On Balance | To hide their devotion to Putin, expect right-wing Republicans to ramp up anti-China rhetoric
- Americans’ support for Ukraine and Nato’s revival have put Republican champions of Putin’s agenda on the losing side of an ideological war
- As they attempt to cover their tracks, expect more misinformation and anti-China rhetoric
The oil might be flowing from Russia to China, but Vladimir Putin should take note that the lifelines he was counting on from the US, arguably as valuable, are disintegrating. And the implications for Beijing are more serious than they might first appear.
Just as Russia’s military failures in Ukraine have become apparent to the world, Putin is facing losses on the far Western front, where his years-long effort to support US political leaders aligned with his ultranationalist, populist, hyper-Christian vision – well documented by the country’s intelligence community – seemed to be paying dividends.
Cynics out there might question the timing of McConnell’s stand, the strongest intraparty defiance yet of folks like Pompeo, who said just days before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that he has “enormous respect” for the Russian leader, and Senator Josh Hawley, who argued against US support for Ukraine’s Nato membership bid in a lengthy letter to Biden’s administration on February 1, as Russia’s military massed along the country’s border.
It has taken more than two months of humiliating setbacks for Putin’s Ukraine plan for Trump, Pompeo and the Russian leader’s other Washington cheerleaders to cloak their admiration. These losses are a setback to the ideological war they are fighting against Western liberalism along with Hungarian Prime Minister, and noted holdout against the EU’s efforts to embargo Russian oil, Viktor Orban.