Vijay Prashad and John Ross discuss the momentous shift in the US’s geopolitical orientation that Trump is attempting to achieve – a reverse in direction of the shift led by Nixon/Kissinger in the 1970s.
In the 1970s Nixon/Kissinger understood that the US would lose the Vietnam War because of the combination of the Vietnamese people, the USSR, and China in Vietnam had proved stronger than the U.S. Therefore, it was imperative for the US to attempt split further this combination and in particular to divide as far as possible China from the USSR. This was the purpose of Nixon’s famous 1972 trip to China and the rapprochement between the US and China. This then allowed the US under Reagan to launch a policy of direct confrontation with and pressure on the USSR. Pursuit of that policy culminated in 1991 with the disintegration of the USSR – a gigantic victory for the US.
Today, NATO/US are losing their proxy war with Russia. Trump is attempting to attract Russia away from its good relations with China. He wants to step up US offensives against progressive forces in the Global South. Then, if some distance can be created between Russia and China, the US will be able to turn to a full-scale attack on China. This would be a similarly momentous shift in world politics as Nixon/Kissinger achieved, but with a reverse alignment. Trump is attempting to secure a US rapprochement with Russia, so US imperialism can then focus on a confrontation with China.
The above short video is the first episode in new series – No Cold War Perspectives videos.
It can also be watched here.