Publikation

Fighting Disinformation "Countering Russian and Chinese Narratives Worldwide"

The collapse of the former USSR gave hope that the cold war rivalry between the USA and the former USSR was over and that friendly relations between the USA and Russia were attainable. Yet, Putin’s presidency in 1999 instigated a twist in Russia’s foreign policy towards his country’s world status. His standpoints on the former USSR wrongful collapse, his aspirations to revive its glory, let alone financing pro-Russian and secessionist movements in Eastern Ukraine and unilateral annexation of Crimea in 2014 were all red flags indicating potential conflict and confrontation with the world’s superpower: the USA. Meanwhile, the economic rise of China was not accompanied by a direct political challenge to the latter. The Asian giant seemed initially focused on its economic growth and clear edge in international trade, with no substantial clues it was after open adversity with the USA. Yet, in 2018, a series of events indicated their relations might get rough: the USA-China trade war, then the COVID pandemic early in 2020 and most recently, and importantly, the Russian war in Ukraine. Initially, the war raised concerns on potential defiance of the USA superpower status (Gordon, 2022; Lynch, 2022) and was accompanied by overt gestures of cooperation between Russia and China.

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