In Vladimir Putin’s Russia, the body of experts in international politics knows exactly what to say but no longer what to think. These experts can always rely on a series of nationalist and messianic clichés making Russia the eternal adversary of all forms of global hegemony, but their voices are otherwise discordant, risking contradiction from month to month when analyzing the ever-changing international policies of Donald Trump’s United States.
Since military interventions in Venezuela and Iran, the harmony between the United States and Russia that Vladimir Putin pompously celebrated a year ago has vanished. At the same time, a significant portion of the Kremlin’s rhetoric and its spokespersons collapsed.
For months, a continuous flow of publications assured the Russian public that the United States had returned to reason, focusing solely on their internal fractures, and that the true adversary was Europe. However, after Caracas and Tehran, it became clear that these speeches were just wishful thinking or pure diplomatic tactics. The United States, therefore, resumes its true identity in the major Russian publications: that of the eternal and primary enemy.
One of the clearest signs of this resurgence was provided by Dmitry Trenin in a recent publication in the Russian magazine “Profil.” The author, director of the Institute of World Military Economy and Strategy at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow, drew a realistic and clear conclusion: contrary to expectations, including some of his supporters, Donald Trump intends to engage in traditional American regime change policies. For this pro-Kremlin expert, the conclusion is clear: Russia must prepare for a lasting confrontation with the United States.
His intervention stands out for its realistic and analytical nature. Where regime propagandists took the Russian president’s word to claim that the collective West’s time had passed, surpassed by China or the BRICS, Trenin points out an unpleasant reality: the United States remains the world’s top power.
His text serves as a signal to the Kremlin, indicating Russia should not dream big and instead focus on arming itself and cultivating international partnerships to curb U.S. hegemonic ambitions.
[Context: The article discusses the shifting geopolitical landscape between Russia and the United States, how experts in international politics navigate these changes, and the renewed tensions between the two countries, highlighting the role of Donald Trump’s administration in this situation.]
[Fact Check: The article accurately reflects the complex relationship dynamics between Russia and the United States under the leadership of Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, as well as the expert analysis of geopolitical strategies and confrontational narratives.]
