If you look seriously at the USSR and Russia (both before and after the Soviet era), there simply isn’t any history of a two-party political system (not one that really took hold anyway). Russia has a fascinating history is a very diverse country. When I was last in the Soviet Union in 1990, I had the opportunity to ride the train from St. Petersburg to Novgorod....to Moscow. Coming across the steppe and looked across the grasslands, I couldn’t help but think about our own American plains. They certainly look quite the same.
But Russia is several cultures and identities rolled into one federation. Stalin tried to make every single republic dependent on the other. It was smart for a communist country but after 70 plus years of Soviet control, those antiquated ideas retarded any real progress.
Indeed, some people claim that Europe ends at the Urals — whatever is situated to the East of the Urals isn’t truly European. St. Petersburg is arguably the most European city within all of Russia.
Ukraine has its own unique history and culture. In many ways it was the breadbasket of the old Soviet Union. It has its own proud military history. The fact that Ukraine is fighting hard should not be a surprise to anyone. The bloodiest fights are always those within the family. This is a slavic family after all.
But I get back to my original point. Russia simply has no background or cultural identity that lends itself to democracy. These are people who have been subjugated for centuries from the Tsar to Marxism/Leninism to whatever they are now. I doubt there is any Thomas Jefferson lingering in there (although I was once approached by someone in Moscow who wanted to talk about Locke, Hobbes, and Rousseau). He even threw in Adam Smith for good measure. As a parenthetical, remind me to tell you about the time we partied with St. Petersburg Police at high speeds in their police car while our passports where locked in the Intourist safe at the hotel. Good times.
I would definitely love to hear about some of your stories. There are always interesting stories when Russians are involved.l - trust me, I have heard a bunch from family and acquaintances.
I’m not sure that the fact that Russia has no history of anything like democracy would impact whether or not we could have become friendly over time (as I said before, that possibility is now gone). We have been friendly with many other countries that have had no history of democracy, though to be sure it is more difficult. There is definitely a lot less in common that the people and leaders have when the political systems are so different. Nonetheless, I would like to think that at some point, with so much exposure to what is going on in the rest of the world, and the obviously high correlation between maximizing freedom and maximizing prosperity, that someday Russia will become a democracy of sorts. Clearly, that is clearly not going to happen for quite a while.