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?
Hamas not a terrorist organisation for Russia: Putin - 01/31/2006 - "We differ with the US and other western partners on the assessment of Hamas."
"Square that with their cozy relationship with Saddam and now that nut in Iran."
$$$$$$$$$$ and a HUGE mistake. Iran is potentially more dangerous for Russia than for us. I see Primakov's influence on these latest moves. The sooner that guy is out of the picture the better.
"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."
This is the root of all of their problems actually. They haven't been "trained" on how to operate a democracy. So, they rely on what they know best - unfortunately (and most of them will admit this) it's what they learned during the Soviet Union. That's what I mean when I said we lost a lot of time on this during Clinton/Bore years. We had a perfect opportunity to "mentor" and blew it. And the younger generation that is learning the "proper" way bolts for another country at the first opportunity. We need Russia to get it's "stuff" together because it would bring more stability in the world. Bush needs to have a real "heart-to-heart" with Putin about the recent mistakes Russia has been making. Unfortunately, Cheney's speech in Lithuania will cloud any inroads we could make there. Such issues should have been first discussed "in private" - then, if rebuffed, public speeches are warranted.