[RitaOK]

I would tend toward calling “BS”. What is left that they want?

We are hollowed out completely, financially, and limp militarily.

But, we serve as a useful tool for the security of the world as long as we can borrow from China to stay air born.

Russia just wants to pick our enemies and point to our targets.

They should love Obama, actually.

[Vince Ferrer]

After the end of the cold war, shortly after Russia lost its satellite buffer states, Russia was very pro America, and actually petitioned to become a part of NATO. We had the chance to make them a permanent ally. We refused. At the time, someone high up remarked that NATO would lose its purpose if Russia joined, and then there wouldn't be anyone to protect ourselves against.

That was a completely lunatic statement, but I remembered it, and it has taken on more significance as time went on. Later, in the Bush administration, Bush schemed to put missile defense systems in Eastern Europe, right up against Russia, so that Russia would be forced to respond.

In the Obama administration, they did the same thing, positioning weapons near Russia. Obama did not start the revolution in Ukraine, but they did scheme to put a very pro-America, anti-Russia government in power there, which caused a response from Russia. They also took the opportunity in the "Arab Spring", caused by Obama, to attempt to overthrow Syria, Russia's long time ally, and the location of Russia's only remaining base on foreign soil.

Think about these things from a Russian perspective. Russia has lost tens of millions of citizens because it was invaded from the west. No one suffered as much in World War II as much as Russia did. The fear of being attacked from the west is now written into the DNA of everyone who survived. It fears an invasion from the west so much that it created the eastern bloc client states as a buffer against Germany. So why are Bush and Obama building up forces to the west of Russia?

We have been shaped to believe for generations now that Russia is the bad guy. But lately, they have been reacting to us, not acting aggressively first. When I now look back at the reason we would not allow them into NATO, it makes the actions of the US government clear to me. The US government, and the military industrial complex, seems to have decided that peace is not profitable enough, and they need to create enemies, so that we can be "protected" from them with really expensive weapon systems. My fear is that Russia isn't in on the joke. They will continue to poke Russia in the eye, until they finally provoke a real response. When the response comes, the narrative will be that Russia is evil and they are good, and we need to support them and win the war.