Geopolitics and the
Interests of Foreign Powers
in Our Election
We hear reports that China and Russia are both attempting to influence our election. According to many of these reports, Russia favors Trump – or is against Biden – and China favors Biden – or is against Trump. What we hear the most of is Russia leaning toward Trump, which sounds like a carry-over from 2016.
This brings up a question: does Russia (Putin in particular) really like President Trump? Hardly, I say. Before he was elected, Russia knew that Trump would be tough on them, and he has been. If they favor Trump in this election, then why? Do you really think Biden would be tougher on Russia? Do you think Hillary would have been? Not really. Then, if they do favor Trump, why? What’s in it for them?
Russia’s real target is not the U.S. Presidency. It’s China. China and Russia are rivals. They were rivals for world domination when Russia was the dominant part of the Soviet Union. Look at the Cold War years. The USSR favored India and China favored Pakistan. China backed North Korea while the USSR backed North Vietnam, which has a constant border dispute with China.
Since the breakup of the USSR, Russia has ceased to be a Communist country. It owes its present economic success to embracing capitalism. China is still ruled by the Communist party, though they have adopted a level of capitalism for pragmatic reasons. However, the leadership of both nations have imperialistic ambitions. Both see the United States as an obstacle to their ambitions.
The goals of interference in U.S. elections also differ. Russia’s apparent goal, according to some, is to degrade our electoral process. If U.S. citizens do not trust their electoral system, it will weaken the government and our foreign policy. China’s goal is to gain influence and steal as much as they can of our technology and intellectual property so they can dominate the Pacific and South Asia.
This also brings up another reason Russia would favor Trump (if they do): the threat of China dominating Russia. Its moves, therefore, would be defensive. It would serve their interests for the U.S. to be tough on China. For our national security and our economy, who is the larger threat? China. So who would be tougher on China and still be tough on Russia? Biden or Trump?
