Rep. Dana Rohrabacher: US-Russia Cooperation is Key to Countering Global Threats

The United States should realize that cooperation with Russia is the most efficient way to eliminate existential threats to the western civilization, Representative Dana Rohrabacher (R-Ca), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia and Emerging Threats, told valdaiclub.com.

Rep. Rohrabacher believes that Islamic radicalism is the most serious of these threats. “Our fight against the radical Islamic terrorism is not even halfway over and it’s going to become more dangerous in the years ahead,” he said during a meeting at the Valdai Club in Moscow on Sunday. “If there is anything that can help us, that will further our efforts to defeat radical Islamic terrorism […] then it will be the cooperation between our countries,” he added.

Rohrabacher was skeptical about Europe’s ability to be a valuable partner in the fight against Islamism. “Europe is permitting itself to be […] taken over by large groups of people whose culture and views are not consistent with those of European countries,” he said. “They don’t have the courage and guts to defend themselves and they are giving their countries away. Russia is one of the few countries in the western civilization who has the courage with the United States to confront this threat and defeat it. If we don’t, all the western civilization will eventually collapse. So it depends on both of us,” Rohrabacher stressed.

North Korea, which he referred to as being run by “lunatics” is another example of where joint efforts of Russia and the United States can help prevent a major crisis. “North Korea […] is a grave concern to all civilized countries. And because Russia and the United States represent the largest and most powerful countries in the civilized world, we should be very concerned and that is an example of where we should be working together,” he said.

When asked if proposed quadrupling of funding for the European Reassurance Initiative would help strength security in the region, Rohrabacher said that the United States should instead leave the Europeans to defend themselves. “There is no threat that I can see of a major military incursion by Russia into Europe,” he pointed out. “A much greater threat to Europe now is radical Islamic terrorism and in that battle we should be working with Russia rather than try to base our policies on thwarting Russia,” he said. The fact that a Russian military attack on Europe is being discussed seriously “shows how bizarre and out of touch some of these policymakers are,” Rohrabacher added.

The United States should not allow itself to be manipulated into thinking that Russia aspires for global hegemony, he went on to say. “The US has been told that Russia slid back to hostile Cold War status. Many people in the US believe that. Their ignorance is being manipulated by political people who also have no idea of what’s going on,” he pointed out.

“We’ve got to get the word out that Russia is a strong modern nation. When the president of Russia moves forward to do something in the interests of his country, it should be seen as the president of this country watching out for the interests of his people. I wish we had a president that was as watching out for our interests as Russia has a president watching out for theirs,” Rohrabacher concluded.
Views expressed are of individual Members and Contributors, rather than the Club's, unless explicitly stated otherwise.