I’m not really going for Lind’s argument here.
Russia may not be the danger they were during the Cold War, but they haven’t exactly shown themselves to be allies, either. Russian interests and spheres of influence continue to come into conflict with those of the U.S. We are rivals, and as two of the three superpowers on the planet (China being on its way to becoming the third), that’s not likely to change. The golden era of U.S. - Russian relations in the 19th century was a different time, when Russia acted primarily to protect her own interests by thwarting British ones.
The other thing is, Putin is a thug. We use that term a lot on FR, but Putin is the real deal. I cannot fathom why so many admire the guy. Strong and decisive doesn’t offset corrupt, repressive, and a whole lot of other bad things.
“Putin is a thug.”
Putin came to the defense of the church with the Pussy Riot incident; he has lectured the US on our moral decline; he has drawn the line against the gay movement. Thug or not, he is acting like we would want our spineless conservative leaders to act.
This, by the way, is why he and his Olympics are getting excoriated by the media.
Spoken like a true liberal democrat. The threat you guys see is ALWAYS coming from the right. Knock it off. Real thuggery resides at Pennsylvania Avenue and in the knockout game Eric Holder refuses to crack down on. Yeah what’s a few whiteys getting their asses kicked guess we really deserve it. According to you guys.
Why would Russia want America (as it is now) as an ally?
Or lying, snicky, backstabbing, corrupt, repressive son-of-a-commie bastard.....