No, its worse. The commies had their religion of the “dialectic” and a certainty of victory as promised by their prophets Marx and Lenin.
So, the CCCP commies would push and probe, looking to bring “true communism” one step closer to reality. But they always were ready to cool down for a while and go low profile to avoid a potentially catastrophic showdown. Why push too hard when history is on your side?
This is’nt the Soviet Union any more. Its Russia, pure and simple, playing old school Euro power games. And that school did’nt teach backing off from a bad hand and waiting until later. Simple nationalism is a much less patient and long term goal oriented beast than communism.
THE CORRECT ANALYSIS OF RUSSIA
Communism is just another name for state capitalism. The perogatives of exploiting opportunities, realizing profit, etc. is taken out of the hands of individuals and accorded solely to the state.
In that regard, the Soviet Union was a failed enterprise. The “collapse” of the iron curtain was simply an opportunity to shed money losing assets (Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, etc.). Following that, with the benefit of a new “revolution”, Russia went through it’s own restructuring. Now, thanks to increased oil prices, we have the leaner meaner Russia, Inc. trying to be everyone’s pain in the ass.
The Russian form of government is now Fascist. It reminds me a lot of pre-WWII Italy under Mussolini. Some nationalism is a good thing at times such as minimizing corruption, and putting all the nation’s resources to work for itself.
The real issue is that Russia has not figured out how to gain more by engaging the West vs. creating havoc in the global market for gain. As you said, this is old Russia not the Soviet Union.
To change ways requires trust. Bush put 100% out there with Putin but Russia did some ugly behind the scenes stuff in 2003. Cheney lobbed some shots at Putin’s way then we helped fund the Orange Revolution in Ukraine. From there it’s been downhill, but we most certainly should keep trying to restore trust. It might very well be impossible considering Putin’s background and brainwashing.