Moscow-Washington Axis

Boris Kargarlitsky (Rabkor) 4 March 2025

After the TV reported how we would now be friends with America against Europe, the prisoners of the IK-4 camp became somewhat confused. The most advanced ones rushed to the library to order George Orwell's "1984". A queue formed.

In fact, the logic of what is happening is not difficult to understand. The Russian ruling group desperately needs the support of the Donald Trump administration to get out of the dead-end situation they have driven themselves into. The only problem is that the price of this help may be prohibitively high.

As I have written before, for the first time in many decades, the United States has people in power who do not consider themselves bound by any of the rules and obligations that existed throughout the 20th century. At one time, there was much debate about the fate of the world system described by Wallerstein and the hegemony of the United States in it. Some believed that the world system was threatened by the rise of China, while others saw in Russia's policies an attempt to change or destroy the world order. Now we understand that America's hegemony is indeed coming to an end, but its destroyer is the American administration itself: after all, hegemony is a burden of obligations and responsibilities that Trump refuses.

But the end of hegemony does not mean the end of imperialism. Quite the contrary, we get the most aggressive and shameless imperialism, when the US interacts with its neighbors on the basis of a “big stick” policy. Washington’s new orientation is toward dominance, which does not assume consideration of others’ interests or respect for others’ rights. And Russia is openly offered the role of a helper in this enterprise, directed against China, Europe, and indeed the rest of the world, including even Canada.

It seems that the people ruling in Moscow have no other choice but to accept these conditions, especially since Trump will meet them halfway on the Ukrainian issue (exactly to the extent that it does not affect the interests and ambitions of his team). Otherwise, we can only hope for luck and the ability of European diplomats to keep the situation under control. But the Moscow-Washington axis is clearly taking shape.

The trouble is that such a turn, being unprepared and forced, contradicts economic, political and cultural trends, including those imposed by the current government. And it is not only a matter of how the patriotic public, for whom anti-Americanism is the central element of ideology, will perceive what is happening. Much more important is that Russia's economic ties have traditionally been oriented specifically toward Europe and China, and the United States has little to offer in return. Worse, the ousting of Russian suppliers from European markets will continue under Trump.

Russian business, dreaming of normalizing relations with the West, will get this normalization, but in a form that will only make things worse. As for politics, the Trump administration is not just happy with the current management of Russia, it is ideal for them. A partner who is not limited by public opinion, who does not take into account not only the opposition, but also the economic interests of his own country - an ideal partner. For Russian liberals who still believe that the United States is the concentration of the forces of good, this will be an unpleasant surprise. As well as for those representatives of the "global South" who tried to find an ally against American imperialism in Vladimir Putin's Russia.

However, disappointments of this kind would have been inevitable in any case. Fortunately, there are sufficient grounds to assume that the process of rapprochement between the two authoritarian projects will not be problem-free. It will encounter resistance even at the elite level. European states are unlikely to allow themselves to be completely ousted from the settlement process, and therefore will retain a certain influence on the events. In Russia itself, business circles interested in ties with Europe and China will be forced to resist, albeit through lobbying and bureaucratic rather than political methods. And in the United States itself, the position of Trumpism is not as strong as it might have seemed in November 2024 after the Democrats’ failure in the elections. Although the Trumpist administration has a surprisingly strong immunity to public opinion, resistance will grow against the backdrop of an unprecedented split within the ruling class.

I think that we are not in for a dark era of triumphant totalitarianism in the spirit of Orwell's "1984", but a period of intense and sometimes chaotic struggle. We just need to see the threat and understand its scale.
https://rabkor.ru/columns/editorial-columns/2025/03/02/moscow-washington-axis/

Back


Links Search