“” “” 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.
I would add "and amusingly" in the case of Russia.
Halford Mackinder and Alfred Thayer Mahan... I figured I was the only one who read that kind of stuff.
Imperial Japan of course took Mahan seriously.
Mahan believed that dominance of the seas would be determined in decisive slugging matches between battleship fleets like Tsushima and Jutland.
Aircraft carriers changed all that. Marc Mitscher’s innovative Fast Carrier Task Force became the main strike arm of the Navy.
Part of Mackinder’s theory includes the concept of the Rimland and the Heartland so that may actually be the “third theory” that you are thinking of.
The Heartland Power did and still controls eleven time zones of land mass and under Soviet rule aggressively made war against the rest of the noncommunist world.
Defensive war planning against the Russian heartland land power carries no moral burden.
If Putin wants war, he’ll get war. Just because I like Stravinsky, pirogies, Pushkin, and vodka doesn’t mean I don’t regard Russia as an existential threat.