Accusing the U.S. of psychological warfare, the Russian Federation can’t figure out the U.S. endgame, with 78-year-old President Joe Biden calling 68-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin March 16 a “soulless killer.” Biden joined the European Union and Canada slapping the Kremlin with sanctions over its treatment of 44-year-old Russian dissident Alexi Navalny. U.S. CIA knows that Navalny runs a clandestine network around Russia seeking to overthrow Putin’s 20-year reign of power. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu’s aid Andrei Ilnitsky thinks the U.S. is actively involved in psychological warfare against the Russian state. Since Biden took office Jan. 20, he’s accused Putin of trying to undermine American elections and democracy, something not confirmed by any facts, other ambiguous intel reports that indicate Russia hacked into SolarWinds network management software.
When it comes to Russia’s influence in the 2020 election, you’d think Biden should thank Putin because he beat former President Donald Trump by over 5 million popular votes. Whatever espionage or counter-espionage goes on between Cold War foes, there’s a big difference between daily propaganda than actual infiltration into U.S. government computer networks. When it came to the SolarWinds hack, inserting spyware into the program’s update used by the U.S. government and other industries, Russian hackers did not penetrate U.S. computer systems. While Biden points fingers at Russia applying economic and travel sanctions, SolarWinds was not questioned of how a multibillion dollar software program has such poor cybersecurity to get hacked. Whatever influence Russia has in U.S. elections or American democracy, it’s not enough to wreck bilateral relations.
Biden’s wrecked U.S. Russian relations that go way beyond elections or democratic practices but deal with global hot spots requiring wider cooperation. By wrecking U.S. relations, over something as extraneous a Navalny, Biden has broken the long tradition of “linkage” in U.S. foreign policy. What happens in North Korea or Afghanistan, has an effect on what happens in the South China Sea. Yet Biden thinks he can join Navalny’s insurgency against Putin and the Kremlin without damaging U.S. national security. Ilnitsky thinks the U.S. is actively running a psychological warfare campaign with the intent of undermining the Russian Federation. When you think about Ilnitsky charge of psychological warfare, it’s exactly the same thing U.S. intel agencies have accused the Kremlin of for some time. U.S. intel agencies say the Kremlin is trying to undermine U.S. democracy.
When the Jan. 6 Capitol riot took place, no one blamed the Kremlin trying to undermine U.S. democracy. That blame went on Trump, who House and Senate Democrats accused to attempting a coup d’etat. If that doesn’t sound preposterous, then what does? Whatever happened Jan. 6, the rabble rousers, called Trump supporters by the media, didn’t come armed with assault rifles, semiautomatic handguns, rocket propelled grenades or any other weapons seen in actual insurgencies. Yet that didn’t stop House Democrats from charging Trump with “incitement of insurrection,” because a small percent of his Jan. 6 Ellipse audience stormed the Capitol to vandalize government property and take selfies. Yet those same House and Senate Democrats that see Trump as an insurgent, think of Navalny as a freedom fighter because he’s trying to topple Putin’s 20-year reign of power.
When it comes to psychological warfare, Russia’s Defense Minister Shoigu thinks the Biden administration seeks nothing short than toppling Putin’s government. “A new type of warfare . . . is starting to appear. I call it, for the sake of argument, mental war. It’s when the aim of the this warfare is the destruction of the enemy’s understanding of civilization pillars,” said Ilnitsky. Whether Ilnitsky knows it or not, all countries use some kind of psychological warfare, trying to gain a strategic advantage over their competitors . “A war is being waged for people’s minds,” Ilnitsky said, referring to what’s seen on social networks like Twitter and Facebook, glamorizing life in the West, with all its freedoms and opportunities. Russia has used images of U.S. race riots and homeless encampments in American big cities to counter Western propaganda that life is somehow more glamorous in the West.
Accusing Putin of being a “soulless killer” or accusing China of “genocide” against Uyghurs in Xinjiang has left the U.S. isolated, clinging to mulilateralism, joining partners in the EU. Unlike the U.S., the EU relies heavily on Russian energy, not something that’s going to change anytime soon. Biden and his Secretary of State Tony Blinken have tried to torpedo the $11 billion Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline with Russia that’s already 94% complete. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who plans to retire in September, rejected the idea to canceling the pipeline, no matter which direction the political winds blow. “A deliberate policy to contain and keep Russia down is being pursued. It is absolutely constant and visible to the naked eye,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Washington and Brussels should look for common ground with Russia and China, not pushing things to the brink
