All the faults of Russia and China according to the head of the US Dia
Giuseppe Gagliano's analysis
On April 29, Lieutenant General Scott Berrier, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency , presented his agency's annual global threat assessment to the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The transcript of his testimony is fifty-seven pages long and far-reaching and often detailed in descriptions. What follows is therefore a summary that focuses on the general theme of his presentation, leaving out, for example, his discussion of the threats posed by what were once called terrorist organizations and are now called violent extremist organizations.
His comments have gone largely unnoticed, as they generally do not come from the US government and military oligarchies, with the exception of a CNN report titled “Senior US Military Intelligence Officer Says Russian Army represents an 'existential threat' for the United States ”.
His analysis of threats, military and non-military, to the United States and its allies is very much in line with that of other senior military, intelligence and foreign policy officials: four nations threaten the world, separately but above all jointly, in all continents, in all seas and oceans. These four nations, which together form the new Axis of Evil, are Russia, China, Iran and North Korea.
To use terms currently in vogue in the military, intelligence and what can be called diplomatic circles, the four are divided into challengers and opponents close and not close. The United States readily admits that it has no military equal in the world – and intends to remain so – except to the extent that Russia maintains nuclear parity with it.
Russia and China are almost parallel threats. Iran and North Korea are not at this level. But all four pose a real nuclear threat.
Berrier began his testimony by accusing the four states above of exploiting the global Covid-19 crisis.
China is called "a major security challenge [which] remains a long-term strategic competitor for the United States."
But he reserved his main criticism of Russia, expressing an alarmist concern echoed by CNN , namely: “The Russian military is an existential threat to the United States and a powerful tool designed to maintain influence over the states on the periphery, compete with the global primacy of the United States and limit adversaries that challenge the vital national interests of the United States ”. Of course, the danger highlighted by the director of DIA is closely linked to the significant investment made by Russia in strategic nuclear forces and in their capacity for deterrence and deterrence. In order to legitimize his remarks, he stressed that Russia "is disrupting the cohesion of NATO and its ability to formulate effective policies to counter Russian harmful influence". Russia is accused of specifically targeting NATO member states with "historical, cultural or religious affinities" with it.
He also reiterated the often heard allegation that Russia used the nerve agent Novichok against Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Britain in 2018 and recently against Alexei Navalny in her country.
Russia is also blamed by Berrier for his role in Georgia since 2008 and in Ukraine since 2014, while praising the fact that "security cooperation between Georgia, Ukraine and Azerbaijan and NATO partners" is a source of irritation. for Russia; stresses, however, that the Putin government has ignored the Azerbaijani-Turkish attack on Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia, an attack which led Russia to welcome Turkish troops, among the most important NATO allies, to the South Caucasus.
In short, Russia is accused of collusion with almost all bad actors, in almost all regions of the world and more precisely of: expanding military ties and participating in joint exercises with China; to maintain normal relations with Iran and North Korea, with Algeria and Angola in Africa, in Central America with Nicaragua and in the Caribbean with Cuba and to supply weapons to Venezuela.
Not content with portraying Russia as a threat to North America, Central America, South America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa, the Defense Intelligence Agency also portrays it as a rival and an opponent in the Arctic.
Ultimately, the director's observations appear in many cases obvious and even self-evident: Russia – as indeed China – is accused of only one thing and that is to oppose and therefore not to accept the political, military and economic hegemony of the United States that has established itself both through the implementation of NATO and through the Marshall Plan.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/tutte-le-colpe-di-russia-e-cina-secondo-il-capo-della-dia-usa/ on Sat, 08 May 2021 06:46:32 +0000.