We are careful just like they are careful!
This is kind of like WWII. Throughout all of WWII we neither trusted nor liked them and they neither trusted nor liked us. However, we were both allied in fighting Nazi Germany.
You must understand, they still have a lot of leaders in charge who are hardliners. Their media is state controlled and the government plays games as they did with the magic firm that popped up from no where and bought out a oil producer. Russia is not clear. It’s not an open society by a long shot and corruption is rampant.
We are moving forward together though. US firms have invested money, there have even been technological exchanges in defense. But we are cautious as they are too. Do you really think we could have US troops in Kyrgyzstan (Where there are still Russian bases as well!), Uzbekistan or the Rep. of Georgia without the Russian approval? It would be as if they set up shop in Grenada (Remember that?). We are already working together and even when it comes to arms inspections there is a lot of progress. Something that no one cares about since it’s no scandal is the fact that Russia holds itself to the agreements very well, as we do. There have been numerous military exchanges in the last years and the understanding between us is growing.
http://www4.army.mil/ocpa/read.php?story_id_key=7079
We are visiting them as well. These events are important.
My point is that we are working together much more than the layperson thinks. The perceptions are changing on both sides. There is still distrust on both sides and speaking as an American (With my perception) we are justified to be very careful since there are indicators that all is not well in Russia internally.
Red6
Thanks for the comments. No, I don't think we should have troops in those areas unless we were asked to sind a small task force to help train or learn with/from our Russian counterparts.
I think we missed a great opportunity to work closely with the Russians last year when that school was taken over. We should take advantage of Russian needs at times when it would be beneficial for both of us to work together closely.
Any information we pick up could help in our efforts to zero in on groups and orgs. With Russian troops working on things in their territory, we could network together.
It's my perception that Russia sometimes sees us flitting around the globe and gets antzy. If we were working closely together, they'd feel engaged and much more comfortable with our actions. That could avoid a cooling of relations and in fact, bring us much closer together.
I realize that there are still misgivings on both sides, but it should be our goal to alleviate them.