In a recent article, titled "China, The Great Game, And Globalism," the Russian anti-liberal philosopher Alexander Dugin,[1] whose ideas have become increasingly influential in the Kremlin, urged Russia to take advantage of the Trump administration's foreign policy preoccupation with the far east. Trump's top priority, Dugin argues, is to deal with a China that is "challenging U.S. interests in the Pacific," and "has flooded America with cheap garbage." Russia can fly under the radar, since it has been "relegated to a second rate problem" due to its poor economy. This is Russia's opportunity "to quickly resolve" its tasks in the Middle East (i.e. in Syria) and in the Eurasian space (i.e. from Lisbon to Vladivostok), while the U.S. is distracted elsewhere.[2]
Below are excerpts from Dugin's article, published in the Moscow-based Katehon think tank:[3]
Alexander Dugin (Source: Youtube.com)
'Trump Is Departing From Classical Geopolitics Founded On The Confrontation Of Land And Sea'
"Trump is departing from classical geopolitics founded on the confrontation of Land and Sea. It is on this framework that rested the Great Game between Russia and Britain in the 19th century as well as essentially all geopolitics of the 20th century - from Mackinder to the Cold War up to the purely Atlanticist, unipolar globalization which the American administration has been pursuing up to the last minute.
"This means that the China factor is changing its geopolitical status. The beginning of China's Perestroika in the 1980's was marked by a visit to Beijing by a Tripartite Commission delegation including [former President Jimmy Carter's National Security Advisor from 1977 to 1981, Zbigniew] Brzezinski and [Henry] Kissinger.
"Their task was detaching China from the USSR once and for all, including it in the global capitalist system, encircling Eurasia, and closing the anaconda ring along the coastal zone. Afterwards, according to the plans of such globalists as Brzezinski and Kissinger who formed the Council on Foreign Relations and the Trilateral prototype of the World Government, the USSR would soon be broken up. In fact, the Russian branch of the Trilateral Commission, the academician Gvishiani's Institute for Applied Systems Analysis whose task was breaking up the USSR from within, [4]figured in the Trilateral Commission's documents on the Chinese question. [influential member of Boris Yeltsin's administration in the early 1990s and CEO of Russia's state nanotechnology corporation Rosnano Anatoly] Chubais, [the late Soviet and Russian economist, and Acting Prime Minister of Russia from 15 June 1992 to 14 December 1992, Yegor] Gaidar, and [the late Russian oligarch Boris] Berezovsky all came from here, and they fulfilled their assignments. But everything began with China.
'Dismantling China As Artificially Supported By The Globalist World Government Logically Follows From Trump's Anti-Globalism'
"Why? Because China came under the tutelage of the World Government. After the shooting of democratic protesters on Tiananmen Square, the US' response was indignant, but no steps followed. China was supposed to be engaged in the system of globalization, and this was the main goal. It's nothing personal, Kissinger would say, just diplomacy. Double standards have long since been accepted and even become the mandatory norm.
"Hence [we received] the Chinese miracle, the combination of two types of totalitarianism - Marxism in politics and Liberalism in the economy. Zero democratization, but as much capitalism as desired. China took advantage of this and grew substantially. But since the globalists acted strictly according to the classical textbooks of geopolitics, China was still nothing more than a coastal zone. The main enemy, threat, and danger remained Russia, the Eurasian Heartland. This is how things have proceeded up to Trump.
"But in his electoral campaign, Trump essentially decided to abandon geopolitics. Maybe he doesn't know geopolitics, or maybe he doesn't believe in it. But this is not so important, since he has rejected it. Period. And this, frankly speaking, is what is at hand.
"Dismantling China as artificially supported by the globalist World Government logically follows from Trump's anti-globalism. He looks at things plainly: a totalitarian communist country with a massive population is challenging U.S. interests in the Pacific, threatens to annex Taiwan, has flooded America with cheap garbage, steals high technology as soon as it lays eyes on it, and is doing all of this successfully. China's challenge is voluminous and formidable, and China's economic growth rates are a challenge to the U.S. In this context, Russia, with its poor economy, is relegated to a second rate problem. This does not mean that there will be straightforward pro-Russian policies - there won't be, because Trump is a patriot and a realist. But this does mean that Trump will seriously go after China. This is quite enough to keep him busy during his presidency.
"We certainly need to take advantage of this. This does not mean that we should abandon our partnership with China and latch ourselves to Trump. This is not worthy of a great power. But the Chinese-American conflict is simply not our business. If Washington's attention will be focused on the Far East, then we have the chance to quickly resolve our tasks in the Middle East and, most importantly, in the Eurasian space. If Trump ignores geopolitics, then he will not pay too much attention to this. At least I hope so.
"By the way, about China: I don't think that everything is right with ideology in China. There is clearly a crisis of the Heavenly Mandate that Mao received once upon a time. Behind the facade of ostentatious success, Chinese society is heading towards crisis. But, once again, this is only their Chinese business."
[1] Alexander Dugin is also editor-in-chief of the Orthodox-nationalist Tsargrad TV station.
[2] See MEMRI Inquiry and Analysis No. 1239, Understanding Russian Political Ideology And Vision: A Call For Eurasia From Lisbon to Vladivostok, March 23, 2016.
[3] Katehon.com, January 20, 2017.
[4] D. M. Gvishiani (1928-2003) served as the director of the Institute for Systems Analysis at the Russian Academy of Sciences and in the Soviet era he was a top economic planner..