Distract From the Russia Scandal

DISTRACT FROM THE RUSSIAN SCANDAL
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President Donald Trump is slowly reviving the Cold War against the Chinese government as a means of distracting the public attention away from the Russian scandal. Over the past few weeks, a new Cold War has started taking shape with nuclear weapons agenda and threats that resemble the 1980’s Cold war. However, there is a new entry in the form of an expanding, nationalist and wealthy China (Sanger and Erlanger, 2018). The dynamics were evident as President Trump suggested that the US was abandoning the arms control treaty that it had with Russia. Furthermore, he noted that the country is ready to compete with Beijing on arms and weapons. This came as a case against Moscow interfering with the 2016 elections was filed by the Department of Justice. In his tenure as President of the United States, attempts directed towards embarrassing President Putin have failed. The administration has been cautious when dealing with Russia and has tried to keep clear of any sentiments or statements that will put them at logger’s heads with Moscow. Although the Obama’s administration exposed Moscow’s violations of the 2014 Nuclear Treaty, and even named President Putin as the main culprit behind the 2016 election hacking, the Trump’s administration has categorically defended Putin and given him a clean bill of health. To make matters worse, whenever Trump is questioned about Russia, he brings up China (Sanger and Erlanger, 2018).

Unfortunately for Trump, he is not aware of what he is leading his country into. Initially, this was to be a trade war against China’s control in the Indo-China region. However, the trade war has slowly changed into a Cold War. This war if left to continue it will have significant consequences on the US economy than on the Chinese one. This is because it is now evident that the US cannot use tariffs as a means of arm-twisting Beijing. In addition to this, China can singlehandedly drive the US away from the Asia-Pacific region.
Reference
Sanger, D. and Erlanger, S. (Oct.22, 2018). Trump May Revie the Cold War, but China Could Change the Dynamics. News Analysis; The New York Times.