US Vice President Joe Biden happily declared to business leaders and students at Moscow State University that only 2 percent of Americans see Russia as a threat – however that percentage includes top US intelligence officers.
“The reset is working,” claimed Biden.However, US intelligence officer James Clapper recently told the US Senate Armed Services Committee that the gravest threats against America are China and Russia. The hearing was a discussion on worldwide threats, and even if the accusation was unintentional, it showed tensions and a Cold War era mentality in Washington still persists and hinders US-Russia relations.Ivan Eland, a senior fellow at The Independent Institute in Washington said there are others, like Pakistan and North Korea, who have nuclear capacities, but the US does not refer to them as mortal threats. “This is left over from the cold war,” he said. There are still many in the US foreign policy community who hold certain feelings toward Russia because of the years of hostile history, Eland explained. The intent of the Obama administration is to improve US-Russia relations, he explained, but there are still some in the policy community who are set on the past. If the standard was reversed Eland said the US is truly the threat to all others. “The United states has the most robust nuclear arsenal on the planet,” he remarked. “Time will help, I think the more we can improve relations and the more we get past the Cold War both in time and in mentality, these people will retire and I think the situation will be improved.”