There was a time from 1945-91, when the World was divided into two blocs,one bloc was of United States (US) – Western Bloc, and the other was ofSoviet Union (USSR) – Eastern Bloc. Both blocs had their own alliesworldwide, and they fought a long Cold War. At the end of Cold War, SovietUnion was dissolved (1991), and Russia emerged on the map of World withreduced territory of USSR.
After that, US’s hegemony took off and ruled the unipolar world as a solesuper power for almost more than two decades. Amid this uni polarity, Chinaand Russia started rising gradually as world powers and a multipolar worldwas orchestrated along with the hegemony of US. Now during recent years,Russia has arisen militarily and economically and it has achieved thestatus of ‘Resurgent Super Power’. Now, Russia is again active globally inmaking and protecting Its allies.
If a detailed historic review of attitudes of Russians and Americanstowards their allies is made, then a wide gulf between their ‘rules ofengagement’ is clearly visible.
US’s policy towards allies is summarized in the following statement of itsformer Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, 1970s, “We have no eternalallies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal andperpetual.” And history proved that US always did same what Kissinger oncesaid. On the contrary, Russians cared for their allies more as comparedwith their American counterparts.
US always utilized its allies to maximum and after using them, left themalone at their own fate. Allies are dispensable for US just like footsoldiers in battlefields. US always cared for its own interests only, andnot for its allies. While Russia cared for its own interests as well asthose of its allies. Russians proved to be more loyal towards their allies.
In cold war era, Pakistan was an ally to US and India was an ally to USSR.While India was at Wars with Pakistan in 1965 and 1971, arms embargo wasimposed on Pakistan by US while Soviet Union was continuously supplyingweaponry to India. US was of opinion that Pakistan should never deployAmerican weapons against India.
During Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan, 1979-1989, US removed arms embargofrom Pakistan and supplied high-tech weapons to halt Soviets’ march towardswarm waters of Arabian Sea but after the war, Pakistan fell a victim to theire of US. They left Pakistan and Afghanistan at their own fate andcancelled already signed agreements with Pakistan regarding weaponsdelivery, especially those agreements related to the provision of F-16fighter aircrafts and their spare parts. While Russia continued to providelatest weapons, particularly fighter jets to India even in its bad days. Itis to be noted that Russia never put arms embargo against India whilePakistan suffered arms embargo by US many times– many years.
Whenever US needed Pakistan, It lifted arms embargo, but it never allowedofficially Pakistan to use American weaponry against India in any lowintensity conflict or in full scale wars. US always tried to restrictPakistan to use US provided inventory for containment of communistexpansion.
During War on Terror (WoT), started in 2001, Pakistan was given status offront-line ally of US, but Americans never paid heed to Pakistan’s concernsabout growing role of its arch-rival India in Afghanistan. With risingIndian influence, a hike in terrorist activities in Pakistan, particularlyBaluchistan province, was observed clearly but Americans and Afghans alwaysstoked the gravity of situation by sidestepping Pakistan’s grievances.
Besides Pakistan, US’s role at other fronts towards their allies was quitesimilar. If we put a glance on ongoing Syrian War, we see Turkey as an allyto US. Turkey, even, downed a Russian warplane in 2015. But on the otherside, Turkey had to apologize Russia for downing that warplane when US didnot support well Turkey after the incident. Similarly, US went against theinterests of Turkey in arming Syrian Kurdish Fighters alongside the borderof Turkey. These Kurdish fighters who are battling the Islamic Statejihadists in Syria are regarded by the United States as its most reliablepartners there. But to Turkey, a NATO ally of the United States, theseKurds are terrorists.
The Kurdish group, known as the People’s Protection Units, or Y.P.G., isnow facing an escalating battle with Turkish forces in northwestern Syria,complicating American policy.
The group has deep ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, also known as theP.K.K. Both Turkey and the United States consider the P.K.K. to be aterrorist organization for its violent separatist movement inside Turkey.
On the other side, Russia jumped into Syria’s War in 2015, and till then itremained a staunch backer of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, even when hewas overwhelmed by ire and criticism for alleged use of chemical weaponsagainst rebels, civilians and children. Russian mercenaries have also paida death toll in hundreds. Russian fight and die by themselves in wars butAmerican role is mainly focused on “train and advice” missions. US mostlyrely on aerial bombardments.
With these a few narrations from history, it becomes crystal clear thatAmericans care only for their own interests while Russians care more forinterests of their allies, even sometimes jeopardizing human rights.
By: Jawad Akram