Putin Names US As Threat To Russian National Security In New Strategy Document
It’s no secret that relations between Moscow and the West have deteriorated the post-Cold War lows.
The annexation of Crimea and the conflict in Ukraine have pushed the two sides to the brink of a Baltic battle while Russia’s intervention in Syria changed the West’s calculus when it comes to pushing for regime change in the Mid-East.
Earlier this year, in a hilariously accurate assessment of US foreign policy, Vladimir Putin’s Security Council issued a statement entitled "About The US National Security Strategy". Here are some notable excerpts (translated):
The armed forces are considered as the basis of US national security and military superiority is considered a major factor in the American world leadership. While maintaining the continuity of the plants to use military force unilaterally and anywhere in the world, as well as to maintain a military presence abroad...
Significant efforts by the US and its allies will be directed to the formation of anti-Russian policy states, with which Russia has established partnership relations, as well as to reduce Russian influence in the former Soviet Union.
Continue the policy of preserving the global dominance of the United States, increasing the combat capabilities of NATO, as well as to strengthen the US military presence in the Asia-Tihokeanskom region. Military force will continue to be considered as the primary means of ensuring national security and interests of the United States.
Becoming more widespread to eliminate unwanted US political regimes acquire advanced technology "color revolutions" with a high probability of their application in relation to Russia.
Thus, the strategy was developed on the basis of American exceptionalism, the right to take unilateral action to protect and promote the interests of the United States in the world and bears the active anti-Russian charge.
In other words, Moscow views US foreign policy as decidedly Russophobic and The Kremlin pretty clearly sees Washington as a threat to Russia’s security. Well on New Year’s Eve, Vladimir Putin made it official by signing a new appraisal of his country’s national security which, for the first time, lists the US as a threat. Here’s Reuters:
The document, "About the Strategy of National Security of Russian Federation", was signed by President Vladimir Putin on New Year's Eve. It replaces a 2009 version, endorsed by then- President Dmitry Medvedev, the current prime minister, which mentioned neither the United States not NATO.
It says Russia has managed to heighten its role in solving global problems and international conflicts. That heightened role has caused a reaction by the West.
"The strengthening of Russia happens against the background of new threats to the national security, which has complex and interrelated nature," the document goes on to note.
Conducting an independent policy, "both international and domestic" has caused "counteraction from the USA and its allies, which are striving to retain their dominance in global affairs."
That in turn is likely to lead to "political, economical, military and informational pressure on Russia."
The document also implicates Washington in staging "anti-constitutional coup d'etat in Ukraine", which is of course true. The result: a protracted civil war and a US puppet government that is less popular than its Russia-backed predecessor.
The document also reiterates Russia's concerns about the expansion and strengthening of NATO. Here's an excerpt:
The buildup of the military potential of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and vesting it with global functions implemented in violations of norms of international law, boosting military activity of the bloc’s countries, further expansion of the alliance, the approach of its military infrastructure to Russian borders create a threat to the national security.”
The references are to the multiple war games and snap drills NATO has conducted near Russia's borders over the past nine months and to the inclusion of Montenegro in the alliance (documented here).
Of course one doesn't necessarily have to interpret the document in the way the Western media has. Compare and contrast the following two headlines, the first from Reuters and the second from Sputnik:
- Russia Outlines Priorities in Relations with US, EU and NATO
- Putin names United States among threats in new Russian security strategy
Those two pieces refer to the very same document although you wouldn't know it by what's implied. Here are some excerpts from the Sputnik piece:
The strategy defines main venues of Russia-US partnership on the global arena as the improvement of mechanisms of arms controls, the strengthening of mutual trust measures, joint efforts in the area of WMD non-proliferation, expanded cooperation in the fight against terrorism as well as in the resolution of regional conflicts.
"Russia supports the strengthening of mutually-beneficial cooperation with the European countries, the European Union…with the goal of developing a transparent system of collective security in the Euro-Atlantic region based on clearly-defined legal agreements," the text of the document, posted on Thursday on the government's legal information portal, says.
According to the document, Russia continues to view NATO expansion and military activities near Russian borders as a major threat to its security and a violation of international laws, but is ready to develop relations with the Alliance in the interests of the European security.
The takeaway here probably isn't whether or not the US is listed as a "threat" to Russia's national security but rather that The Kremlin if officially recognizing Russia's role in a kind of new world order wherein all matters of geopolitical significance are no longer decided in Washington.
In other words, the era of unipolarity and US hegemony (which has lasted nearly a quarter century) has come to an end and Russia's discussion of the backlash from the US and NATO isn't so much an effort to cast aspersions (i.e. to call this country or that country "a threat") as it is to outline and assess the new reality.
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Everybody can take deprivations like a champ when they have no choice. Russians have had no choice for years now.
The "educated elite" that got their college paid for by daddy so they could party all night with the frat boys can handle it too after the initial shock.
lie. every1 in russia is free to leave at anytime. and it is true that some have. the ussa is waging full economic war and this is hurting the Russian people, no question. but to assume that they have no choice but to stay and suffer is stupid. dont be a stupid.
I wish you Putinbots knew English better so you could actually understand what the posts mean before you go apeshit.
EML you're kidding right? The economic tragedy occurring in the US/EU is insurmountable, hence the desperation to back DAESH in the ME.
There will be a REVOLUTION in this basket case ( in the west) where i reside long before any curtain closes on Russia.
Merkel & Cameron are kowtowing to China and it is certain when push comes to shove China will drop those two US Puppets and throw their might behind their true ally, Russia.
Only the 3 card monte is keeping the French from their next revolution.
Get real EML
Yes, Putin is fearful.
That the dark forces of negroconnery will force him to order a preemptive nuclear first strike to finally silence American Exceptionalism.
Oh! so NATO enciriclment of Russia and US covert bioweapons lab outside US terriotries should not be considered as a threat isn't it ? Modern face of Luddite paranoia. You can't fix the stupid.
if putin takes out dc, chicago, new york, los angeles, san francisco, houston, chicago, baltimore and a few others, he may get more votes than trump...the crime rates would disappear and there'd be no more bullshit about gun control
He does not want to take anything out. West is bankrupt and will take it self out.
agreed, it was just a passing fantasy
The West is demented enough to take everybody down with it.
Why Houston? Have you ever lived there? Owned a business there? There's about as much similarity between Houston and those other socialist enclaves as chicken salad and chicken shit.
Lol, you mentioned chicago twice. Oh no, dah Bears...
drunk, what can i say...hic
Vladimir Putin has signed through a new anti-terror law allowing members of the security forces to open fire on women and children, according to Russian media reports.
State-linked Sputnik International described the amendment to rules governing the use of force by the Federal Security Service (FSB) as outlining “when weapons may be used, first and foremost, when protecting the lives or health of individuals”.
It reported that intelligence agents would be permitted to take fingerprints on state borders and carry out searches of any property if there are suspicions of terror activity.
And the FSB’s agents can now open fire in crowds if doing so will “prevent acts of terrorism, rescue hostages, or repel attacks on public buildings”.
The amendment to the law reportedly included 11 scenarios in which the use of weapons by intelligence forces would be permitted.
It included the right to shoot women, the disabled and minors “in case of armed resistance” and, according to Ekho Moskvy radio, the use of nonlethal weapons on pregnant women.
The change to the law was reportedly strongly opposed by Putin’s own Presidential Human Rights Council, an advisory panel made up of NGO chiefs and activists.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/vladimir-putin-signs-new-...
now that that's clarified...........
Lol at your news source. UK is running there own propaganda anti Putin agenda. Sad that you can't see that.
they are citing Sputnik, which is Russian-state owned...
http://sputniknews.com/russia/20151230/1032514262/putin-fsb-force.html
For the first time I see UK news do that, in hopes of getting some credibility. Now, it's clear who gives the news.
Another idiot falling for twisted facts in western press as usual. From your own link Rusia specifes the rules of using weapons and by FSB employees, as well as forbidding them from having foreign bank accounts.
No where it says allowed to kill children or diasbled. You idiots why even bother following zh ? If you haven't figured out yet how facts are being spun and twisted in your mainstream press to fool koolaiders like you.
yes it does... re-read the article. or allow me to copy/paste the excerpts:
US police can shoot black and brown women and children in the back and go scot free.
correction, if you wish to get away scot free be sure to shoot a cracker, if you shoot a black or brown face you run the risk of having your name and face plastered all over the media and your career ruined! no one cares about a poor white cracker....
Read the statistics. Or don´t they put whiteys in the statistic.
You saved me from having to make that point.
Zinu has some agreeable points. I do not follow Russian news much so cannot state that much.
But Zerohedge for some reason has always been very very supportive of Russia for some reason. I feel alot of the internet is lately (supportive of Russia) even talking among coworkers friends etc
Russia and Putin were creeping ghosts as their economy was strengthening with large oil prices past decade.
Now its done. Growth from oil revenues will never be what it was. Without huge conflict, that I doubt would happen, a WW3 level of conflict, oil is never hitting $100.
War needs to be financed by something. If oil is 70% of your revenue or financing, then your war budget dropped 70% too.
Its one thing to budget past ten years at $40 oil when it was $80-$110, but when you chase oil price, youre spending your potential for savings and investment in other parts of the economy. Putin made a risky move that could have paid off if fracking had been as bad and as unprofitable as zerohedge claimed for years.
Every oil country that has had great growth while the US stagnated this past decade will now watch the opposite. I see increasing US power. China being one of the only great nations that has grown stronger permanently outside of oil this decade.
Investment will flock out of the oil bubble economies like UAE, Kuwait Saudi Arabia, any nation that has taken advantage of huge oil price at the expense of the rest of the world. They were smarter than russia in trying to diversify their economies at least.
Lets use our contrarian indicator here. Theres usually quiet stocks that rise and rise and rise. Then the press finds out and shoves the story down your throat. Alot of dumb money dives in, of course at the end of its run as it crashes or at least slows down alot. (Exceptioin being Apple stock lol).
This is russia. Not too much news past decade. Now, their fiancial pillar is broken, and they are very vulnerable. So they invade Ukraine and join the mess in Syria making global headlines, pushing their limits by getting shot down by turkey even.
An indangered hurt animal screams and fights the most when its facing the end. Putin is simply bluffing his power. It is respectable-ish to weaker nations.
Gee...you people make the world seem so simple. Putin merely restated(reduced to writing) what he has been saying. The wheels are coming off the whole world free lunch train. Every direction you look is at ww3's doorstep. Drunken Churchill and Saudi Arabia. What a gift he left humanity. The royal family has held onto power by their fingernails for 80 years. The executions today may be the straw that broke the camel's back(hopefully). I hope the protest tomorrow goes crazy and starts total devastation over there. Norway?????? You have a whole generation over there that got drunk on oil wealth and of course became bleeding liberals. They will pay the price.....as will all of Europe. I hope it stays across the pond but I am enough of a realist to know it's coming here too. Ya....Russia is going to suffer and so are we. People who think different are going to get a wake up call.
This article seems to counter your conclusion on Russia, am reading everything to seek some balance:
http://orientalreview.org/2015/11/13/grandmaster-putins-trap-2/
Seems the alliances Putin has formed give him a platform for his position.
The US will eventually face the same color revolutions as the Russians as our quality of life diminishes...I liken the global trade world order to a builder's water level: When you place the water level on one side of the foundation's form to the opposite side, the water equalizes to exact level point...similiar to the global quality of life adjustment currently ongoing.
Another article for Russia/China perspective on the multi-polar world order:
http://fxandgeopolitix.com/2015/12/29/as-the-east-creates-the-west-tries...
US power grows? with $19 Trillion (with a "T") in debt and Russia at less than $100 "Billion" - i dont get it?
Russia is selling effective Nuclear electric power plants everywhere - GE? none
Russia is selling arms and so is the US - they have hi tech solutions - what do you call F-35- low tech?
many other products
oil and gas with low marginal production cost and strategically located will do fine - Russia has that in east and west - LNG from US / Australia not going to stand the test of time while Vladavostock to Korea and Japan is short hop.
Russia can wait it out with their friends in Iran and China and Iraq - and will do ok in Syria in the end as well
Names, damn it!
I want names!!
All nations vie world dominance,,, even Russia. They will repress the urge until opportunity knocks. Internally, one can see the slow but sure Russian government takeover of civil liberties that came about after the failure of the USSR but that is a Russian citizens worry... As long as powers are somewhat equal there will be a multi-polar world. Russia and China are now earmarked for the next uni polar as the US slowly fades due to enormous debt and the off shoring of it's production.
Manufacturing is an absolute necessity for a world power. Whether knowingly or not, the US exported not only its manufacturing and the skills that go with it but also its status as a world power. There is only one way to reverse this but the US pols and most of its citizens are too intent on the dream of a new world order. And so,,, we will watch the agonizing death of a nation and the dream of a citizen empowered nation the founders had.
I don't think Russia has a choice but to list the USA as a looming threat to the Russian State. Evidence is ironclad that military moves onto Russia's borders are ongoing, and much further build ups are planned. The idea that Russia is a threat to the USA is only valid if you mean "threat to global hegemony", in that case it would be right to say. The US plan is well layed out, color revolutions are used as cover for a smaller well trained militant group to grab power. Ukraine is the perfect example. The people had valid reason to protest the government's policies and corruption, even as they do today. If you noticed, the people's protests were quickly highjacked by around 30,000 trained and paid activists fresh from training camps in Poland. Paid 50 Euros a day for a foot soldier and much higher for officers. The troops were divided into 100's and then 10 man squads. Trained to fight together and carry out tasks as groups, the 100's proved high effective in the street battles. Aside from the native Ukrainians trained by the CIA in Poland, there were also highly secret CIA death squads ready to act when needed. As they did after an agreemnt was signed, several death squads operating from the "Ukraine Hotel, the protest base camp", opened fire on police and protesters to push the revolution forward. Today, forensic evidence proves beyond doubt that most shots came from the Ukraine Hotel, where several sniper squads were filemd going in and coming out. The western media, corporate controlled, refuses to show the videos or report on investigations into the killings.
Washington plans a color revolution for Russia, but Washington is also ignorant of Russia in the extreme. Hoping that a quick taking of power in Moscow in a western coup would be able to spread it's power across the whole nation is a foolish idea.
Washington is obsessed with Russia! The vast size, unlimited space, water resources, timber resources, minerals, precious metals, nuclear materials, gas. oil, coal. Washington's plans to practice global hegemony will fail in the long run, unless or until Washington can bring Russia into it's orbit and open it up to corporate ownership and exploitation from the USA.
Washington has problems. While seeking to take Russia over, in it's rear, Washington has a rotting EU that is headed for meltdown. As any general will tell you, if your rear is insecure, making a major offensive advance is a bad idea. Washington took Ukraine in a brilliant move, the trouble is, the EU is falling apart right at the moment NATO made it's great leap eastward.
The biggest story to watch in 2016 is not Syria, or even China. It is the economic and political condition of the EU experiment. Nations like Poland, with a new right wing government, is refusing to go along with Merkels dictates on many issues. Infighting in the EU and economic collapse of EU nations, along with fiscal banking crisis will set loose forces to tear apart the EU. Maybe not this year, but the forces are gathering.
That's good ideology Jack. But I think you forgetting much deeper problem of eu. And that's the influx of refugees. Trump is correct, that this is greates Trojan horse of our time.
Quoting Jack Burton
"Washington is obsessed with Russia! The vast size, unlimited space, water resources, timber resources, minerals, precious metals, nuclear materials, gas. oil, coal. Washington's plans to practice global hegemony will fail in the long run, unless or until Washington can bring Russia into it's orbit and open it up to corporate ownership and exploitation from the USA."
The USSA must control Russia, to control China, otherwise their new world order fascist project will fail.
No they want to go back to looting and controlling Russia. A little mass murder, prostitution, abject poverty, famine, genocide, theft of everything are just bonuses for the zio-State Dept, See Aye Eye and ZATO.
good points Jack.
Let's see...name that tune.
Napoleon in the 19th century
Hitler in the 20th century
----------in the 21st century.
And every time Russia pays dearly. Well not this time, thank god for nukes.
Jack you are one of the two or three clearist thinkers on ZH, I never miss your analysis, TKS, I look for you all the time!
Another great post Jack!
Appreciate the thoughts, thanks both of you.
Also this is the likely year for the UKs referendum on whether to continue with EU membership or go it alone. I hope and pray enough of my countrymen awake from their slumber before it is to late.
Citizens of the UK being awoken from their slumber or not will not make an iota of difference in the voting outcome. Wake up youself - the game is completely rigged in the US, the UK, and EU.
Thr pro-EU referendum will "miraculously" pass at the very last minute, just as Hillary will miraculously "come from behind" in 2016 to defeat Donald Trump.
All as planned...
To screw with Putin you have to rebuild NATO's forces. Who's going to pay for that?
YOU will.
What I'm worried more about is the post-Putin leadership. The West is helping foment conditions for a nasty replacement. Imagine someone like Zhironovsky filling in the post-Putin vacuum. The Samantha Powers School of International Idiocy would have us believe that nothing would be worse than leaving Hussein or Qaddaffi in power. They believe that anything would be better than Putin despite their own castastrophically incorrect prognostications.
Shows the true value of an Ivy League education, doesn't it? After Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, then on to Syria and then Ukraine, it shows they are selling something that ends up with an entirely 180 degree opposite result. By constantly painting Putin into these decisions, it's laying the groundwork for a more militant replacement. And finally, given how Russian patience is being perceived as weakness in Washington, when does it all finally go up in flames?
I would never allow corporal punishment on children, but for adults, it's not the same story at all. Samantha Power should be taken out back of the shed and beaten until she cries. If there is anyone out there on the international stage that is truly a menace to international order, it's Ms. Power.
Many like to paint Putin as a dictator in total control of this country. That is far from true. Although he is exceptionally popular with his people he is far from in total control and there are many forces in and out of government wanting to grab power. Some analysts claim he does not control many strategic departments. That explains why Putin has not moved as fast as he could have in support for Syria and other areas. There are still plenty of people around looking to reconstitute the old USSR or others looking to replace the oligarchs and rape Russia for it's riches. The biggest reason he kicked out the western NGO's like the NED to stop them from plowing possible fertile ground.
It's really no mystery why NATO expansion and belligerence, especially after Bill Clinton's many false assurances, seem threatening to Russia. Put the shoe on the other foot for a minute and ask yourself how the U.S. would react if Russia made alliances with Canada and Mexico, moved nuclear missles up to the borders, conducted war games a few miles from Texas, and so on.
Would the handful of paranoid neocons currently in charge of US military/foreign policy really be as rational and patient as Putin has been?
Agreed, and this is one of the reasons I despise the Clintons. They screwed up one of the greatest opportunities in centuries for the world to move forward. Russia should be our ALLY now...instead, the neo-cons just continued the Cold War with new labels.
I'm sure they won't soon forget how quickly the West moved to take advantage of their 'bad days'. What the West seems to forget is that Putin is by no means the real hard-ass over there, and that there are plenty of angry Russians who would be happy to re-visit the Cold War days in all their glory. There is a lot of anger in many circles over how the West betrayed them, broke promises, etc. Those circles are largely under control now, thanks to Putin, but just like our own, they remain, simmering in the background, waiting for their day to come.
Yes, Russia also has its 'neo-cons', and they are every bit as odious and dangerous as our own. And if we don't get ourselves in check here, we may find that regime-change can occur in Russia too, and they have just as many extremist lunatics as we do. Many think Putin is the problem...how wrong they are! You have NO IDEA of what is lined up behind him, ready to step in should the little Russian falter, weaken. The West thinks they could somehow control Putin's replacement, but Putin is so hard-assed because he understands what would actually happen...the same damned shit that has happened everywhere ELSE! Putin is smart enough to understand that as bad as an Assad is, he could be controlled far more easily than an ISIS can. And, no matter what fevered arguments our neo-cons present, Putin is and will always be far easier to deal with than anyone likely to replace him would be.
Putin is tough and uncompromising because he has had to be. As are many of the other leaders we decide need to be deposed. We engineer regime-changes, and the in-coming regimes prove to be far worse than the guys we replaced! Every fucking TIME! That is annoying as hell in a place like Syria, where they 'fire' refugees at their enemies...in Russia we'd be looking at a shit-storm of EPIC proportions, because they have nukes they can send. Why do these interfering neo-cons ALWAYS claim that the ousted leaders will be replaced with more 'reasonable' persons, when they ALWAYS end up with someone FAR worse? Look at what has happened with each and every country we've done this to...now ask yourself what happens if they get their ultimate wish, and manage to get Putin ousted? (That's what all these sanctions and shit are supposed to do, you know. Get the Russian people all riled up so they'd get rid of Putin...)
But what would happen if Putin did go? Who would be likely to replace him, especially if there was unrest? How do we up the ante from replacing an Assad or a Ghaddafi with an ISIS to replacing the leader of a major nuclear power with...whatever?
We have to learn how to get along with people we don't always agree with, because we cannot re-make the entire world over in our own image. We have failed, consistently, in doing that, and it's time to give it up before we start fucking around with Russia and screwing THAT up too, because that cost is too great.
With idiots like Insane McPhyscoCain, Russia has EVERYTHING to worry about from the USSA.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDFql8eE0TA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mscMShD_la8
My MIC stocks all up.
Should of embraced the madness long ago.
<----Russian Bear
<----Emasculated American Manchild
I guess The US had never been named before.