Posted on 04/15/2021 4:51:42 AM PDT by tlozo
The Russian government is escalating its confrontations with the West in order to test the Biden administration's resolve.
Contrary to some assertions, however, we are not witnessing a second Cold War. The Cold War was essentially a stalemate until the Soviet empire imploded. Instead, President Vladimir Putin is engaged in an intimidating international offensive to regain world stature, reconstruct a Muscovite empire, and divide the West. A credible transatlantic alliance that marshals the strength of NATO and the European Union must be geared toward ensuring the freedom of wider Europe. If these states fall under the control of the Kremlin’s imperial kleptocracy, the vulnerability of the West will also increase. It is imperative for Washington to grasp a leadership role here, just as it did during the Cold War. European policy remains divided and is perceived as weak and indecisive by Moscow. In addition to providing the spine in the NATO alliance, the U.S. must intensify its cooperation with its allies and partners to counter Kremlin subversion in all key domains, whether cybersecurity, disinformation, political corruption, or energy blackmail.
Putin becomes especially offensive when public support is slipping, the economy is stagnant, and members of the elite question his leadership. At such times, he needs a foreign victory to help subdue any political alternatives. However, by setting Russia on a permanent war footing, the Kremlin risks pushing the country toward economic ruin and state disintegration, similarly to the Soviet leadership 30 years ago. By defending its allies, principles, and interests, Washington can signal that this implosion will be the ultimate price of Putin’s foreign escapades.
Russia is reinforcing its military deployments along Ukraine’s borders and raising the prospect of another invasion. It has increased its maritime presence in the Arctic and persistently provokes its Western adversaries through overflights of U.S. and NATO ships in the Baltic and Black seas and close to Alaskan airspace. Such actions have three main objectives: to demonstrate that Russia is a global power, to probe for soft spots in Western defenses, and to distract attention from growing internal turmoil in the Russian Federation. The danger is that Putin’s strategists and generals will miscalculate and precipitate an armed conflict that will rebound against Russia.
The Cold War was a frozen conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union. The Iron Curtain across Europe demarcated respective spheres of influence, and neither threatened to seize territory outside their domains. The Soviets sought to expand their influence in Asia, Africa, and Latin America by supporting communist movements, while the U.S. endeavored to stem them. But both sides avoided direct military confrontation even while Moscow crushed anti-communist revolts in Europe’s east.
Putin now presides over a revisionist regime in which the consequences of conflict between Russia and the West are less predictable. Moscow does not recognize the independence or integrity of neighboring states that were liberated from its previous empire. The situation is reminiscent of the struggles 100 years ago, when dozens of nations sought independence from the collapsing tsarist empire. The Bolshevik regime launched wars to reverse the imperial disintegration.
In rebuilding its dominion, Moscow propagates the notion that Russia was "humiliated" when the Soviet empire collapsed. In reality, the liberation of independent nations ended their humiliation at the hands of the Kremlin and sealed their determination to avoid future subservience. Although the Cold War division of Europe is obsolete, Putin’s officials are applying immense pressure on all former Soviet republics to abandon their Western aspirations and rejoin the "Russian world."
Western officials claim there is no zero-sum competition with Russia over the allegiance of any European country. In reality, the fundamental conflict persists between the freedom to choose one’s international alliances and Moscow’s insistence on subordination. Putin denounces Western integration as conflicting with Russia's own historical, cultural, and geostrategic claims. He demands that the post-Soviet countries remain outside all Western alliances. This would not only extinguish national sovereignty but threaten the democratic freedoms of ordinary citizens...
I don't need to read any further. This is just patently false. Compared to Trump, Biden is a newborn bunny. Putin knows exactly what he's up against, and America doesn't factor into the equation in any way.
“If these states fall under the control of the Kremlin’s imperial kleptocracy, “
Thank goodness we have no idea what a kleptocracy is like. Those of us living under DC, Brussels, Kiev, etc.
We have pushed NATO East and want to take that last step right up to their border. Over a thousand miles East from where we started when the wall came down. And we act surprised and innocent when they start feeling threatened.
I imagine Putin and Xi have each other on speed dial now.
BS. Nato has never been a serious invasion threat to Russia.
Germany has only 236 tanks in its inventory. Russian Army has in total 2685 main battle tanks in their active inventory.
https://defence-blog.com/news/army/revealed-number-of-main-battle-tanks-in-russia.html
Russia has been invaded 3 times in the last 250 years. Twice by outsiders and one once by the Bolsheviks (in a way at least). They nearly lost twice and did once. I’m not surprised about how paranoid they are on this.
The SAD THING is that we would still be friends with Russia if they hadn’t chosen to protect their kids from gay recruitment, which they did in 2014 (when Obama and Skunk Cabbage deemed them to be our enemy). Europe, also, could be friends with them. Together, we probably could have kept China in check for another 20 or 30 years, but instead the world (other than Russia), now, is for China to grab, when they feel like it.
Now, the roles are reversed. Modern Russia has embraced Christianity while the West has forsaken it.
Nonsense. In Europe most countries have been invaded many more times than Russia without ending up "paranoid". During the last 100 years Russia has been the invader.
https://www.numbers-stations.com/articles/soviet-and-russian-invasions-since-1917/
Not our war.
Our enemies are within.
To be accurate, Putin's Russia has only embraced the Russian Orthodox Church.
Russian Evangelicals Penalized Most Under Anti-Evangelism Law
https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2019/may/russian-evangelicals-anti-missionary-fined-yarovaya-law.html
Janusz Bugajski is a disinformation agent working for the neoliberal Jamestown Foundation, a US intelligence community front group.
Germans also invaded Russia in the First World War, which make three outside invasions.
This compares to almost 60 Russian invasions of other countries in the past 100+ years.
You’re right, forgot WW1. And it’s also very right that they invade others way more. I didn’t mean that they were right to act like they do, just that I can kinda understand being paranoid, especially after WW2.
Before Putin there was serious discussion of Russia joining NATO.
Whatever happened to that?
Billy Boy decided that butting into the Balkans was a good idea.
Nothing wrong with a little paranoia when you are responsible for the well-being of 100+ million citizens.
But Putin’s agenda seems to be restoring the old Evil Empire, and that has less to do with a normal paranoia than with historical national ambitions.
Russian's have been trying to join NATO to neutralize it even in 1953.
Longtime Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin finally died in 1953 and Nikita Khrushchev was the new communist sheriff in town. So in 1954, when Soviets sent the letters of intent to NATO members, there was a renewed spirit of easing tensions. The Soviets reasoned that the aggressive nature of the NATO alliance would be much less dangerous to world peace if their former anti-Hitler ally were allowed to be a member.
But in order to join the alliance, the Soviet Union would have to allow NATO to dictate its military planning and allow the basic tenets of democratic freedoms to bloom in all areas under its control. The debate about potentially allowing Russia to join reminded the member states that the alliance was formed to address threats to world peace when the UN couldn’t — usually because of Russia’s veto power on the Security Council.
Allowing the Russians to have a say in NATO affairs would neutralize NATO the way they neutralized the UN Security Council.
Can’t blame them for trying.
NATO told the Russians exactly that when the alliance rejected Russia’s application for membership, urging it and other Soviet satellites to allow the UN to do its job in keeping the world secure. It was not an unexpected response for the USSR.
Nine days later, Russia and those satellites formed the Warsaw Pact, its Eastern Bloc counter-alliance. Europe was officially split for the next 40-plus years.
https://www.wearethemighty.com/mighty-history/russia-tried-to-join-nato/
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