[af_vet_1981]

“Their main purpose is to destabilize the United States and Western democracies."

False; their main purpose is to survive and thrive as a Russian nation. It is a tragedy of history that they should be considered an adversary of the United States. Russia and the United States were allies in World War One (Monarchy) and World War Two (Communist Totalitarian Dictator). Vladimir Putin is something in between, closer to an elected Tsar than a Totalitarian Dictator. He pursued what he viewed as Russian national interests against a declining European culture. I object to the Russian alliance with Iran the most and the lack of respect for national boundaries with Ukraine next.

[Alberta's Child]

Former CIA Director Leon Panetta, who served as Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, said Trump needs to recognize that Russia is “an adversary, not a friend.”

I wish someone would ask Panetta why the U.S. has been jointly working with this "adversary" to build, staff and operate the International Space Station for years.

In fact, most of the manned missions to the ISS scheduled for this year are going to have NASA astronauts flying to space under Russian commanders.

[Flaming Conservative]

I wouldn’t trust Putin as far as I can throw him, but there’s no reason not to have a working relationship with him, of some sort.
And while it’s true they helped us defeat Germany in WWII, I don’t think they did it out of the goodness of their heart. Stalin knew Alger Hiss was going to see to it that the USSR got half of Europe for it’s trouble. He just saved him the job of having to fight for it (not that he had much left to fight with. And I’m pretty sure he knew we had the bomb.)
Russia may not be as bad as the USSR was, but Putin was a part of that system, and I don’t believe this, “He was just a lawyer” crap. I think he’s ruthless. Or do you suppose someone else is knocking off one “diplomat” after another?