Russia poses threat to US but not otherwise, Pentagon’s logic

Sputnik

In what is a perfect example of twisted logic, the US Defense Department has urged Moscow not to view Washington as a threat to its security while at the same time treating Russia as a threat to the United States.

The Russians “have no reason to consider us a threat. We are not looking for conflict with Russia,” Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis told reporters on Monday, commenting on Moscow’s updated National Security Strategy.

We have our differences… but it’s fundamentally wrong to look at the United States as a threat to Russia,” he added.

Last year, General Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, named Russia as the biggest threat to the US. This assessment has not been revised.

On Monday, Dunford, who is on a visit to Europe, reiterated that the Russians were a challenge to Washington and its partners “based on their behavior, based on their capabilities – nuclear, cyber, conventional – based on the threat to our allies.”

On New Year’s Eve, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the revised document, which listed the US and the expansion of NATO as posing a threat to Russia’s national security.

“Expanding the force potential of NATO and endowing it with global functions which are implemented in violation of international legal norms, the block’s military activation, its continued expansion, and the approach of its military infrastructure to Russian borders, all create a threat to national security,” the document stated.