What will President Kamala Harris’ foreign policy be? She’s already Signaled Israeli policy will remain the same. What about Russia?
For more context, look to Harris’ current national security adviser, Philip Gordon, who has been in the position for decades, is a regular at the Munich Security Conference, and is widely expected to succeed Jake Sullivan as national security adviser if Harris wins the presidential election.
While it’s highly doubtful that Kamala’s team is sitting around a table discussing what foreign policy they believe is in the best interest of all Americans (they likely make few big-picture decisions), their ideological makeup is more likely to represent what the US oligarchs want. And judging by Gordon’s track record, the US oligarchs don’t seem prepared to change course or abandon their Ukraine plans in the wake of Biden’s departure. So who is Philip Gordon?
He began working on the National Security Council staff under Bill Clinton and then Brookings Institution From 1999 to 2009 he Establishment of the American and European CentersGordon Under Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Under the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton From 2009 to 2013, he then served as Special Assistant to then-President Barack Obama and White House Coordinator for the Middle East, North Africa, and the Gulf region until 2015.
Author: James Mann write The “Obama faction” says Gordon and others like him “represent a generation of Democrats who learned how to run foreign policy in the 1990s. They were eager to show that the Democratic Party was not a bunch of pacifists, that it understood national security issues and was prepared to use American force if necessary.”
They just think they’re smarter than the Obama White House. Advertised NATO’s role in toppling Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi vindicates the decision to “lead from behind.”
Gordon Council on Foreign Relations He arrived in Washington DC in 2015 as a senior fellow focusing on US foreign and national security policy and remained there until teaming up with Harris in 2020, first as a foreign policy adviser to Harris’ disastrous campaign and then as national security adviser to the vice president.
In the Vice President’s office Staff replacementGordon is a key member of the president’s team and is one of a select group of national security officials who take part in the president’s daily intelligence briefings, including National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Vice President for National Security John Finer.
It’s not surprising that Gordon, a longtime Washington survivor, embodies all of the violent orthodoxy that exudes from the Blob, including his unwavering support for Israel and his indisputable belief that China is not just a threat to the United States but the greatest threat of all.
While there is still no consensus on Ukraine (staunch Russophobes want to escalate tensions, while China hawks want to shift the responsibility to Europe so they can focus on China), Gordon believes the US can do both.
Recent Politico The work explains European Atlanticists, worried that they will be forgotten if America focuses too much on China and Asia, are very fond of Philip Gordon, who “speaks four European languages, has written a treatise on Charles de Gaulle, and translated a book by the notoriously short-tempered former French president, Nicolas Sarkozy.”
Best of all, Gordon loves football, Politico writes.
In June 2012, Mr Gordon had dinner in St. Petersburg with Mr Sullivan and then-U.S. ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul, then-U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, before taking her to a bar packed with Germans to watch the UEFA Europa League semi-final.
But when you dig into all the crap, here’s the real money in the entire Politico profile:
To this day, Harris remains in regular contact with the European Commission. Norbert Röttgen, a Christian Democrat member of the German Bundestag, trusts that Harris’ advisers still believe “European security is the cornerstone of American global power” and welcomes that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz shares Harris’ criticism of Germany’s failure to send Taurus long-range cruise missiles to Ukraine.
The fact that Gordon is among those pressuring Berlin to send Taurus missiles to Ukraine places him among the more hardline and reckless war cheerleaders.
It should not be forgotten that the Taurus missile has a range of about 500 km and can strike Moscow. At the same time, it is said that this missile is difficult to operate, and since the Ukrainian military cannot do so, the personnel of the Bundeswehr will be called upon to operate it. This means that Germany is openly firing missiles at Russia, and the consequences are not difficult to imagine. This is what German opposition politician Safra Wagenknecht denounced German warmongers in March, when it looked like the proponents of the use of Taurus were about to win:
“Have you all gone mad?”
Amazing and terrifying speech translation: About the stupidity of Germany’s belligerent approach to Russia. pic.twitter.com/wfOV1ebzoO
— Thomas Fage (@battleforeurope) March 17, 2024
So has Gordon lost his mind? You wouldn’t know it from the Politico blurb, which casually mentions Gordon’s criticism of the German government for not going to war with Russia, then quickly moves on to a complimentary remark from Michael McFaul, the former U.S. ambassador to Russia and an ardent supporter of World War III. McFaul concludes that if Gordon were to become Harris’ national security adviser in a Harris administration, “Europe would have an ally.”
This is probably as good a place as any to insert the old Kissinger quote that has become almost de rigueur when dealing with U.S. foreign policy these days: “To be America’s enemy may be dangerous, but to be America’s friend is deadly.”
Gordon’s “lead from behind” mantra on Libya during the Obama administration, combined with his current insistence that Germany should fire Taurus missiles at Russia, should be deeply worrying to Germans and Europeans in general — and is it not ironic that it is Gordon who European diplomats are welcoming as a key friend of the Harris administration?
Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan and Secretary of State Antony Blinken are unlikely to stay on in their jobs under Harris, but Gordon is expected to fit comfortably in their place. POLITICO:
We reported Initial skepticism Harris caused some anxiety this summer in Europe because of her lack of familiarity with the current vice president, but her choice of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate and the likely appointment of Europhile Phil Gordon as national security adviser appear to have eased some of the fears..
In 2018, Gordon co-authored the report for the Council on Foreign Relations. Report He met with Robert Blackwill, a hardline Russia Republican. They called for all possible measures against Russia: sanctions, weapons, and unwavering commitment to Ukraine and Europe. Essentially, that’s what the U.S. has done ever since. Gordon called for this approach not just because of the situation in Ukraine, but because of “Russia interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.”
Thus, Gordon is also a propagandist of the misinformation that Russia was behind Clinton’s loss in the 2016 presidential election.(1) He and Blackwill proudly announced that “if this course of action sounds like a prescription for a new Cold War with Russia, that’s because it is.”
Gordon’s position remains the same, a point he has made recently.
As @VP The President said that America’s support for the Ukrainian people is enduring, and this latest security assistance package will provide much-needed support as Ukraine courageously defends itself against Russia’s senseless aggression and works toward a just and lasting peace. https://t.co/IKyPtNbrST
— Phil Gordon (@PhilGordon46) July 29, 2024
Of course, “endure” could mean spending a few months in Washington, but for now, the Harris campaign, or its supporters, are sticking to their guns.
What do you think? “American Dad” Will Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz be another voice of sanity for Europeans to breathe a sigh of relief? Stay tuned.
Ukrainian Ambassador to the United States Oksana Markarova say “Among America’s governors, Walz has undoubtedly been one of the leaders in this effort and a staunch friend of our nation.”
Walz was one of the first U.S. governors to condemn Russia in 2022. Issue an order He called on government agencies to terminate existing contracts with Russian entities and to refrain from entering into similar contracts in the future, a bill he has supported ever since.
Minnesota will continue to support Ukraine in protecting freedom and democracy.
I visited the Ukrainian Embassy to establish a formal partnership between the public, private and academic sectors of Minnesota and Chernihiv Oblast and to strengthen ties between our states and Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/hm3kidti6Z
— Governor Tim Walz (@GovTimWalz) February 22, 2024
In conclusion, there are indications that the Harris administration’s Ukraine policy will be a continuation of the Biden administration’s policy ( Israeli Policy). In at least one sense, this is even worse, because it once again abandons the exit strategy. There’s been a lot of talk about the Biden team just wanting to drag this miserable thing across the finish line. Now, the Harris campaign’s finances are declaring that the new faces won’t change the risky losing strategy.
Note
(1) Gordon also i doubt it Gordon is critical of the alleged use of chemical weapons against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, but also of one of President Obama’s few successful foreign policy decisions – choosing not to bomb Syria based on fabricated intelligence that Assad had crossed a chemical weapons red line in 2013. He told The Atlantic “We should have bombed Assad,” he said in 2016.
