Thanks, but never heard of her before...
” what I saw and heard was often diametrically different from both the official and the journalistic perception in the United States”
That is because the journalistic perception and the journalistic reporting of Russia has been generally wrong for 100 years.
I have *0* confidence in Mittens to creating a “ realistic” policy toward Russia.*0*
Suzanne Massie might help in implementing a Trump normalization of relations with Russia, there is no good reason not to.
Might as well do ritual suicide before investing in Russia. It is a oligarchy that will royally screw you over the moment you become a success. They have screwed over resource companies the most.
Winston Churchill, 1939
Beautifully written and true. I have worked with several Russians who left before and during the fall of the Soviet Empire. They have provided me a stunning view on reality as they see it. They are the most patriotic and religious Americans I know. Every time America got something “wrong” regarding Russia I heard all about it. I have to say there was a lot of substance to their logic and I often wondered just who the leaders in our country were listening to.
Read it. Dont understand it. What did we get wrong?
Were we too tough? Not tough enough?
Should have cooperated with them? Should have nuked them? Should have surrendered to them?
Long, LONG read of observations anout the Russians and yetbI could not find in her article what we got wrong.
Help, please.
Because we try to fit them into the mold of "The West".
They are not. There are four power blocks. The West, Russia, Asia and the mohammedans.
Who is the leader in the other three may change but Russia never does. It is always Russia. And while their interests and your may coincide for a bit they are not your friend. And if you stand in the way of something they want they will walk right over your bleeding back to get it. Even if you just help them out recently.
Russia is an isolate, uniquely themselves and if you always keep that in mind you might be able to rub along with them.
Got to the bottom where they talked about the “new” Bush administration before I saw it’s 15 years old. Some useful stuff, but not earth shattering. I’ve been lately adding RT (Russia Today) to my TV news mix. A lot of very interesting stories from around the world you don’t see anywhere else. They are supported by the Russian government, though they say they are not a government agency and compare themselves to BBC and PBS. I consider it balance against the US MSM. Take it with a grain of salt, but it’s worth watching.
For 85 years, close to a century, successive American administrations have been dominated by basic premises about Russia based on selective and often narrowly focused views of an establishment that have led to a succession of wrong assessments and wrong policies. This has been true whether these policies came from left or the right. Strangely, despite increased communication and contact this process has been most particularly marked during the 20th century -- a time when one can say that we have often been almost as mistaken about the state of affairs in Russia as Europeans were in the 16th century when it was confidently believed that Russia had plants that grew lambs and that Russians worshipped an image of a giant Golden Goddess.