Below is the translation of the interview that was conducted in Russian.
Joe Biden is the US President. Does it mean that Trump and his supporters lost their political weight forever?
No. Biden is a Democrat and he will appoint like-minded people to the key positions in government. Democrats also have a small majority in both houses of Congress. That said, more than 74 million Americans did vote for Trump and most of them will not vote for Democrats in the foreseeable future. Moreover, 27 of 50 governors are Republicans and 6 of 9 justices of the Supreme Court were appointed by Republican Presidents.
We are tired of reading about problems in the US. Will things change after the election?
Political life in the US does not end with the election, municipalities and states are brimming with life. It is likely that the tensions between Democrats and Republicans will grow and so will the division inside the parties. I do not expect any overall stabilization but checks and balances are in place. Millions of people participate in protests, parties are undergoing a change in an attempt to appeal voters and security forces are not controlled by a single group and, thus, guarantee the maintenance of the regime per se. If the US economy improves, there is no reason to expect the 1861-1865-style social upheavals.
Can we hope for any improvement in the international arena following the change in the US Administration?
Both Democrats and Republicans actively pursue American national interests in foreign policy. There are no signs that the relationship between the US and Russia will improve in the near future. US policy is an important but not the only one factor that shapes the situation in the international arena. Only the prevention of a global thermonuclear war is likely to be the domain the success in which mostly depends on Russia and the US that possess more than 90 % of the global nuclear stockpile. The Biden Administration is expected to be more favorable than was that of Trump for cooperation in nuclear nonproliferation.
Is it true that Trump likes Russia more than Biden does?
No. All US Presidents focus first of all on economic problems within the US. Americans have always liked the peoples of Russia and have been impressed of its great culture. US Presidents, in their turn, have always tried to build good and mutually beneficial relationship when the national interest of the two states converged. The examples are the correspondence between Alexander I and Thomas Jefferson, the cooperation during the Crimean War and the American Civil War and the partnership under the anti-Hitler coalition. The close cooperation between George H. W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev in 1989-1991 was precisely the result of political reason and not any kind of “love”. That was also the case with George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin in 2001-2003.
Does it all mater for me living in the Urals? Will the change in the US Administration bring some change here?
Russia is not among the main US partners (less than 4 % of goods trade), so American goods will not be off. Some restrictions can be applied to Ural companies due to sanctions. If the US Consulate General in Yekaterinburg is closed, people from all over Russia will be forced to go to Moscow to apply for American visa.
Создано / Изменено: 25 января 2021 / 16 сентября 2021
© ФГАОУ ВО «УрФУ имени первого Президента России Б.Н. Ельцина»
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