In an article published by Defence News on Tuesday, Mike Griffin, the US undersecretary of defence for research and engineering, specifically focused on the repercussions from the Cold War with respect to Washington.
He claimed that US President Ronald Reagan won this war “by doubling down on the policies of the seven presidents who preceded him”, while Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev “lost” because the USSR “could not keep up”.
“Knowing that we could not outnumber our adversaries, we invested to prevail technologically and sustained that discipline through eight presidential administrations”, Griffin noted, adding that the investments contributed to creating the US nuclear triad, which includes land-based intercontinental missiles, fleet ballistic missile submarines and strategic bombers.
At the same time, he admitted that the US “no longer possesses the unquestioned technical superiority to dominate a future fight,” pointing, in particular, to space where Washington is challenged by “Russian and Chinese determination and capability, to deny” Washington’s “war-fighting advantage” in this field.
On the US’ alleged win in the Cold War, Griffin referred to “privileges to be purchased by every generation, at a high price in blood and treasure”.
According to him, these include individual freedom, property rights, free trade in open markets, transparency and accountability in government, as well as the rule of law, and the sovereignty of nations.
“Where possible, the United States has paid with treasure rather than with blood. This principle guided our Cold War policies,” he wrote.
Griffin warned that the US winning this war does not mean that Russia, which along with China “never accepted Western ideals as future standards”, is currently lagging behind.
“Winning is great, except for the part where the losers retreat, rethink, retrain and try again; while the winner thinks the race is won once and for all — which is why the United States now finds itself running from behind in certain aspects of today’s great power rivalry”, he underscored.
Putin Voices Hope There Will Be No New Cold War
Griffin’s comments come after Russian President Vladimir Putin told a few Arab-language media outlets in October that he hopes there will be no new cold war in Moscow’s relations with the western states.
He added that even if such a war takes place, Russia won't be drawn into another costly arms race.
Putin elaborated that this had become possible due to the Russian military’s focus on developing prospective technologies and weaponry, which no other country has at its disposal at the moment.
