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“When a Soviet submarine gets stuck on a sandbar off the coast of a New England island, its commander (Theodore Bikel) orders his second-in-command, Lieutenant Rozanov (Alan Arkin), to get them moving again before there is an international incident. Rozanov seeks assistance from the island locals, including the police chief (Brian Keith) and a vacationing television writer (Carl Reiner), while trying to allay their fears of a Communist invasion by claiming he and his crew are Norwegian sailors.”

That was in 1966. and The Russians. “They are at it Again…” 

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On Wednesday, Biden regime hardliners escalated already heightened tensions with Russia.

More sanctions were imposed on the phony pretext of poisoning Navalny.

Ignored were heroic efforts by Russian doctors to save him after falling ill last summer from what was diagnosed as a metabolic disorder en route to Moscow.

No poisoning occurred. Yet the long ago debunked Big Lie refuses to die.

When Washington imposes sanctions on invented adversaries and enemies, phony pretexts are easy to concoct.

If Russia wanted Navalny eliminated — a political nobody with scant public support — he’d have been done away with long ago.

Moscow doesn’t operate this way, longstanding US/Western/Israeli practice it abhors.

At most, Navalny is a minor irritant too insignificant to matter.

He’s now imprisoned through late 2023 for lawbreaking related to embezzling millions of dollars for personal use.

Biden’s Commerce Department said it’s blocking the export of  technology, software, and related items to Russia for national security reasons, a meaningless action, saying:

The department “is committed to preventing Russia from accessing sensitive US technologies that might be diverted to its malign chemical weapons activities (sic).”

Left unexplained is that so-called “sensitive US technologies” were at least largely blocked for export to Russia long ago, especially anything related to weaponry.

Bilateral trade is minimal. Russian technology serves the country’s needs.

For many items related to national security and other applications, it’s superior to what’s available in the West.

When repeated ad nauseam, Big Lies take on a life of their own — no matter how convincingly debunked.

According to the Biden regime’s commerce department, inventing its own false reality:

“By deploying illegal nerve agents against dissidents (sic), both inside and outside its borders (sic), the Russian government has acted in flagrant violation of its commitments under the Chemical Weapons Convention and has directly put its own citizens and those of other countries at mortal risk (sic).”

The above applies to US war on humanity at home and abroad — worlds apart from how Moscow operates.

More sanctions are coming. They’ll only serve to further exacerbate bilateral relations already in tatters.

According to White House spokesperson Jen Psaki:

“(T)here is an ongoing review and while we have announced the key conclusions from an intelligence community assessment on the poisoning of Alexei Navalny (sic), there is an ongoing review of other areas where we have ongoing concerns (sic),” adding:

“Our relationship will look different” from Trump’s.

“We will be direct (sic). We will speak out on areas where we have concerns (sic), and certainly the Russians will be held accountable for the actions that they have taken (sic).”

In response to the latest Biden regime sanctions, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said they widened the breach between both sides, making normalization of bilateral relations impossible as things now stand.

A Final Comment

In response to escalated US war on Russia by other means, Putin, in part, turned the other cheek instead of sharply slamming what’s unacceptable and hostile, saying:

“As for the statement by my American counterpart, we really are, as he said, personally acquainted.”

“What would I answer him? I would tell him: Stay healthy. I wish him good health,” adding:

“The US and the US leadership…seek to have certain relations with us, but only in areas that are of their own interest and only on their conditions.”

“Although they think we are the same, we are different people.”

“We have different genetic, cultural, and moral codes.”

“They will have to live with that despite all the attempts to hinder our development.”

“Regardless of sanctions and insults, they will have to live with that.”

On Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stressed that Biden regime hardliners reject normalization with Moscow, adding:

“We will proceed on that basis.”

Over the next few days, Russian officials will decide how they’ll deal with Biden regime hardliners ahead.

The only language they understand is toughness, what I’ve stressed many times before.

Good faith diplomatic outreach to Washington fails when tried.

Showing weakness when strength is needed assures betrayal whenever hollow US promises are made.

Russia and other nations ill-treated by Washington should respond by giving its ruling authorities a taste of their own medicine — short of waging war.

Nothing else registers with its hardliners. Nothing else has a chance to work.

When the US perceives weakness in an adversary, it takes full advantage.

Russia is too soft in its dealings with Washington.

It assures worsening bilateral relations, not the other way around.

It’s notably been this way since Obama/Biden replaced democratic rule in Ukraine with Nazi infested fascist tyranny.

Since that time, Russian/US bilateral relations steadily deteriorated.

Since Biden replaced Trump in January, they nearly reached a breaking point.

Perhaps it’s coming in the weeks or months ahead.

Notably, Russian lower house State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin slammed Biden’s hostile remarks about Putin, calling him “a killer,” saying:

“Biden has insulted the citizens of our country with his statement.”

“This is a tantrum that comes from powerlessness.”

“Putin is our president. Attacking him is an attack on our country.”

Trump while in office “maintained rhetoric appropriate to the level of head of state.”

Biden’s statement…is beyond common sense. This is no way for the leader of” any nation to behave toward a foreign counterpart.

Based on what’s happened with more unlawful US sanctions on Russia coming ahead, bilateral relations most likely will deteriorate further.

Chances for improving them appear nil.

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Stephen Lendman is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG).

VISIT MY WEBSITE: stephenlendman.org (Home – Stephen Lendman). Contact at [email protected].

My two Wall Street books are timely reading:

“How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized Banking, Government Collusion, and Class War”

https://www.claritypress.com/product/how-wall-street-fleeces-america/

“Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity”

https://www.claritypress.com/product/banker-occupation-waging-financial-war-on-humanity/

Featured image: Russian President Vladimir Putin (ID1974/Shutterstock) and President Joe Biden (Stratos Brilakis/shutterstock)