"The only differences I see now is that the surrogates du jour are the Radical Islamist and their Jihad on the world and the fact that the Communists went broke because of Communism. That, however, did not slake their thirst for power and control. It just caused them to adopt another ruse."
I wouldn't put too much on thinking that Radical Islam is their surrogate du jour. If they think so or if they were truly involved they've released the equivalent of a biological weapon, i.e, a weapon that has a habit of biting you in the butt after you've launched it.
Communism (Marxism) was destined to go broke because it was a fool's ideology. However, don't discount Ronald Reagan's contribution to speeding up the death of that system.
Modern day Russia is basically this: Laments loosing the "Empire" part of the Soviet Union, but NOT the communist part, the GULag part, the stagnation, the oppression and repression. Frankly, they miss their "Tsarist" empire. They're still fairly new at getting used to NOT being a real world power, so they appear to try to fight at a higher weight class than they should. They've incorrectly wagered that the US is too bogged down in Iraq and won't counter moves to our detriment.
We lost a lot of ground during the Clinton years and there has been a mixed message coming out of the current Administration on Russia. Time to refocus.
Square that with their cozy relationship with Saddam and now that nut in Iran.
Communism (Marxism) was destined to go broke because it was a fool's ideology.
As is their implementation of Social Security and the income tax in this country. Both dead end streets that create a lot of problems before experiencing their death throes.
Modern day Russia is basically this: Laments loosing the "Empire" part of the Soviet Union, but NOT the communist part, the GULag part, the stagnation, the oppression and repression. Frankly, they miss their "Tsarist" empire. They're still fairly new at getting used to NOT being a real world power, so they appear to try to fight at a higher weight class than they should.
That sounds like a perfectly reasonable analysis to me. However, I don't think as of yet they have abandoned the old methods or decided on a new direction. Until they do they are trying to keep their toes in both camps. That can't work either.
We lost a lot of ground during the Clinton years and there has been a mixed message coming out of the current Administration on Russia. Time to refocus.
What is mixed? We want them to behave as good world citizens and use their influence to defeat the war on terror. How hard is that?
On this we can agree.