This article was first published in «Tygodnik Solidarność», Warsaw, Poland.
A discussion about the US-Russia summit in Geneva swept the world. Analysts, depending on the civilization in which they live, whether they are part of liberal-democratic, or Turanian civilization, offer similar conclusions to this debate. Putin has strengthened his position wherever his policies are supported, and Biden, with his liberal-democratic lineage promoting democracy and human rights, presented himself as a man holding an olive branch with an already wobbling hand. However, no one commented on the exclusive interview Putin gave in a few days before the Geneva summit of the American station NBC News.
Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin in Geneva, 16 June 2021 (Source: Wikipedia)
In this long interview (over 1h, 20min), the station's correspondent, Keir Simmons, was smashed by the President of Russia, who was relaxed and having fun during this interview. Putin perfectly analyzed the true purpose of the meeting in Geneva and made it clear to the West that Russia was not going to give up its close ally China in favor of all the democratic benefits offered by America. He accused America of the hypocrisy of using the rhetoric of the fight for human rights alone without having the problem of racial inequality resolved for decades. Which he tried to repeat during the press conference after the summit. One could get the impression that the American side simply lacks the thought and intellectual strength of the famous American diplomat and sovietologist George Kennan (from Milwaukee). He was the creator of the containment doctrine that became the basis of President Truman's administration's foreign policy. He was appointed ambassador to the USSR in 1952 but lost his position after a diplomatic scandal sparked by his speech comparing the USSR to Nazi Germany.
President Truman had no formal education, but he surrounded himself with a number of experts, not necessarily only from the party key. Probably the Geneva summit was the first attempt to play with Russia in order to make it neutral towards America's conflict with China. After the meeting with the Chinese in Alaska and with Putin in Geneva, it becomes clear that the rhetoric of human rights in relations with the countries of the Turanian civilization is not a strong negotiating card. It seems that new intellectual strength is needed to conduct such negotiations with many countries.
Even Polish diplomacy, after President Obama's scolding and instrumental treatment by the Biden administration, began to slowly change the vectors of its policy. The policy of cooperation with Turkey and the Scandinavians as countries seeing real threats from Russia are a natural way of expanding the concept of the Three Seas Initiative and NATO's eastern flank.
Let us talk about it, demand such debates and let us reinforce Poland's strength as the leader of this policy. Let us transfer this debate to the American domain for the American elite to hear it. Let us invite other countries to build the Three Seas doctrine. Since Turkey can build its power, let's learn from them. Let's study the individual scenarios and finally open up to independent experts. Let's build English-language media and present our Polish interests transparently. Let us open ourselves to the Polish diaspora in the USA. Only the American Polonia, with its intellectual potential, can once again be an effective group of influence on American foreign policy.
