American Foreign Policy: The Rest of the Story
Author:
Jun 14, 2021
. Gates quotes Russian General Valery Gerasimov who says the rules of war have changed. The role of nonmilitary power has grown and has often exceeded military power.
After Russian aggression in Ukraine, the US opted for economic coercion and exclusion against Russia. The U.S. promised sanctions and isolation would bring the Russian bear down to its knees. That did not happen.
Instead, a
ran economic rings around the US. Putin applied counter sanctions on food imports to jump-start Russian agriculture. That market signal inspired Russian farmers to boost output. Russian agricultural production soared, and Russian food imports fell 33%. In 2019 Russian wheat production was the highest ever recorded. Russia earned a record $24 billion in agricultural exports in 2019. That is over twice what Russia made from exporting arms.