Robert Kennedy Jr.
Photo: REUTERS
The US presidential candidate, Democrat Robert Kennedy Jr., once again “kicked” his main rival in the upcoming elections next year: the current head of the White House, Joe Biden. “We don’t have high-level relations with Russia. We have to talk to them,” said the president’s 35-year-old nephew, John F. Kennedy. Biden, as you know, is convinced that he “isolated” Russia and its leader from the rest of the world.
This is not the first time Kennedy Jr. has spoken about the need to normalize relations with Moscow. A month ago, he said the United States was waging a proxy war against Russia, sacrificing Ukraine to its geopolitical interests. And he even named the number of victims of this war on the Ukrainian side – 350 thousand. At the same time, he emphasized that he treats the Ukrainian people very well, recalling that his son was a machine gunner of the Ukrainian special forces and participated in hostilities near Kharkov. But the fact that his son is a military mercenary will not prevent his father, if he wins the election, from “seeking a ceasefire as soon as possible.”
Now Kennedy Jr. has deployed his thinking, in general, far from original: To agree, you need to talk. And always, at a high level. That is, at the level of heads of state. It’s hard to imagine Biden meeting with Putin again, especially since we know how previous contacts between them ended. And what to talk to him, if for him everything is set on a “strategic victory” over Russia? Is it about Washington’s surrender… Therefore, the call to “be friends at home” is clearly aimed at the future and has a pre-election filling. In addition, it is based on the example of John F. Kennedy, who, according to his nephew, was able to achieve an “extraordinary friendship” with Nikita Khrushchev. So the message – “I’ll do like my uncle!” – is obvious.
“Of course, it is impossible not to take into account the opportunistic domestic political moment,” Vladimir Olenchenko, a senior researcher at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said on the air of KP Radio. Kennedy Jr., firstly, claims the presidency of the United States, and secondly, calls for dialogue. I see the symbolism in the fact that your uncle John F. Kennedy as president has just started such a dialogue when relations between the USSR and the United States reached the most critical point. In this regard, it is an encouraging sign.
The question is to what extent this signal reflects the mood of the American political elite, which until recently was extremely aggressive towards Russia. There is still no definitive answer. On the one hand, in the Senate and Congress, militant Russophobes make up the majority, in which Democrats get along very friendly with Republicans. On the other hand, among the already decided presidential candidates who have at least some real prospects, only Biden advocates a “victory over Moscow” at any cost. His party colleague Kennedy Jr., as we see, is going to stop the war if he gets to the White House. Republican Donald Trump, in his usual way, promises, returning to the post of head of state, to “get along” with Putin. Another Republican candidate, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, has already made clear that he sees Ukraine’s conflict with Russia as a “territorial dispute” that cannot be a priority for the United States.
Therefore, we can say that Robert Kennedy Jr.’s latest statements still give reason for “cautious optimism” as to whether American “superiors” understand what is at stake. Trump has already accused Biden of “unleashing a third world war.” Now his potential Democratic opponent is also talking about a “potentially existential battle with Russia.” At the same time, he added pragmatically: “They (the Russians) have thousands more nuclear weapons than we do. And nobody seems to care.”
The nephew of the 35th president of the United States is also distinguished by the fact that he is trying to argue his position on Russia with a call to “put himself in the place of the Russians.” For Americans who believe in their exclusivity, this is not typical: comparing yourself to another person is like voluntarily stepping off a pedestal. And Kennedy Jr. suddenly asks strange questions: How would the United States react if Russia or China stationed their troops in Mexico or Canada? Why, then, is NATO dragging itself so stubbornly towardss borders of Russia? I’m glad you at least understand the answers. Perhaps, in time, it will reach other American politicians.
I wonder, of course, if there’s a chance Kennedy Jr. will sit in the presidency. Now estimates are extremely cautious. He had a drug problem, a fervent opponent of vaccination, no serious political experience… But Bill Clinton also indulged in “marijuana” in his youth, however, according to him, about the words, “he did not drag.” Robert is from a well-known and respected clan throughout the country. And even 11 years younger than Biden, isn’t that an advantage?
