Naval War College Professor Cautions ‘U.S.-Russia Relations Train Wreck’ Leading to Nuclear War
Feb. 16 , 2021 (EIRNS)—Lyle J. Goldstein, research professor at the U.S. Naval War College and founder of the China Maritime Studies Institute there, has been speaking out recently against the continued deterioration of U.S.-Russia relations. On Feb. 5, he was interviewed by radio host Scott Horton and had written an op-ed in the Washington Times on Feb. 3, in which he warned of the danger of nuclear war. In the op-ed, Goldstein praised the extension of the New START arms reduction treaty, but explained that “it would be foolish to pat ourselves on the back and think we have genuinely stabilized the smoldering train wreck of the U.S.-Russia relationship.”
“Mr. Biden made clear in October 2020 his view that Russia represents the most serious threat to U.S. national security. After December reports alleging Russia perpetrated a wide-ranging hack of the U.S. government, one might reasonably expect that Moscow and Washington remain practically on a war footing,” Goldstein wrote. “The Russian defense minister revealed just before Christmas that U.S. military forces are now making bellicose approaches proximate to Russian borders at a rate 15% higher than last year.”
“The Western press is now fixated on the fate of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny and related protests,” Goldstein continued. “However, this mixing of domestic political issues, along with the various cyber complications, has created a troubling ‘perfect storm’ for U.S.-Russia relations.” Goldstein dismisses as “silliness” the alleged story about Russian cyber-intrusions and alleged Russian efforts to “divide America.” Instead, we should “turn to a genuinely grave national security threat—namely nuclear weapons issues in U.S.-Russia relations.”
Not only is Russia engaged in high-profile exercises of its nuclear forces; “unnecessary American and NATO provocations are also clearly contributing to heightened tensions with Moscow.” This is not only going on along Russia’s borders but in Ukraine and Syria as well, where U.S./NATO forces are operating in close proximity to Russian forces. “The Biden administration could actually attempt to improve this most critical bilateral relationship. The new President might, as a first constructive step, order his appointees to stop referring to Russia as an ‘adversary,’ much less as the ‘preeminent threat,’ ” Goldstein insists. “Such rhetoric may serve momentary psychological needs (e.g., othering) and swell the stock price of various defense contractors, but it also fuels the military tensions that are obvious and increasingly dangerous.”
Goldstein writes that there are those in the West who would welcome a “Maidan” in Moscow, but “a Russia consumed by chaos and violence would actually not accord at all with U.S. interests.” He concludes: “Americans need to know that Russia’s massive nuclear forces are under singular, stable, and rational control—not in the grips of a fracturing state facing the possibility of civil war. Moreover, a stable and prosperous Russia will also be critical to the world’s recovery from an economic crisis wrought by the global pandemic.”
In the interview with Scott Horton, Goldstein noted that the Cold War ended suddenly, and triumphalism on the part of the U.S. was the response. The power went to our heads; since the U.S.S.R. collapsed, we might as well rule over the rubble, he said, it created a kind of contested zone, where there was a power vacuum (referring to the former Soviet republics along Russia’s eastern and southern periphery), and NATO said, we’ll take care of it. Goldstein described that Russia’s power has ebbed and flowed over this region for five centuries, and there are continuing power plays to try to settle where that power ends. NATO involvement in Belarus, he warned, has created a very dangerous situation and could lead to a NATO-Russia conflict. “We’d better think hard about how to avoid this,” he admonished. The U.S. has no national interest in Belarus, and there’s no reason to consider how the U.S. would use force in Belarus and some in Ukraine. There’s no credible threat at this point to the Baltics, he declared
