‘US wants Russia to be a vassal state’

The House of Representatives passed a resolution against Russia this week because the US takes for granted its right to dominate the world and wants Russia to return to its vassal state status, James Petras, Binghampton University in New York, told RT.

RT: Given the state of US-Russia relations, did this resolution come as a surprise to you?

James Petras: No, it didn’t because we have seen over the last decade that the US has been encroaching on Russia’s frontiers militarizing the Baltic states and bringing the Balkan states into NATO on Russia’s border. The takeover of Ukraine, the putsch in Kiev in February was a decisive event because it turned Ukraine into a potential military platform to attack Russia.

Subsequently the referendum in Crimea was turned into a Russian “annexation” which was not exactly what happened. The Crimean people voted in a free election to separate from the Ukraine and to join Russia.
The sanctions policy, the manipulation of oil prices, the militarization of the frontiers with Russia - all point to a very bellicose and confrontational policy.

RT: Former Congressman Ron Paul said this resolution paves the way for future, more aggressive steps that could actually lead to war with Russia. Is there any danger of that, do you think?

JP: I think there is a very big danger of that. Ron Paul is a minority voice. But on this particular issue he is absolutely correct. The resolution passed by Congress is made up of all sorts of fabrications including the idea that Russia provoked the Ukraine crisis when we all know that it was the street violence that led to the overthrow of the elected government. That is only one of many fabrications.

And I’m reminded also of previous military engagements and invasion by the US. For example, the so-called weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, the so-called massacre in Benghazi. And now the idea that somehow Russia was engaged in Ukraine is a total fabrication. We know that from Victoria Nuland that the US poured $5 billion over 10 years into preparing the ground for the coup d’état in Kiev. So a great danger now is that Washington takes for granted its right to dominate the world and that the Russians have to return to the vassal state that they were in the [Boris] Yeltsin era during the 90s.

That is the key problem. Washington’s image of Russia is that the Russia of Yeltsin, Russia that was pillaged by the gangsters, oligarchs and foreign investors. I think they can’t accept Russia as a normal developing country which has security interests, particularly with regard to military threats to its security.

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.