International security

Anti-Russian Front in the United States: 3 Plus 1

The anti-Russian rhetoric in Washington is reaching unprecedented levels. Moscow's meddling in the US election is compared with the Pearl Harbor attack in December 1941 and with the 9/11 destruction by Al-Qaeda of the twin towers in Manhattan. New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee demanded that Trump should consider designating Russia as a terror sponsor state after Moscow missed a deadline to explain how a Russian former informant for Britain’s foreign intelligence service was poisoned in the UK.

Those who follow the Washington scandals know that in the past Menendez has been accused by government prosecutors of bribery, fraud and other charges, including accepting private flights, campaign contributions and other bribes from a wealthy patron in exchange for official favors. He still awaits the case mistrial due to the jury split so one could suspect that his appeal to the White House about Russia is an attempt to score some patriotic points with the media. However, in the wake of the current highly toxic and extremely dangerous anti-Russia hysteria it would be important to identify the major forces behind it, so in case of the worst case scenario of the direct military East – West confrontation we would know who to blame.

Prior to the 2016 presidential elections we could identify 3 major groups in this camp. First is the military-industrial complex which is a huge network of institutions, both public and private, whose bread and butter depend on global adventurism. The financial industry, government contractors, think tanks, many NGOs, lobbyists, and, of course, the mainstream media that nowadays practically lost its journalistic ethics and serves to satisfy the demands of its corporate owners.