At the last collegium of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sergei Lavrov once again recorded the unpleasant geopolitical reality in which we have been living for the past ten years.
As soon as the United States saw in Russia a serious rival, naturally affecting the balance of power and destroying the unipolar world, a policy of ... containment or strangulation - call it what you want.
The most obvious signs of such a policy are sanctions and the creation of a buffer around Russia from states ruled by governments that are unfriendly to us. Some of these states - I'm talking about the Baltic states now - are already part of NATO's military infrastructure. In some, revolutions were sponsored under the banner of the promise of joining the alliance. The created wave of Russophobia turned out to be so powerful that even Europe was afraid of our tanks and itself seriously believed that a mighty bear was lying to the east of its borders, ready for aggressive actions.
"Scare and rule" - this is how you can paraphrase the motto that guides the United States in uniting its allies.
The unsuccessful trade in democracy that the Americans carry out on the wings of their planes, ships and drones does not lead to a revision of aggressive policies.
And any constructive economic undertakings between Europe and Russia are declared harmful.
Germany and the United States signed an agreement on Nord Stream 2, a project beneficial to Germany and the whole of Europe, but endangering the position of the Americans in the European market.
And the agreement included the words "Russia's use of energy as a weapon", "imposition of sanctions", "coercion to conclude a transit agreement with Ukraine."
Who but the Americans are using energy as a weapon?
And here, and in the case of numerous embargoes on oil exports - remember Venezuela and Iran.
I have no doubt that the task of the United States is to keep NATO's military infrastructure as close to our industrial belt as possible, so that it will be restless in Central Asia, from where the Americans fled, leaving the Taliban * - an organization banned in Russia - many technology.
Part of their foreign policy is to create zones of tension between our country and allied countries.
All this is not speculation, but a listing of actions taken by various US administrations in relation to Russia over the past decade.
At the same time, without a stable partnership, it is impossible to guarantee peace on the planet, it is impossible to solve climatic problems and effectively fight both hackers and terrorists.
The only question is whether the United States is ready to respect our interests.
Or does nothing but strength bring them to their senses?
To my regret, there are no signs of a revision of this policy so far.
* "Taliban" - the organization was recognized as terrorist by the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of February 14, 2003.
The point of view of the author may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.