The Russian umbrella opens in the media — and collapses on the ground |
Who will trust Russia when the moment of truth arrives? Who will bet on Moscow when necessity collides with calculation? Traditional allies already know the answer. Moscow does not protect. Moscow tests. It professes loyalty in words, but fails to demonstrate it in action. When the moment of truth arrives, all you find is silence, inflated rhetoric or a cold calculus that leaves you exposed.
Venezuela is the latest proof of this. A petroleum-rich nation. An ideological ally. Nicolás Maduro and Vladimir Putin have a long-standing personal relationship. Yet when U.S. pressure peaked, Russia’s response barely went beyond verbal condemnation.
Moscow described the situation in Caracas as “intellectual hostility overpowering diplomacy”. Elegant phrasing. But toothless in reality. It was as if the unfolding struggle were a philosophical debate rather than a contest of power in a world that measures results, not words.
Fyodor Lukyanov, a foreign policy advisor close to the Kremlin, was blunt: ‘For Russia,........