As I see it, Russians since 1991 are trying to undo the ravages of seventy years of communism. They have re-embraced Christianity and churches appear across the countryside like mushrooms after a rain. The great cathedrals destroyed by the Bolsheviks and the non-Russian Stalin have all been rebuilt. Church weddings and baptisms are the norm (I have not been to Russia; closest I got was Central Asia where they still spoke Russian).
And there is still that anomie, a sense of not being connected to a greater purpose; alcoholism & abortions still afflict millions with shorter life spans.
The large military parades in Red Square seem to be back; did I see both Russian and Soviet flags in the ranks? It gives people something to identify with and the Lenin mausoleum is till occupied.
I wish Russians well and I wish America and Russia could be friends but the drive for spheres of influence are still there.
“” “” I wish Russians well and I wish America and Russia could be friends but the drive for spheres of influence are still there.”” “”
Quite interestingly US and Russia theoretically might be the World’s dominant powers independently or at least feel so about themselves based of two independent theories.
First by Alfred Mahan stating that the World belongs to the power which controls the Oceans and sea lanes. I know that the theory was studied and taken seriously by both British and then was critical in US decision to have a serious blue water Navy at the time.
Another theory is by Halford Macinder stating that there is a main ‘global island’ or ‘heartland’ meaning Eurasia minus southern edges and that control of it comes from the East Europe and means global domination. Ironically, Macinder theory didn’t seem to make much sense at the time it was first formulated but things changed with the Cold War. Macinder died in 1947.
Both theories does not necessarily mean the conflict between such powers. They just set independent conditions for the power to be dominant on its own different terms.
There is a third theory by I don’t remember who and the guy introduces the definition of ‘rimland’ or the Western, Southern and Eastern coasts of Eurasia as vital to global domination meaning probably the idea of containment of ‘heartland’ power by the sea power.
All of the above makes sense if you analize US Cold War policies. It also shows that the Cold War was more like the sort of offensive by the sea power against the ‘heartland’ power and the latter was on defence and not the opposite.