Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Tensions between two super powers' that was published in Newsband

Tensions between two super powers

Russian President Vladimir Putin decides to cut the U.S. diplomatic presence in the country by 755. This is a clear indication of there existing tensions between the two superpowers after the U.S. Senate passed a sanctions Bill targeting Moscow and allies.

Putin had pinned hopes on the Donald Trump administration to improve ties. Barack Obama had expelled Russian diplomats in the last leg of his presidency. Russia’s election-time interference had provoked Obama.

Under Trump too, the U.S. establishment has continued to take a hard-line position towards Moscow. The US has been subjecting Russia to severe test by its sanctions on every front

To handle China, which is war mongering and land grabbing country, USA must have shown its opposition to Russia which supports rogue states like China, North Korea, Pakistan and Iran.

It would have been in the best interest of the world if both the global leaders has focused on global issues like building strong global economy and anti-terrorism activities instead of playing power games. It is not known whether it is US or Russia which started this game. But the game has taken a serious form.

Trump's policies towards Russia and China are making the two weaker especially when EU and Britain are the erstwhile partners of US. Putin had thought that he could manipulate Trump through the latter's secret business deals in that country, but even Republican law makers are not allowing any freedom to Trump to reset. Democracy in US didn't allow the authoritarian Putin to have his way even though it is becoming clearer that Putin helped Trump's poll campaign.

It bodes ill for world peace when two super powers tend to nurture mistrust to escalate tension. Russia may not be high in GDP; also their science/technology/military strength cannot match Super Power, the USA. War like escalations seem to emanate from both the USA and Russia, the greatest Military-Powers.

Once again, instead of expanding their cooperation and addressing these challenges as responsible global leaders, the nuclear-armed powers seem to have fallen into the old Cold War-era spiral of mutual hostility.

Now, the sanctions will make Russia even more dependent on China. It will be interesting to see as to what stand the Indian government will take in this entire drama.