“The Russians have always been paranoid and think we are meddling in their sphere of influence. I just do not see why we must continually stir the hornet’s nest unless we have a good reason, and this one seems shaky at best”
True about Russian being paranoid. Stirring up hornets nest? We gave Russia a lot of trust but komrad Putin decided he still loves the KGB and targeted killings along with jailing dissadents. Putin is shrewd but he is no Kasparov. He is what he always was.
They need to be put on defense, otherwise they’ll be on offense.
When the oil bubble bursts, russia is going to go through a harsh withdrawl period.