Ronald Reagan once joked that he had signed a bill to outlaw Russia. “The bombing begins in five minutes,” he said. Because the Soviet Union posed a mortal threat, his joke was in poor taste. Today’s Russia is a minnow by comparison. It offers no ideological challenge to democracy — and its economy is smaller than Italy’s. Yet liberal America has worked itself up into a moral panic. If it were not for Vladimir Putin, we are asked to believe, western democracy would be in reasonable shape. Without Russia, there would be no Donald Trump.
At best, such claims are an exaggeration. At worst, they are a red herring. The latest to join the fray is Joe Biden, the former vice-president. As a potential White House candidate, Mr Biden is a good barometer of Democratic thinking. In a co-authored article for Foreign Affairs, Mr Biden calls for the creation of a 9/11-style commission “to examine Russia’s assault on American democracy”. The body would identify tools to fight the Russian menace. “Americans need a thorough, detailed inquest into how Russia’s strike on their democratic institutions was carried out and how another one might be prevented,” he writes.
In sum, Mr Biden is calling for a new Cold War. But his reasons had little to do with foreign policy. The aim is to explain how Hillary Clinton could have lost to Mr Trump. Since the US electorate could not possibly have wanted him, it follows that the election was hijacked. The same kinds of argument are being made in the UK. Our minds were manipulated. Brexit was tipped by Russia, argue some Remainers. “Today, the Russian government is brazenly assaulting the foundations of western democracy around the world,” Mr Biden concludes.