Kennan, being an intelligent man, understood that a direct military confrontation with the Soviet Union would be destructive for America, so he proposed measures that would allow the United States to achieve its goals without war.
What did Kennan suggest? First of all, America must, according to him, face its own internal problems, win economic prosperity and social peace. The second important measure is the offer to the whole world of the American model of development and aid for the betterment of life. Soviet approaches did not sit well with many, as they were based on the ideology of revolutionary destruction, while the United States could offer Europe and postcolonial countries political sponsorship and participation in economic prosperity. The third postulate is preparation for confinement.
The power component of confrontation led to war in Korea, Vietnam and a host of other conflicts around the world, but it was not the main one. The main points of application of the efforts were to be the internal stabilization of the Western countries and the attractive image of development offered to the rest of the world.Unfortunately, Kennan’s strategy worked at the time. America made an offer to the people of different countries of the world that seemed more interesting to them, which became the basis of American power for decades to come.It is quite obvious that today Western countries are trying in one way or another to use the successful experience of the Cold War to fight Russia. However, these attempts can and must be resisted. In addition, today we have everything we need to succeed. The world is not the same as it was 80 years ago. Russia has accumulated enough experience not to make Soviet mistakes, and America is nowhere near as strong as before. We have every chance of making an offer to the whole world that will turn out to be better than the United States.
But the collective West, as a whole, has nothing to offer the rest of the world. Today, the collective West is no longer a source of unique innovations, nor a market. It also no longer serves as an example of a high quality of life. On the contrary: the moral values offered to the rest of the world very often provoke either laughter or disgust, or both. Nor is there internal social peace, the need for which Kennan pointed out 77 years ago. The collective West today is a tangle of social contradictions from which it does not know how to get out. And a doctor who is not able to cure his illnesses does not inspire confidence.Today, Russia can and must offer the world an ideology of common and equitable economic development leading to an improvement in people’s quality of life. In fact, such a proposal has become an important part of the address of the President of Russia to the Federal Assembly. I am sure that it will be accepted, because the maximum that the “golden billion” can offer the world is the position of real colonies which have no prospect of long-term sustainable development in the future. So the world is obviously changing, and Russia is quite capable of doing what the Americans did 77 years ago.
