RUSSIA HAS PLENTY OF
TOOLS TO HURT US
Press TV has conducted an interview
with Eric Draitser, founder of stopimperialism.org from New York, about Russia
saying it has successfully test-fired a new Intercontinental Ballistic Missile
(ICBM) amid rising tensions with the United States over Ukraine.
What follows is an approximate
transcription of the interview.
Press TV: Mr. Draitser, first of all just how significant do you
think the timing of this test is?
Draitser: Well we are hearing that both sides are saying that this is
merely a routine test and that the timing is not necessarily to coincide with
events in Ukraine.
But I think that any political
observer would note that there is certainly a subtext to all of this while this
may have been planned ahead of time, it is impossible to ignore the fact that
Russia is flexing its muscles and it is not merely flexing its conventional
military muscles as has been the case throughout past incidents. They are now
flexing their nuclear capability and of course the Russian nuclear capability
is a nuclear deterrent.
This is something that the Putin
government has mentioned many times before and of course we have seen countless
examples throughout recent history of the very fact that the United States
under any circumstances will engage in aggression against any country that it
feels does not have a nuclear deterrent. This is one of the motivating factors
of every country in recent memory in looking towards nuclear weapons and a
nuclear program.
So it is impossible to ignore the timing but I will say that
Russia is more than simply warning the United States. Russia is sending a message
to its own citizens and Putin specifically is sending a message to its own
citizens that not only will Russia not back down from US-NATO expansion, but
Russia will do whatever Russia has to do to protect its citizens and to stand
up to meddling and bullying from the West.
Press TV: And of course in face of threats by the United States to
impose sanctions on Russia for sending troops to the Crimea region, just how do
you think Moscow will respond?
Draitser: Well I think that Moscow is being very calculated in the
moves that they have made. Although there has been a presence of the Russian
military in Crimea, it is still debatable exactly what that presence is and
what they are doing there.
There are many international
treaties and it seems that the Russians are walking a very fine line with
regard to what they are allowed to do under these internationally recognized
treaties.
But the Russian counter measures are
multifaceted and varied and this to a large extent depends on what actions the
United States and the Western powers take.
We have heard countless threats from
both right-wing and left-wing in the United States ruling establishment, the
political establishment regarding things like sanctions. We have heard
Secretary Kerry who not coincidentally was glad-handing with the Nazis and the
various other elements occupying the government in Kiev earlier today, we have
heard statements regarding sanctions, and we heard statements regarding booting
Russia out of the G8.
If any such action were taken certainly
Russia has plenty of tools that it could use that could very severely hurt both
the United States and its European partners. I think first and foremost one is
to think about Russia turning off the gas to Europe. Russia is the central
player in the European gas market and if Russia were to do that, it would
cripple specifically a country like Germany which is very export-heavy but a
lot of other countries as well. It would cripple the European economy.
Moreover, we have heard talks from
advisors to Putin regarding the possibility of Russia moving away from the US
dollar. If Russia were to dump the US dollar, this would have a ripple effect
throughout the entire global economic system and specifically to Wall Street
and the major Wall Street banks which are the owners of a lot of Russian debt.
So there are many tools that the
Russians could use and I think all of them are being held very close to the
chest depending on how the United States decides to act.
AHK/AB
AHK/AB
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