Sputnik - Instead of embracing a new multi-polar reality the US establishment is stuck in a Cold War mentality and continues to fight against what it perceives as a challenge to the US Empire's dominance, US commentator Earl Rasmussen told Radio Sputnik, warning that by imposing sanctions against Russia, Iran or China, the US might finally isolate itself.




While Russia and China are pushing the world toward a multi-polar environment, there is stiff resistance from many in the US, Earl Rasmussen, Executive Vice President of the Eurasia Center, a non-profit organization, told Radio Sputnik.
As a result, "we [the US] are starting to isolate ourselves, unintentionally," Rasmussen warned.


Instead of improving economic conditions around the world and establishing peace and stability, Washington is imposing sanctions on Russia, China and Iran, thus blocking US companies from competing with their Eurasian peers, the scholar noted.

Additionally, the US' assertive foreign policy has forced the global players to seek "other financial mechanisms" than the dollar-denominated trade.
According to the scholar, the crux of the matter is that in the eyes of the American foreign policy establishment China and Russia are "challenging the dominance of the US Empire."


While the US had managed to invade Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Washington's Syria plans were disrupted when Russia stepped in to support the legitimate Syrian government in its fight against terrorism.

On the other hand, Ukraine's NATO bid has long remained an apple of discord between Moscow and Washington, the scholar said, adding that the Ukrainian NATO membership would have helped the US to push the Russian Navy out of the Black Sea.

Given this, the Kremlin's reaction to the coup d'etat which took place in February 2014 in Ukraine was predictable, he noted.
"[An empire] is exactly what we've become with over 700 military bases worldwide," he noted, raising the question whether these bases are really aimed at defending the US mainland, democracy or the American way of life.


Furthermore, many in the US Congress remain stuck with a Cold War mindset: "We've got congressmen who still refer to Russia as the Soviet Union," Rasmussen remarked.

Attempts to Shut Up Alternative Narrative a Blow to Democracy

In this context it is hardly surprising that some US lawmakers are seeking to crackdown on Russian media outlets, which, according to Rasmussen, sometimes "seem to be much more in touch with the American public" than the US mainstream media.
The attempts to silence the alternative narrative "are very dangerous for the world and for democracy," the scholar believes, insisting that those who are pushing ahead with this strategy are going down the wrong path.


Previously, three Democratic congressmen wrote a letter to the Federal Communications Commission calling for an investigation into Radio Sputnik's alleged interference in the US 2016 presidential elections.

Referring to The New York Times' report "RT, Sputnik and Russia's New Theory of War," the three lawmakers assumed that "a radio network funded by the Russian government [Radio Sputnik] may have used US airwaves to influence the 2016 presidential election."

However, the assumption cannot hold water given the fact that the broadcaster went on the air on the 105.5 FM frequency in Washington on July 1, 2017, almost eight months after the vote.

Commenting on the issue, Sputnik and RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan noted: "To accuse a radio [station] which started broadcasting two months ago of interfering in last years' election is the 'newest intellectual height' reached by the US establishment."
"These allegations are a complete provocation," Rasmussen told Radio Sputnik, echoing Simonyan.


For his part, Argentine political scientist Atilio Boron told Sputnik Mundo that "to say that two news agencies could have manipulated American public opinion" appears to him to be "real nonsense."

According to Boron, the narrative spread by the US mainstream media is nothing but an "insult to the American nation's intelligence."

Moscow has repeatedly denied the allegations of Russia's interference in the US 2016 presidential elections, stressing that it does not meddle in the internal affairs of other countries.

It is not the first time Washington has targeted Russian news agencies.

On September 11, RT America channel's services provider in the US received a letter from the US Department of Justice demanding that the company should register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).

The same day it was reported that the FBI had questioned former Sputnik employee Andrew Feinberg as part of the investigation of reports that the news outlet allegedly acted as a Russian propaganda agency in violation of FARA.

It was claimed that the FBI had access to Sputnik's working correspondence from Feinberg and another former employee of Sputnik's Washington bureau, Joseph John Fionda. The FBI itself has not responded to Sputnik's inquiry on whether it was conducting an investigation into the news agency.

In response, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denounced the move as contradicting pluralism and freedom of the press, while Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova highlighted that Moscow "reserves the right to respond to the outrageous actions of the American side."