A new cold war between the US and Russia

Moscow responds to Biden’s harsh words on Putin ("a killer" and "he will pay the price") by withdrawing the ambassador to the US and re-proposes the division of the world. Biden is "unconscious", "demented", "hysterical". Turčak: “We are a multi-ethnic country; they are a mass of kissers. We have families and family values, they have genders and transgender people”. Metropolitan Hilarion: The Pope's trip to Iraq, agreed with Biden to humiliate the Syrian (and Russian) Orthodox. Economic factors nurturing post-globalization.

Moscow (AsiaNews) - An irreversible step in a new "cold war". This is the conclusion that can be drawn from the Russian comments on the ABC News interview with US President Joe Biden. Biden accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of "being a killer" and promised he would “pay the price". After a decade of tensions and sanctions, relations between the two countries, which divided the world in the twentieth century, is in a blind alley from which it will be difficult to get out.

Biden's comments regarded the “meddling" in American elections, in 2020, but also in 2016, which led to discussions about operations orchestrated by Russia against candidate Hillary Clinton, paving the way for the victory of Donald Trump.

In turn (now it is Trump who is contesting the election result), the victorious Biden finally wants to deal with the "black man" of the Kremlin. As he stated in the interview, "we had a long talk, he and I, -- I know him relatively well. And I said, "I know you and you know me. If I establish this occurred, then be prepared."

Citing the "long talk", it almost seems that the two contenders are somehow in agreement in putting themselves on their guard against each other, with a scheme that in the past made it easier to choose which side to take.

The same "reassuring" feeling emerges from the Russian reactions: Putin has not yet expressed himself, but has had the Russian ambassador to the US Anatolij Antonov recalled to Moscow; several Russian politicians have vigorously revived the stereotypes of the cold war.

The spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, said that Biden's interview is "an attempt by the American secret services to justify their existence and the substantial funding that is bestowed on them".

The speaker of the State Duma, Vjačeslav Volodin, said in turn that it is "hysteria dictated by impotence", and that "attacking our president means attacking our country".

The vice-president of the Senate, and secretary of the Putinian party "United Russia" Andrej Turčak, called Biden's speech "the triumph of the political chaos of the United States and the senile dementia of their leader".

According to Turčak, Biden's “unconscious expressions” are a challenge for all of Russia: “We are a multi-ethnic country, they are a mass of lackeys. We have the family and its values, they have genders and transgenders. We have Crimea, and they are thinking about the division of states. And Biden can dream of the people's trust that President Putin has with us.”

Senator Andrej Klimov also argues that "there must be a reaction, but remember that the Bidens come and go, and the US still remains a great world superpower". Another senator, Vadim Dengin, while condemning Biden is convinced that "in the end he too will be convinced that Russia is not an enemy, and he should cooperate".

Biden and the US had already been criticized by the Orthodox Church. On March 7, during a television interview with Russia 24 channel, Metropolitan Ilarion (Alfeev), "secretary of state" of the patriarchate of Moscow, said that Pope Francis' trip to Iraq was a move "agreed with Biden" against their homeland, to reduce their influence in the Middle East, humiliating the Syrian Orthodox, since Iraq is under US protection, and Syria is under Russian protection.

All in all, the Russians prefer to emphasize the "ideological " and geo-political confrontation with the US and the West, rather than face the embarrassment of the unpredictable hugs and tantrums of the Trumpian period.

Various economic factors also play a role: the most recent US sanctions against Russia undermine one of the most important strategic projects, the large Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from the Baltic Sea to Europe. The US needs to break away from financing a project that serves Europe, and invest the billions of dollars promised to the Americans for the relaunch of the post-pandemic. Perhaps the rearrangement of the old twentieth-century chessboard serves precisely to defend each one's own backyard, in the post-globalization imposed by the global infections of the body and soul.