This sounds like political overkill to me.
Apparently, Nikki Haley’s new job is to reinforce the idea that Trump could never collude with the Russians because Putin is a bad person who will never be our friend.
Only problem?
A lot of us still have no idea what Putin did to “interfere” with our election.
Trump should declassify and release all of the alleged collusion documents, along with all the FISA documents and court transcripts.
Putin, like China does not pose some immediate military or even economic threat (which China does) - this is true.
But the desire for empire restoration and Soviet revivalism points to a major clash of visions with Russia. For the long term.
This clash in thinking is an existential threat to a US-led world order. And by that, I do not mean a world-order where the U.S. intervenes where it shouldn’t, or is the police where it shouldn’t be.
Russia fundamentally resents an America-led, America-friendly world order for no other reason except that its America at the helm and not them. Russia is also an authoritarian regime. It rejects the rule of Law as it applies to them and the world. It rejects democratic values and principles. That is what Nikki Haley is referring to.
It’s a country dissatisfied with the postwar order, embittered by the strong cohesion of Western powers in NATO, and disturbed by the Westward and NATO-ward shift of neighboring countries and former empire holdings.
Russia will do everything in its power to obstruct the sovereignty of its former Soviet satellite states and empire holdings.
Russia seeks to prevent such countries from developing into Western-friendly, democratic countries which observe the rule of law.
In the meantime Russia helps prop up rogue regimes like Iran, Cuba, Venuezeula. They have a vested interest in Assad moreso than Syria as a whole, and they also help North Korea stay afloat. Thereby sabotaging our most basic foreign interests.