© Valeriy, Sharifulin/TASS

Last week saw the country’s key document appear on the White House website – the Biden-Harris Administration's National Security Strategy. This virtually refers to sort of a US "roadmap" amid foreign and domestic policy challenges, threats and priorities. The document deems rising China and Russia’s imperial ambitions as the key threats, accompanied by "domestic terrorism" trampling down the foundations of US democracy.

The 48-page document explicitly states that the “strategy is rooted in our national interests: to protect the security of the American people; to expand economic prosperity and opportunity; and to realize and defend the democratic values”. All of this, strategy authors believe, lies “at the heart of the American way of life.”

The document calls the United States a "global power with global interests", which will keep leading the way "with strength and purpose" and aiming to expand its presence in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. "If one region descends into chaos or is dominated by a hostile power, it will detrimentally impact our interests in the others," the strategy points out. Again, the hostile powers are Russia and China.

"Our starting premise is that a powerful US military helps advance and safeguard vital US national interests," the document states. For which read: the entire international policy should be built with an eye to US national interests. Russia and China meanwhile propose creating a new world order with due regard to interests of all the countries worldwide.

Just a reminder: the previous US national security strategy was adopted by Donald Trump’s administration in December 2017. It stated the return of global competition between the great powers and said the United States was opposed by Russia and China as two "revisionist forces". Back then, Team Trump unveiled the document 300 days after his victory in the 2016 presidential election, while the current administration wasted twice as much time. Washington blames the crisis around Ukraine for this, a major concern to the United States.

Notably, things have changed dramatically since the previous strategy was adopted nearly five years ago. The same can't be said for the new one by the Biden team. It clearly outlines one thing – the current American administration’s time line of a decade. It will be key in struggling for the values of freedom, democracy and a more open world, all of which Washington assigns primary importance in its domestic and foreign policy.

Although titled “new”, the National Security Strategy outlines the same goals and objectives. Dedicated to Russia and China, they can be found in the document’s third part "Our global priorities". The strategy still deems our country "dangerous", but pride of place goes to the confrontation between the United States and China. The White House is sure Moscow destroys the existing world order, while Beijing wants and can build a new one.

The document mentions Russia 71 times as against China’s 55, but it is clear that Washington considers Moscow and Beijing as equivalent threats, though different in nature. Moscow's international activity is labelled as the most urgent challenge to US global interests that requires "containment", while China, with its growing economic, military and technical power, is seen as a long-term threat that has to be dealt with.

Thus, it says the following about Russia and China: "The PRC presents America’s most consequential geopolitical challenge. Although the Indo-Pacific is where its outcomes will be most acutely shaped, there are significant global dimensions to this challenge. Russia poses an immediate and ongoing threat to the regional security order in Europe and it is a source of disruption and instability globally but it lacks the across the spectrum capabilities of the PRC."

US objectives in Ukraine: "Alongside our allies and partners, America is helping to make Russia’s war on Ukraine a strategic failure." About US twin challenge: "We will prioritize maintaining an enduring competitive edge over the PRC while constraining a still profoundly dangerous Russia."

Let’s notice an important feature of America’s political tradition of making no bones about things in program documents, and exposing true intentions. Thus, Washington's goal has been announced in an utterly unambiguous way – Moscow’s strategic failure and subsequent efforts to "overcome threats" posed by China. This implies no opportunity for a sustainable peace between the United States and Russia. Washington is sure it will manage to nail us down whatever the cost. Therefore, one should harbor no illusions about moving to normal relations between Moscow and Washington in the foreseeable future…