Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator
US-Russia relations are at a new low. The US has slapped new sanctions on Russia in response to accusations of cyberattack and election meddling. The Russian Foreign Intelligence Service was accused of being behind the SolarWinds hack. Russia has asked to expel 10 American diplomates in a 'tit for tat response'.
US President Biden has suggested a summit with Russian President Putin, which would be the first of its kind since 2018.
In an effort to understand the issues behind today's headlines, Steven Sahiounie of MidEastDiscourse interviewed Shahzada Rahim, a geopolitical analyst based in Islamabad with specialization in Eurasian politics, Middle East and Russian Foreign Policy. He is the founder and CEO of think tank and news website the Eurasian Post. He is also a close confidante of the former special representative to Kremlin, Professor Alexander Dugin.
#1. Steven Sahiounie (SS): The tension between Moscow and Washington has been increasing since President Biden came into office. Where do you see the relationship going?
Shahzada Rahim (SR): First of all, thank you for having me for this interview on Middle East Discourse.
Well, since the beginning of the cold war, the relationship between the United States and Russia has been an interesting topic on the global stage. Nothing has changed since then; the pattern of diplomatic relations between the two global powers remained the same. Before answering your question, let me make one fact clear first. Although the disintegration of soviet Russia brought humiliation and major geopolitical challenges for Post-Soviet Russia but one thing remained clear--despite the rise of other global powers such as China and India, the US establishment still considers Russia as the number one enemy. In my opinion, it is cold war anti-Russia hysteria, which still dominates the minds of American political and military elites.
To cut it short, though, under the Donald Trump administration, the US-Russia relations remained calmed compared to the previous regimes but since Biden came to office, the pattern of diplomatic relations between the two countries is again unfolding.
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