British Foreign Secretary Elizabeth Truss, 46, stepped into the public stage, blasting Russia and China for exporting dictatorship around the world. Truss, who delivers a speech a speech at the Lowy Institute in Australia, pulled no punches saying the free world must stand up to Russia and China, currently embarked on a Cold War-attempt to spread dictatorship around the globe. Truss slammed Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping for exporting dictatorship around the globe. Calling Moscow and Beijing “global aggressors,” Truss warned the West to stand up to Russia and China that are continuing to battle for the hearts-and-minds around the developing world. “They seek to export dictatorship as a service around the world. That is why regimes like Belarus, North Korea and Myanmar find there closes allies in Moscow and Beijing,” Truss said.
Truss’s overly aggressive tone plays right into U.S. President Joe Biden, 79, and his 59-year-old Secretary of State Antony Blinken who’ve accused Putin to plotting another invasion of Ukraine. Putin annexed the Crimean Peninsula March 1, 2014, prompting Western countries like the U.S. and U.K. to call Putin out for naked aggression. Blinken and Truss never talk about a Feb. 22, 2014 CIA-backed coup in Kiev that toppled the Kremlin-backed government of Viktor Yanukovyxh. Truss likes painting Putin and Xi into the dictatorship category. Truss said the West must “face down global aggression,” despite the fact that the U.K. has had nothing but problems transitioning out of the European Union [EU] in what’s called “Brexit.” Going after high profile dictatorships looks like Truss wants to increase her visibility for a possible run as Prime Minister.
Truss knows that the U.K. has diminished resources with which to launch a global campaign against dictatorships around the planet. U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, 57, finds himself embroiled in his own personal scandals, including so-called partygate, that could do in his Premiership. Truss going rogue on dictators could be a diversionary tactic as Johnson endures more calls for his ouster. “It’s time for the free world to stand its ground,” Truss said at Lowy Institute. Whatever Johnson’s problems, it does the U.K. no good to have its Foreign Secretary leading a crusade against Russia and China, two superpowers with far more clout than the U.K. Global aggressors “are emboldened in a way we haven’t seen since the Cold War,” Truss said in Sydney. When it came to the Cold War, the U.K. played a minor role compared to the United States that spent billions challenging the former Soviet Union and Communist China.
Truss’s condemnation of Russia and China could have fallout for Britain, working in a pandemic environment to keep the British economy growing after losing considerable economic opportunities after Brexit. Fingering Russia and China, Truss over simplified the post Cold War world where the U.S. performs the heavy lifting when it comes to checking unbridled power of Russia and China. Whatever the situation in Ukraine, it has little bearing on the rest of the world, concerned about Russian encroachment in Eastern Europe or Chinese attempts to bully its neighbors in the Indo-Pacific Rim. Truss acts like she’s suddenly aware of the role of Russia and China on the world stage, something that’s been going on for years. Biden’s beef with Putin and Xi stems more from his attempt to assert himself as the leader of the Free World, something resisted by the EU.
When it comes to challenging the status quo of Russia and China, the U.S. and EU plays a far more active role that Britain. Britain occasionally deals with a high profile Russian poisoning case when June 30, 2018 two Russia expats, Sergei and Yulia Scripal, father and daughter, were poisoned in Salisbury with a Novichok, a Soviet-era nerve agent. Unlike the U.K., the U.S. has accused Russia of meddling it is elections and democracy, not to mention the Havana Syndrome, unknown microwave energy attacks on diplomatic personnel in Havana and around the globe. Truss’s high profile attack on Russia and China could have consequences for the U.K economy, especially if China decides to tariff British goods and services in China. Truss told Putin to cease-and-desist in Ukraine, where Western propaganda warned against a full-scale Russian invasion, something so preposterous it’s laughable.
Truss’s attacks on Russia and China are actually not helpful at all at a time when Blinken is trying his best to resolve the Ukraine situation amicably. Putin and Xi aren’t likely to pay much attention to Truss has she gets her two minutes of fame standing up to Moscow and Beijing. Hyping the Ukraine invasion threat out of proportion, the Western fake news continues to accuse Putin of nefarious activity in Ukraine and elsewhere. “Kremlin has not learned the lessons of history,” and that “invasion will only lead to a terrible quagmire and loss of life, as we know from the Soviet-Afghan war and conflict in Chechnya. Truss knows that the CIA worked feverishly with terrorists like Sept. 11 mastermind Osama bin Laden to defeat the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. When it comes to “quagmires,” Truss knows that no ne’s wasted more blood-and-treasure than the United States in all its foreign wars.
