(EDM) Russia regularly mixes demonstrations of military might and claims of devotion to cooperation with the West as a means of weakening Western solidarity. And Moscow has been fine-tuning this conspicuously contradictory signaling ahead of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) 70th anniversary, which is being celebrated at the London Summit this week (December 3–4). Russian propaganda inflates every sign of disagreement in the Alliance, which is due to increase to 30 member states, to a purported symptom of its irreversible decline (Rossiiskaya Gazeta, November 28). At present, Kremlin-linked media is most vociferously advertising the alleged erosion of the United States’ transatlantic leadership, as marked by the Donald Trump administration’s announcement that it would cut the US contribution to NATO’s budget (Nezavisimaya Gazeta, November 28). Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron’s curious choice of words last month, describing NATO’s “brain death,” has invited much speculation in Moscow regarding European frustration with Washington’s abrasive unilateralism (Novaya Gazeta, November 9). Russian President Vladimir Putin certainly hopes to hear more on that during his visit to France next week. […]
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