The Russian president is heavily present in the campaign for the US presidential elections in November this year.
From worries about Russian aggression abroad to fears about election meddling at home, Vladimir Putin has become a question that all presidential candidates should have a sharply worded answer to - especially after the failed impeachment process of Donald Trump, during which the Democratic Party tried to prove that "all roads lead to Putin".
The British "Guardian" writes that the conventional wisdom in American foreign policy is that military competition is needed to contain Putin and the Russian sphere of influence.
"The US is helping Ukraine and its people, so they can fight Russia there and we don't have to fight them here," Republican adviser Tim Morrison said during the impeachment hearing. This was repeated by the chairman of the Intelligence Committee of the House of Representatives, Democrat Adam Schiff, in his opening speech.
"The Guardian" states that it is precisely in this context that the rise of Bernie Sanders causes fear within the establishment of the Democratic Party.
Sanders has long been a major supporter of military restraint and is campaigning on a program of "responsible foreign policy" that promises to end America's "endless war."
"Despite numerous speeches in which the senator condemns Putin's criminal authoritarianism, the story is now developing that his presidency would be a great gift for the Kremlin," writes the British newspaper. However, most supporters of military competition do not understand the nature of the Kremlin's power, and this misunderstanding is the reason why the US is failing to contain Putin, the commentary points out.
"The pledge from Sanders' foreign policy agenda just shatters conventional wisdom and shows how the US government can use domestic reforms as a strategy to undermine Putin's authoritarian aggression abroad."
The three pillars on which the regime rests
"The Guardian" writes that Putin's regime rests on three pillars. The former account for Russia's vast oil and gas reserves, which bring huge revenues and deep political loyalty both in Russia and across Europe.
"Russia's oil and gas production currently stands at a record 11,25 million barrels per day, which brings in $44,4 billion a year from countries like Germany, which have become heavily dependent on Russian gas," the newspaper said.
Corruption is mentioned as the second pillar of Putin's power.
"Russia today is a kleptocracy, a political system that operates on the principle of bribery and alienation of state money for loyal oligarchs. Their dirty money, of course, does not stay in Russia, but circulates through a huge international system of murky finances - to Deutsche Bank and Danske Bank, to London real estate and American fictitious companies - buying loyalty to the regime along the way".
According to the Guardian, the third pillar of power is propaganda. The commentary said that Putin and his allies are actively working to stir up conflict abroad in order to strengthen nationalist loyalties at home.
"From the very beginning of his rule, Putin has encouraged violence and aggression against Russia's 'enemies' - be they Chechens, Ukrainians or Americans - which is his strategy to boost his personal popularity."
The British daily points out that American foreign policy in recent times not only does not attack these pillars of power, but also strengthens them. It is recalled that the Barack Obama administration "aggressively" led the fossil fuel race with Russia, further strengthening global dependence on hydrocarbons. During Obama's tenure, the inflow of Russian oligarchs' money into the US took place, even while his Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was making comparisons between Putin and Hitler, the commentary states.
Sanders, on the other hand, seeks to destroy each of those three pillars at their base, the "Guardian" points out and adds that he is not deepening the US's dependence on oil and gas, but promoting the Green New Deal. By pushing decarbonization among US allies in Europe and around the world, Sanders promises to reduce Putin's geopolitical influence, the newspaper writes.
Attack on the network of illegal financing
Sanders does not ignore the secret financial system, but advocates a "corporate accountability" program to close tax havens, eliminate anonymous shell companies and tightly regulate the Wall Street banks that facilitate the flow of money to kleptocrats around the world. The Vermont senator eschews lazy Cold War rhetoric about the Russians that helps bolster Putin's legitimacy at home, the Guardian reports, adding that his approach is "infrastructural," attacking the nodes of the illicit financing network rather than individual "bad actors" operating within it. her.
"The Guardian" states that Sanders' target is the global architecture of kleptocracy, whose accomplices are many American companies and passport holders, and he is creating connections with social movements around the world that can serve as allies in the fight against state corruption.
Progressives, as "The Guardian" points out, cannot afford to take a naive attitude towards Putin. It is estimated that his efforts to consolidate his sphere of influence are unlikely to falter regardless of the outcome of the 2020 elections. The Democratic Party, despite "legitimate fears about Russian aggression", cannot cling to an outdated paradigm that approaches Russia only as a matter of military security.
“So it should come as no surprise if those who understand Putin's kleptocratic system — like Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny — are now rooting for Sanders. "Only by undermining that system, and not by competing with it, can the US truly weaken Putin's authoritarian grip, and allow the new democratic movement to flourish in Russia," the Guardian concludes.
Don't help me win
Sanders warned Russia yesterday to stay out of the 2020 US election. "The intelligence community is telling us that they are interfering in this campaign, now, in 2020. I want to say to Mr. Putin, if I am elected president, trust me you will not interfere in the American election" , Sanders told reporters about reports that Moscow was trying to help his campaign.
Sanders, 78, a Democratic Socialist senator from Vermont, is considered the favorite for his party's nomination for this year's presidential election.
The Washington Post reported on Friday, citing sources familiar with the matter, that US officials had informed Sanders, as well as Republican President Trump and US lawmakers, of Russia's efforts.
It is not clear what kind of Russian aid is involved, the paper added. A congressional source confirmed that intelligence officials told lawmakers that Russia was engaged in a campaign of disinformation and propaganda to boost both the Sanders and Trump campaigns.
The source, however, cautioned that these findings are not final. Sanders said he was informed about it a month ago.
"We were told that Russia, maybe other countries, will join this campaign. I'm telling Russia, stay out of the American election," Sanders told reporters.
"What they're doing, the ugly thing they're doing — and I've seen some of their tweets and stuff — is they're trying to divide us, to cause chaos and hatred in America," Sanders said.
The Kremlin denies it
The Kremlin denied on Friday that Russia was meddling in the US presidential campaign to boost Trump's chances of re-election after reports that US intelligence agencies warned Congress of the threat last Sunday.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed the allegations as paranoid.
US intelligence officials told members of the House Intelligence Committee in a classified briefing that Russia is again meddling in US politics ahead of the November election, as it did in 2016, a source familiar with the discussion told Reuters.
After that briefing, Trump fired the head of intelligence services, Joseph Maguire, and replaced him with political loyalist Richard Grenell.
One administration official said the country is in a better position than it was in 2016 to fend off foreign attempts to influence the election. "President Trump has made it clear that any efforts by Russia, or any other country, to influence our elections or undermine American democracy will not be tolerated," the official said.
Some of Sanders' Democratic rivals said they had never received similar notification that Russia was working to boost their campaigns.
“I know that Russia does not want me to win. It's really clear that Putin doesn't want me to be the candidate, and Donald Trump doesn't want me to be the candidate," former Vice President Joe Biden said.
Senator Elizabeth Warren said it should be as transparent as possible to prevent Russia from exerting "excessive influence" on the US election.
"It's about misinformation and the way to fight against misinformation is to clearly say what it is and to provide everyone with full information as soon as possible," Warren told reporters.
The goal is to cause division among the Democrats
Facebook declined to comment on whether it had seen any evidence of Russian aid to the Sanders campaign. In October, the company removed Russian accounts that presented themselves as coming from countries where the political battle is being waged.
Some of those accounts used Instagram to praise Sanders. Others used the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter and criticized Biden on racial issues.
Jessica Brant of the Alliance for Securing Democracies, an organization that monitors foreign interference in American politics, said Russian state media and official social media accounts are helping Sanders spread conspiracy theories that his Democratic rivals, the Democratic National Committee and the "corporate media" are "rigging the system." to his detriment.
"We can say with certainty that this is what the Russian government is working on. For some time we have seen that Russian official channels are promoting divisions within the Democratic Party," she told Reuters.
Graham Brookey, director of the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensics Laboratory, which analyzes state-sponsored information operations with Facebook, said the goal of Russian influence operations is to further alienate Americans from each other.
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