No 6 (2024)

From the point of view of the American ruling elite, China is the main opponent of the United States in the international arena. Currently, the balance of forces (economic, military, technological) between the United States and China is changing not in favor of America, and Washington is forced to build a whole system of alliances and partnerships in the IndoPacific region for strategic deterrence and, possibly, strategic encirclement of the PRC. The very idea of the IPR arose from the American ruling elite as the optimal form for the implementation of this strategy. Currently, however, the United States has failed to realize the idea of China's economic and political isolation – not all countries in the Indo-Pacific region are ready to join the anti-Chinese policy of the United States.

The foreign trade policy of the Biden administration, due to the dominance of economic and political considerations and the priority given to the internal economic problems of the United States itself, has largely retained the same protectionist, nationalist-populist nature of the trade policy characteristic of Donald Trump's presidency. It is devoid of strategic vision and is fraught with uncertainty and the real prospect of continuing existing trade and economic contradictions and conflicts, even with the closest allies and partners of the United States, and the emergence of new ones.

The article is devoted to the study of the role of the United States during the preparation and holding of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE). The study was based on an analysis of American diplomatic documents published in the series “Foreign Relations of the United States”. The reaction of Washington to the proposal of the Warsaw Pact countries to hold a pan-European conference is considered. The US tactics at the multilateral preliminary consultations in Helsinki are analyzed. The contribution of American politicians to the successful completion of the CSCE is examined. It is concluded that despite external passivity, the United States played a significant role in the implementation of the CSCE, acting as a mediator between the Soviet Union and the countries of Western Europe. Due to American diplomats, a number of compromises were found that ensured the signing of the final CSCE documents.

Canadian society is the product, if not a fusion, then a close coexistence of two cultures - English, Protestant and French, Catholic. It is natural that its cultural capital – values, traditions, perceptions, norms, etc. – is composed of elements of the cultural capitals of England (Britain) and France, or a mixture of them. Thus, Canada has inherited from them statism and communitarianism, while the United States has come to be dominated by anti-statist and individualistic sentiments. The harsh living conditions and remoteness from metropolitan areas have been instrumental in producing a "garrison mentality" and a "survival" orientation among Canadians, which provoked a more communitarian lifestyle. Direct observers of life in New France in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries noted a sharp contrast between the French and the English – the former imitating the local nobility in trying to keep up with it in luxury, while the latter sought to toil hard and to invest their earnings in business. Differences in work and consumer ethics between English-speaking (Protestants) and French-speaking (Catholics) Canadians seem mostly to be a thing of the past, however, the rejection of mercantile orientation in some segments of Canadian society still persists to the present day. Canadian managers are not as aggressive and assertive as Americans and are more ready to take into account the public interest. True to some of its historical European roots, Canada has adopted many social democratic practices – a fairly developed welfare state (with free healthcare) and large-scale state entrepreneurship (however, its size has been significantly reduced lately). Proximity to such an economic giant as the USA has both pluses and minuses. The southern neighbor is suspected of trying to format the Canadian economy to suit its own goals and objectives, which causes rejection and resistance.

The article analyzes the electoral discourse on immigration of the last three U.S. presidents (B. Obama, D. Trump, and J. Biden) using non-standard variants of American Standard English, such as African American Vernacular English (AAVE or Ebonix) and Chicano English (ChE). The analysis shows that all candidates have to take into account the social and speech practices of their constituencies. Democratic candidates (Obama and Biden) appeal to the linguistic identity of African-Americans and Hispanics, while Trump, whose core constituency is white Americans, demonstrates hatred towards immigrants through his linguistic behavior.

The memoirs of William Burns, the American diplomat and director of the Central Intelligence Agency, paint a wide panorama of U.S. foreign policy. These memoirs are particularly relevant because they document the role of the United States in destabilizing the world order that emerged following the Second World War, including its participation in fomenting crises in the post-Soviet space that led to the development of the Ukrainian crisis and the beginning of a special military operation by Russia. The memoirs are not only the testimony of an informed eyewitness but also a valuable source on the modern history of international relations, since they are supplemented with declassified diplomatic documents of the American State Department. These documents, now part of the academic record, clarify both the patterns of American foreign policy behavior and the destructive role of the United States in numerous crises, many of which, according to the documents presented, were predicted by W. Burns as inevitable long before the escalation occurred.

The main purpose of this article is to analyze certain American assessments of the unraveling of the internal situation in Russia, their feasibility, and the resulting policy objectives of the Russian leadership.

This article focuses on the impact of cinema in the ongoing culture war between the "orthodox alliance" – conservative, right-wing, predominantly Christian groups – and progressivist, leftist liberal, mostly secular and atheist communities in the struggle for the right to shape the social agenda, dominate public discourse, and define American popular culture. The author examines the advance of the progressivist agenda in Hollywood films and the attempts of right-wing traditionalists to counter this perceived imposition of hostile values through boycotts and the creation of alternative content. The commercial failures of mainstream Hollywood productions that preach diversity, equity, and inclusion, and the sudden box office success of independent titles that appeal to ultraconservative audiences, demonstrate that the longstanding hegemony of liberal perspectives in public entertainment has begun to face considerable competition from orthodoxy. This could affect the outcome of the entire confrontation between two fundamentally different visions of America.

In the United States, a complex process has been formed for the annual adoption of the federal budget for the next fiscal year starting on October 1. The House of Representatives and the Senate must coordinate and approve 12 bills on appropriations for the main areas of government activity for the next fiscal year, and the president must sign them by September 30. If the appropriations bills are not passed, the activities of government institutions are suspended (shutdown). Congress last completed the budget approval process before the start of the fiscal year in 1997. Since then, Congress has resorted to continuing resolutions every year to avoid a shutdown. An analysis of the budget debate in Congress during the Joe Biden administration shows how the threat of a shutdown is used in the political struggle between the two parties in conditions of divided government. The problems and risks associated with shutdowns and continuing resolutions for the socio-economic development of the United States are also analyzed.