Last week, the White House website published a document titled "Interim National Security Strategic Guidance". The document is meant for government agencies in charge of national security, and precedes the new edition of the US National Defense Strategy (NDS), which Joe Biden's administration plans to draft later this year.

A careful study of the document shows that its message is little or no different from the NDS adopted by the administration of Donald Trump back in December 2017. Apparently, the past three years have seen no major changes in Washington on this issue, despite the change of the White House owner. The strategy seems to be new, but its provisions are old and not much different from those formerly declared. Both under Trump and Biden, Washington keeps claiming that Russia is playing a "subversive part" on the global stage and, along with China, hinders the protection of US interests.

The document claims that Washington is facing "a world of rising nationalism, receding democracy, growing rivalry with China, Russia, and other authoritarian states." It is these countries that America is going to fight globally. The facts speak for themselves. In particular, 2021 saw the US authorities allocate $290 million to protect against Russia's influence and $300 million to counter that of China. The United States will also strengthen its armed forces to counter Russia and China's growing military power.

Moreover, the US budget for the current year stipulates a ban on financing activities that may contribute to Russia's "strategic objectives" and threaten American national security interests. Washington also allocates money to support programs for developing democracies in Russia, Europe, Eurasia and Central Asia. This particularly refers to promoting a free Internet. A portion of money to be obtained by America's eastern partners should help reduce their vulnerability to Russian political pressure.

Last week, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken spoke about the threats coming from China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran, as well as relevant countermeasures. At the same time, he assured that under President Joe Biden the United States is not going to promote democracy in the world by using violence, as it falls flat. According to him, the Biden administration will strive to promote democracy by establishing a pattern to other countries and rewarding its partners for democratic transformation.

"Famous last words", as the saying goes. Washington will unlikely give up on its aspirations to establish a global hegemony or acclaim multipolarity. And given that the current administration is plainly consumed with the observance of human rights and the promotion of American-style democracy across the globe, it is highly likely that the White House will be even more insistent in imposing its own playbook in that respect.

However, you might be wondering what kind of democracy Washington is going to impose on other countries. The one it demonstrated against those who stormed the Capitol on January 6 this year, all of them labeled as "domestic terrorists"? Or the one when the American establishment "gagged" the local media during the latest election campaign, so that they did not speak evil of Biden and flung mud on Trump in every possible way?

This being so, the cat won't jump, because the entire world has seen what the much-touted American democracy, freedom of speech and American-style media independence really stands for. For now, the United States is hardly entitled to give a worthy lead to other states at all, once the White House cannot restore order in its own country split in half. It stands to reason that present-day America is far from being a role model.

As for Blinken's statement that the new American administration will not be engaged in instilling democracy abroad by means of military interventions and coup d'états, it may be perceived nothing less than as a fact of America's feebleness and frustration to make difference on the world stage. And the US financial health is no longer anything worth squandering away billions of dollars to propagate American-style democracy in a particular country.

However, the United States, as proclaimed in the above mentioned document, "will never hesitate to use force when required to defend our vital national interests." That's the name of the game when it comes to American foreign policy, no matter what the White House officials say!