The worrying aspect in all this is that, while the fallout of all this will hardly affect the two countries, it will be felt by regions around the world stricken by war, which continue to be caught between the competing interests of these two global powers. Neither side is in the right. They are merely serving their own interests. The trouble is that once relations between such hegemonic powers sour, it is much more difficult to turn back.