Advantage Putin

What is happening on the international scene in terms of political alignments due to the – Russia-Ukraine war is leading to a change of strategic alignments. And this has created political tremors across the Atlantic that has led to emergence of new permutations and combinations. Its immediate effect is evident within a few weeks of the Presidential office by Donald Trump in the US. President Trump has been aggressively advocating the economic policies that in his terms are pro-America and meant to focus on cleansing of immigrants from American soil. So that the natives are given due preference in jobs and skill oriented services. It is a well-known fact that over the decades the great American dream has been possible only because of the services rendered by these immigrants who contributed to the American GDP by infusing a sense of dedicated services and allowing the professional knowledge to get its wings. Now the Trump 2.0 administration has made the US citizenship rights for the American bound people stricter. Without realising its fallout on the national economy. But things have not stopped at this only. When President Trump berated the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the full media glare for not enabling the situation for ceasefire with Russia. The message was clear that the US was preparing the ground for the foreign policy shift to be flexible towards Russia. Earlier President Trump had a meeting with the Russian President Vladimir Putin and it was a foregone conclusion that the subject was the on -going war that has become unmanageable for the US and its NATO allies. Though the US jumped into the war by siding with the Ukraine but now it is feeling the strain that this war has on it. This overture of the US President has antagonised its own allies in this war and this has led to the division of the European nations as already analysed by the Rising Kashmir in its previous editorial. International opinion makers are stating that the US is changing its policies making a shift away from the democratic liberal order and embracing the imperialist doctrines to bail out US from the politico-economic pressure.If the change in the US policy after the inauguration of the President Trump is read between the lines then it will be clear that the adoption of the strict tariff regime and abandoning Ukraine for Russia is guided by one factor.And that is the China factor that is haunting the American policy makers in many sectors that range from economy to defence.US wanted to send the clear signal that it will take on China head on as it in no mood to give benefit of doubt to the middle kingdom.US wants to match China in its imperialist designs and this can be made out from its pronouncements where President Trump has clearly said that he will take over Greenland and Panama canal besides integrating Canada as well in its fold.It is important to underline here that President Trump has also made an aggressive move to push for the mineral deal with Ukraine and understandably,Ukraine has not desisted it as it is dependent on the US military support against Russia.Though after the Oval office shouting match the US has technically abandoned Ukraine with Europena nations divided into two groups.One going with the Ukraine and the other still in sync with the US.If this situation is to be summarised in plain words then the present American policy paradigm is guided by the cardinal principle that forces the it to move closer to Russia and wean away Putin from the Chinese influence.It is not new as in the years of Cold War the US had taken away the erstwhile USSR from the Chinese sphere of influence.This time the situation is quite different as the US has no direct threat from Russia but undoubtedly China is giving direct strategic competition to it. US wants to choke the mineral supplies and strategic asset availability to China and for that it has changed its stance on Russia-Ukraine war and abandoned Ukraine and shown an olive branch to Putin.But Putin is a shrewd strategist who will keep his cards close to his chest and will play when he is in position of strength.He will maintain a balance between US and China.And mind it he has not approached the US,it is vice versa.For the time being it is advantage Putin.