Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
Aug 28 2014
Paul Roberts: “Russia is not interested in a conflict on its borders.
It is beneficial for the U.S.”
28 August 2014 – 11:21am
Paul Roberts, the founder of Reaganomics, an ex-assistant secretary of
the treasury for economic policy, deputy editor and columnist of Wall
Street Journal, an ex-columnist of Business Week and Scripps Howard
News Service, is confident that Russia remains an obstacle for U.S.
hegemony. To neutralize Moscow, Washington violated the
Reagan-Gorbachev agreement, expanded the NATO to post-Soviet
territories and wants Georgia and Ukraine to join NATO. Roberts
describes his vision of the situation in the Caspian Region in an
interview with Vestnik Kavkaza.
– How important is the Caspian Region for the U.S., Russia and the
world as a whole?
– It is a very serious issue for Washington. Most Americans know
nothing about the Caspian Region. It is an additional opportunity to
conduce the disintegration of the Russian Federation and adjoining
former parts of the USSR and Russia itself to the Western anti-Russian
union. That is why the U.S. is working actively to gain the support of
the countries. I think that such work is a serious problem for the
Russian government, because Washington is carrying out active sabotage
on Russia’s borders. That is why the strategic importance of the
region for Russia is in the fact that Washington challenges Russia on
territories that used to be in the orbit of Russia’s influence.
– Do you think Washington is successful in this course?
– I suppose so. Not in everything, but in certain cases it is very
successful. The U.S. has already subjugated Ukraine, which is beyond
the region. They have subjugated Georgia and are making plans for
post-Soviet republics in Central Asia where, I think, their policy
will be successful because money does wonders. It is a weapon
Washington uses quite successfully.
– What do you think would be better for the countries of the region?
Maybe they would be better under U.S. protection?
– Better in what sense? They will be mired in a conflict with Russia,
involvement in conflict will not benefit anyone. American interests in
the region are about weakening Russia. Splitting the Russian
Federation is the goal of American foreign policy.
– It seems that all countries in the modern world, not only countries
of the former USSR, should make a choice whether to be with the U.S.
or Russia. Can there be any intermediate variant?
– I do not think that the Russian government gives other countries
such a choice. It is the position of Washington. Washington says: “You
are either with us or against us.” I doubt that the Russian government
wants the disintegration of the U.S. The problem is that American
foreign policy is based on the Wolfowitz Doctrine [Paul Wolfowitz was
the under secretary of defense in 2001-2005, Dick Cheney’s deputy in
1989-1993. He is the author of the Defense Planning Guidance of 1992,
where he described the principles of American hegemony in a unipolar
world. The document became the foundation of the National Security
Strategy. According to the doctrine, the U.S. needs to stop revival of
Russia because Russia is quite big and has enough resources to
challenge American domination in the world. The U.S. cannot allow its
leadership to limited by anything. Washington takes an aggressive,
hostile position towards Russia. I think Russia is partly responsible
for that.
– What about the frozen conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan that
cannot be resolved? Is it really that hard or is one of the sides
involved in the conflict, is Russia or the U.S. interested in
preserving the status quo?
– Russia is not interested in a conflict on its borders. It gets no
advantage from. At the same time, it is beneficial for the U.S. I bet
Washington is behind it.
– Recently, many journalists are trying to collide Russia and
Azerbaijan, the relations between which are good-neighbourly.
Newspapers are making many articles on the problem of human rights in
Azerbaijan. Someone is trying to escalate the situation. Why is it
being done? Why is someone trying to bring up Russia against
Azerbaijan?
– I have already described this strategy of Washington. It is about
creating discord in the RF, to create many problems for Russia so that
the Russian government would not hinder realization of U.S. ambitions
in any other parts of the world. You should bear in mind that the
Russian government and the British parliament blocked the American
initiative to invade Syria. The Russian government prevented
realization of the American initiative to attack Iran, proposing a
diplomatic solution for uranium enrichment in the region. Thus, Russia
has stopped the U.S. plans twice, using its influence. It outraged
Washington and they concentrated on ousting the Ukrainian government
to create serious problems for Russia on its own territory. Ukraine
has been a part of Russia for centuries. They also concentrated
efforts in other lines. For example, they are working in Stalin’s
homeland, Georgia, a former part of the USSR and Russia. The U.S. will
continue such activities everywhere. Russia will only get into more
trouble.
http://vestnikkavkaza.net/interviews/politics/59354.html