While ‘Russophobia’s is not a new phenomenon in the US, the fact that it has gained a lot of political currency due to the controversy that followed the election of president Trump in 2016 shows that this phenomenon has become a part and parcel of US domestic politics. Its major manifestation in the current scenario is the latest defence bill the US president has signed and the fresh sanctions that have been imposed directly on Russia, and on countries, such as Turkey, that have dared follow an independent foreign policy, developing and strengthening relations with Russia. Thanks to the year 2020 been an election year in the US, ‘Russophobia’ is set to play a major role and an important ‘debate point’ for the US presidential candidates, including the current president.
The defence the US president signed has shut Turkey out of NATO’s F-35 fighter jet program as a punishment for Turkey’s deepening ties with Russia over a purchase of an advance S-400 missile defence system. The punishment goes further and lifts US arms embargo on Turkey’s Eastern Mediterranean adversary Cyprus. ‘Russophobia’ is thus directly guiding US foreign policy even towards a country that is otherwise an important NATO member.
Significantly enough, it is not just Turkey that has come under fire. Germany, too, has been punished for its companies’ involvement in the construction of Nord Stream 2 pipeline project. Nord Stream 2 is a multi-billion-dollar pipeline that would bring natural gas directly from Russia to Germany via the Baltic Sea. For the US, this gas pipeline will be a major Russian inroad into European geo-economic landscape and cause major geo-political ramifications.
Whereas this thinking implies that a single gas project can destroy the trans-Atlantic alliance built over 75 years since the Second World War, there is also fear in the US that the project will be a stepping stone for future Europe-Russia relations whereby the US role might become progressively irrelevant and thus dent its traditionally hegemonic position. This led, in 2018, the US president to call Germany a “captive of Russia.”
Accordingly, this ‘captive’ thinking has led the US to impose sanctions on German companies involved in the project. German finance minister Olaf Scholz described the legislation as “serious interference in Germany and Europe’s internal affairs and our own sovereignty”. “We object to them in the strongest terms”, he added.
The US sanctions targets companies that have knowingly sold, leased, or provided vessels that are engaged in pipe laying at depths of 100 feet or more below sea level for the construction of pipeline. Parties that do not comply will face sanctions under the Protecting Europe’s Energy Security Act of 2019, a sanctions law ironically written by oil and gas rich Texas Senator Ted Cruz and not from anywhere in Europe.
On December 18, 2019, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee overwhelmingly voted to approve the Defending American Security from Kremlin Aggression Act (DASKA) of 2019. The comprehensive, bipartisan bill aims at significantly increasing the political, diplomatic, and economic pressure on Russia in “response to its malign activities around the world.”
Whereas its being a bipartisan bill speaks volumes about the increasing ‘Russophobia’ in both US parties, that this thinking is playing directly into US electoral politics is evident from the fact that this bill was moved by Lindsey Graham, a Republican and a “top Trump ally.” To quote him,
“This strong vote indicates an overwhelming desire by the Senate as a whole to push back against Russian interference in our election and Putin’s misadventures throughout the world. I am committed to working with my colleagues to improve this legislation, but it must be strong to be meaningful. Our bill sanctions the Russian energy sector, goes after the illicit gains of Putin and his oligarch friends, and makes strong statements about the value of NATO to the United States. I look forward to working with my Senate colleagues to ensure that this legislation is taken up on the Senate floor and we continue to push back against Putin’s malign behavior.”
Bob Menendez, a Democrat Senator, said that “by passing DASKA, the Senate Foreign Relations committee is saying we intend to hold Vladimir Putin accountable, and that we will be proactive in standing up for U.S. national security. This comprehensive legislation will ensure our diplomats have the tools to advance our interests and stand up to the bully in the Kremlin.”
The bi-partisan cooperation on ‘controlling’ and ‘targeting’ Russia is thus, without any doubt, a major election point scoring point that both parties intend to use in their election campaign. This is evident not only from the timing of these sanctions but also the fact that companies directly involved in the development of Nord Stream 2 have plainly rejected US concerns about Russian expansion into Europe.
In other words, while ‘Russophobia’ may not have real material basis in Europe, playing this phenomenon out in the political arena has made it a material basis of electioneering in the so-called world’s biggest champion of democracy.
Salman Rafi Sheikh, research-analyst of International Relations and Pakistan’s foreign and domestic affairs, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.
