Okay, this nefarious little cabal expects us to swallow-- feathers and all-- the following. Russia and Putin are expansionist because they come to the defense of the Syrian government, a friend to both Russia and the Christian population in its borders. Or because of actions in their backyard. E.g., they took back the territory of Crimea, which was historically part of Russia and is populated by Russians who wanted to be part of Russia. Or providing support to Russian rebels in Ukraine after a regime-change coup of a democratically-elected leader who was friendly to Russia (the coup and civil war was instigated by neocon Victoria Nuland-Kagan, to weaken Russia's role in Syria).
What does it profit a people to destroy and divide the whole world (the devil's m.o., btw) for a very limited geo-strategic interest? But alas, this is as rhetorical as asking the scorpion the same question in Aesop's fable. But fortunately, I think the frog is wising up to the destructive goals of this scorpion.
And with that statement the author undermined any credibility he might have. I don't trust Putin, but this sounds like more propaganda from the let's return to the cold war and spend all of our money on the DOD crony capitalist acquisition system again. $2B 747-8's anybody? How about some more Littoral Combat Ships for Afghanistan. Are we working on the replacement for the F-35 yet?
We don't have a viable policy in Syria, and whatever we think we are doing should be undermined.
Can we just agree that we actually need to start focusing our resources, time and attention, on issues where we have vital interests at stake and not spend all our capital, actual and political on places that are peripheral, that we can't fix, or that we can't even really get to except with $1000 per gallon fuel delivered by global air-tanker delivery.
She lost me at “ undermining America’s moral standing”
Is the author [of the book or this review] one of the author's of Arab Spring? Is he advocating we continue to side with the [freedom-loving democratically inspired] terrorists in Syria and Chechnya?
Russia has lots of issues. The fall in oil prices has not helped them, but we need to stop, as Buchanan said, slapping their hand away and driving our tanks up to their front porch. They have made clear that if we don't back off they will resort to [tactical] nukes in theater. After we loose an aircraft carrier or an air base with planes in some god-foresaken place in the middle east are we going to launch a global nuclear strike. I don't think so? Our alternative is to seek UN letter of condemnation.
Or we could not get ourselves into those situations in the first place - which is what the smart strategist does. We don't have vital interests in these places. Access to the Black Sea and freedom of shipping into the Med and the rest of the world is a vital Russian interest. Freedom from assault by islamic terrorists is a vital Russian interest.
We need to stop playing "Civil War" where you still get milk and cookies if you lose.
Some folks seem to like Putin but for the common man there, things are rather droll; small businessmen are jailed, organized crime thrives.
Those apartment building bombings are curious. It’s interesting to hear them take it as truth that the government planned those bombings. I have not personally read up on it that much.
But when that Russian jet went down last year, due to that soda pop bomb, it makes one wonder alright.
“Rußland bleibt Rußland” (Russia remains Russia), old German saying.
Everything Putin does is relative to Russian history. Not just Soviet history, but the Czars before them. Three things in particular explain much about him.
The first is that Russia is a Russian Orthodox Christian kingdom. Putin’s biggest and easiest successes have been when he has advanced Orthodox Christianity in Russia. But it is a faith with its own rules, which are not very clear to western Christians.
The second is that Russia is European, or wants to be European. But this conflicts with the third thing, that Russia is Asian. This gives Russia a split personality.
Russians crave the civility and culture of Paris, but when in Paris they crave the harsh liberty, even license of the Steppes. In truth they find contentment in neither.
Russia was a Czarist empire, a fierce competitor for power in the world. And it became a Soviet empire, with the same aspirations. But the Soviets left Russia so depleted and exhausted that their imperial ambitions will be set aside for a long time.
However, Russia is also profoundly nationalistic. Their grabs of part of Georgia and Crimea come under the heading, in their minds, of “reclaiming” both territory they had lost and many Russians who lived there. Which is very scary to the three Baltic states, who have lots of Russians living there.
There are Christians in the opposition, leaders in fact, that opposition has talked to the Russians in peace talks as well. Undeniable stuff; for the propagandists.