Karen Shakhnazarov Film Director; People's Artist of Russia: Why do they talk so much about Russia? It seems to me... No, it's obvious to me that's because they perceive Russia as America's natural geopolitical rival, and they're right in that regard. Actually, the only rival. Actually, the only rival. A lot is being talked about China, but, actually, they perceive Russia as the number one rival. And, well... They are saying Trump makes Russia great. And, honestly, Trump has brought such chaos to the American system of government, that America is growing weaker. America is weakening, and Russia took its place in the Middle East. All of a sudden, Russia makes its way into Africa. That event, when the 50 country leaders gathered... 50 African country leaders don't meet by accident. This doesn't happen by chance. It means they feel, there is some power here, with which it makes sense to deal with. It doesn't happen because Russia wants it. It's because it's the law of nature. If something leaves one place, it goes to another. It can't be helped. In this sense, when they say Trump is weakening America, yes, he is. And we like him for it. But a different matter is... Why would we like him otherwise? We like him for it. Yes, we live here. The more problems they have, the better it's for us. It's obvious. The same is true for us. When we were weakened, they came and captured all of Eastern Europe which was under our control. It's a natural process of swinging.
But the issue is, everything that's happening and Trump is just a symptom. The truth is it's not a disease but a symptom. Just like a disease lives in a human body for a long time. And then, suddenly, excuse me, cold sores appear on the face. God forbid if on another, private part. But you can apply something to it. A cream will make it go away for the time being but the disease will stay. I think Trump is a symptom of the diseases America has been suffering from for a long time. The diseases which lead to the system-related crisis of the whole system. Those are financial oligarchs and industrial capital, the crisis of the whole political system, and you can see it's turning into something that's killing modern-day America.
By the way, here it's commonplace to say a lot about the success of the American economy. But listen, there are some general indicators. Their national debt has reached 21 trillion dollars, by the way. And that happened during Trump's presidency. It increased, I read, by 16%. The trade imbalance (export minus import) is almost a trillion dollars. This is in spite of all kinds of tariffs and increased tariffs. And still, the imbalance increased by $200 billion during 2019. Actually, that's the main economic indicators. Them solving the unemployment issue is essentially a cyclical thing. Yes, he changed the taxes, lowered the taxes, it shows some effect. But it's clear, that the economy is not as healthy as we are shown today. And I think that Americans, the average Americans, understand it.
And finally, the most important issue is the crisis in the relationship between the traditional white majority who considers themselves the founders of America, and the wave of immigrants that's flooding America. It's clear. Again we've been reading about this for the last 20 years. The calculations say that by the year X they will be less numerous, The Spanish speakers, the Chinese, and all sorts of different ethnic groups, the Spanish speakers and African Americans will become the majority. What will America become when this happens? All those conflicts that have been growing, and for many years were being described by very clever American politicians, publicist, political scientists, today reached a boiling point. And Trump is just a symptom of it reaching the surface. But, it seems to me, because of that there are people who think that if you apply a cream, it will go away. Like, if you remove Trump, everything will heal by itself. But it's obvious, nothing like this will happen. In principle, they can remove Trump.
- Sure, everything is possible in theory.
- In principle, I'm not even talking about the impeachment, but…
- There are options, yeah.
- I mean, that it's very strong pressure in sight of the upcoming elections.
- Sure, no guarantee he'll be elected.
- It can have a serious effect, Trump can be removed. But I'm certain that it won't save the USA from the necessity of solving these problems. And I often say that this process of solving is analogous to the Russian/Soviet Perestroika. You see, it'll be growing weaker. It'll be weakening, and Russia as a result, even without meaning to, will gain some presence. Because that's how the world works. In that sense, we…
- By the way, we…
- That's why we like Trump a lot. In that sense, in a certain sense, Americans who oppose him saying he is virtually our agent, are... He is not an agent, but truly, objectively it turns out he's working in the interests of our country to some extent. Because he is weakening the force we oppose.
Look what has happened since 2013. The Western might was at its peak. Kiev, when they managed to do this to Ukraine. The united, monolithic. The West, the EU was holding our, excuse me, neck with what looked like an absolutely mighty grip of steel. But look at what has happened in the last five years, what has happened to the USA, to the EU. And, by the way, it has an effect on Ukraine. Look, the situation is changing, changing, and changing. That's why I think, the confrontation will intensify. It's scary to think about what it will cause in the USA. It's possible that it can lead to a direct military clash.
Sergei Stankevich, Chairman of Party of Growth's International Affairs Committee:
- It's the year before the next presidential elections in the USA, which are likely to become fateful again. And for us, Russians, it is useful to look at what each result can bring in the future.
- Have you heard what they said? McFaul stated, that it's not the Russians who hacked the Democratic Party's server but the Ukrainians.
- Well…
- Well, it's just interesting, it didn't happen, as an Americanist, you will note this. Manafort said it, Manafort. Not McFaul, Manafort. McFaul would have a heart attack... Please note that such attention to the international agenda was drawn only by the Democrats to fight Trump. And now they can't get rid of it. Never before was the international agenda so important for the US elections as it is today.
- To such an extent, you mean?
- Yes.
- Except for the WW2 and the Vietnam War, yes. So, what will the next US elections bring us in the future? The inevitable, they'll happen in a year.
- Why inevitable?
- So, the truth is that Trump is bad for us. That's where we disagree. Trump destroys the remains of international law and attacks international organizations important to us. And concerning the sanctions against Russia, he is a true champion. And concerning the other issues, he firmly opposes Russia. But Trump is a lesser evil comparing, for example, to the candidate, whom the Democrats are trying to promote, Joe Biden. Because Joe Biden is much worse. Joe Biden is a classical moral crusader, who wants to return the US military to all the places around the world, to increase the American presence everywhere, to return to Ukraine, and to manage the work of the Ukrainian government personally, as they did before. And it's not the end of the list, he wants more. And Joe Biden returning to the White House not as a Vice President but as President will result in a tremendous deterioration in the international situation and in a very severe confrontation.
