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Why Negotiations With Russia Seem So Difficult
The American Conservative ^ | 7/13/25 | George O'Neill

Posted on 07/13/2025 12:47:23 PM PDT by EnderWiggin1970

Russia is more than a millennium old with a long diplomatic history. Some of Russia’s difficulty may come from the U.S. elites’ ignorance of Russian history and its sensitivities to real or perceived threats of foreign invasion. Many Americans remember the huge drama which arose during the Kennedy presidency when the Soviets put a few missiles in Cuba. Foreign policy wonks still talk about how close we came to World War III.

Americans who do not know or acknowledge Russia’s history are unable to understand Russian thinking, thus compromising their ability to consummate agreements with Russia.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the U.S. political elites promised not to move NATO east into former Warsaw Pact countries. Every time another former Warsaw Pact nation was added into NATO, the Russians complained and the West shrugged off the complaints. They believed Russia was too weak due to their struggle to recover from the ruinous Soviet years. Washington’s attitude was, “So what are you going to do about it?”

U.S. leaders also have spent years engaging ad nauseam in threats to weaken or break up Russia, to ruin the Russian economy, to change the Russian regime—and, of course, have levied decades of never-ending sanctions. This behavior has eroded the trust necessary to negotiate in good faith.

(Excerpt) Read more at theamericanconservative.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government; Russia; Ukraine
KEYWORDS: nato; putinthewarpig; russia; russiansuicide; russiantrollfarm; ukraine; vladtheimploder; war
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To: DesertRhino

For you to make that statement about support for President Trump, is less than pathetic.

What a joke.


61 posted on 07/13/2025 2:31:19 PM PDT by Williams (Thank God for the election of President Trump!)
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To: Williams
Acknowledgement of fact, but you never could distinguish between fact and fiction.
62 posted on 07/13/2025 2:32:58 PM PDT by A strike (unfortunately PDJT is continuing the UKUS v Russia war)
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To: A strike

Yeah support for DJT is delusional.
On the Bizarro Planet.


63 posted on 07/13/2025 2:34:16 PM PDT by Williams (Thank God for the election of President Trump!)
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To: BobL

Russia is crap on the USA’s show, as is the rest of the World.


64 posted on 07/13/2025 2:43:48 PM PDT by cowboyusa (YESHUA IS KING OF AMERICA, AND HE WILL HAVE NO ODS BEFORE HIM!)
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To: dforest

No, America is at the beginning of restoration.


65 posted on 07/13/2025 2:45:00 PM PDT by cowboyusa (YESHUA IS KING OF AMERICA, AND HE WILL HAVE NO ODS BEFORE HIM!)
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To: DesertRhino

Stop that nonsense, you sound like a leftist


66 posted on 07/13/2025 2:46:04 PM PDT by cowboyusa (YESHUA IS KING OF AMERICA, AND HE WILL HAVE NO ODS BEFORE HIM!)
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To: Williams
They are a dangerous evil enemy country …

Alrighty then.

I contend that the United States of America has been at least as dangerous and evil in my lifetime as any other country in the world.

Prove me wrong.

67 posted on 07/13/2025 3:11:54 PM PDT by Alberta's Child ("Although my eyes were open, they might just as well be closed.")
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To: Alberta's Child

I’ll just settle for proving you anti American.

No one has any use for you - in America.


68 posted on 07/13/2025 3:19:18 PM PDT by Williams (Thank God for the election of President Trump!)
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To: dpetty121263

Simple. Carrot and stick, except as Trump learned, Russians don’t trust nir want carrot, only believe in stick.

Give them the full shaft.


69 posted on 07/13/2025 3:32:55 PM PDT by If You Want It Fixed - Fix It
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To: Governor Dinwiddie

“They have been invaded countless times, and always prevailed.”
—————
Yu mean like they did against the Mongols? Or the Germans in WW1?


70 posted on 07/13/2025 3:37:12 PM PDT by Ancesthntr ("The right to buy weapons is the right to be free." The Weapons Shops of Isher)
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To: BobL
I’ll stick with Patton’s assessment, thank you:

The difficulty in understanding the Russian is that we do not take cognizance of the fact that he is not a European, but an Asiatic, and therefore thinks deviously. We can no more understand a Russian than a Chinaman or a Japanese, and from what I have seen of them, I have no particular desire to understand them, except to ascertain how much lead or iron it takes to kill them. In addition to his other Asiatic characteristics, the Russian has no regard for human life and is an all out son of bitch, barbarian, and chronic drunk.
71 posted on 07/13/2025 3:48:43 PM PDT by Apparatchik (Русские свиньи, идите домой)
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To: EnderWiggin1970

Military Summary Channel
https://youtu.be/dZJC-TdSFi4
Ukies decided to give major amounts of land to achieve Victory.


72 posted on 07/13/2025 3:49:10 PM PDT by MotorCityBuck (Keep the change, you are filthy animal !)
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To: Williams
They are a dangerous evil enemy country and they were dangerous when...blah blah blah.

Shuddup and take your constipation meds, blathering old fool. You add nothing to the conversation.

73 posted on 07/13/2025 3:52:09 PM PDT by AAABEST (That time Washington DC became a corrupted, existential threat to us all...)
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To: Apparatchik

“I’ll stick with Patton’s assessment, thank you:”

So we have to nuke them, I guess. You realize we’ll then lose DC and other major US cities.

Hmmm...I see your point. BOMBS AWAY!!!


74 posted on 07/13/2025 3:55:54 PM PDT by BobL
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To: Williams

NO, just, you are delusional, as you always have been.


75 posted on 07/13/2025 4:04:24 PM PDT by A strike (unfortunately PDJT is continuing the UKUS v Russia war)
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To: Ancesthntr
Yeah, just like that.

76 posted on 07/13/2025 4:11:06 PM PDT by Governor Dinwiddie ( O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is gracious, and his mercy endures forever. — Psalm 106)
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To: BobL

You guess wrong.

Why is it every Putler supporter here rushes to threaten WWIII?

My gosh, you all sound like Medvedev - prolly just as drunk, too.


77 posted on 07/13/2025 4:15:52 PM PDT by Apparatchik (Русские свиньи, идите домой)
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To: EnderWiggin1970

Russia has always been a malignant force and a nightmare to deal with. They do not deserve excuses and soft treatment disguised as “understanding.” They need to be dealt with from a position of strength without any illusions that they are a normal country or normal people.


78 posted on 07/13/2025 4:21:30 PM PDT by Rockingham
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To: Apparatchik

You still WILL NOT get World War 3, so Russia will get Ukraine. Deal with it, Ukraine could have been 90% independent...but not anymore!


79 posted on 07/13/2025 4:26:08 PM PDT by BobL
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To: EnderWiggin1970
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the U.S. political elites promised not to move NATO east into former Warsaw Pact countries.

Author starts immediately lying "U.S. political elites promised"

There is ONLY ONE treaty in regards to NATO expansion. It is called the "Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany". "No foreign armed forces, nuclear weapons, or the carriers for nuclear weapons would be stationed or deployed in six states (the area of Berlin and the former East Germany), making them a permanent Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone".

There is NO OTHER TREATY that bans eastward expansion of NATO.

Statements said in negotiations, which are NOT part of a treaty are just that, negotiations.

80 posted on 07/13/2025 4:28:54 PM PDT by tlozo
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