Not all Yankees are Damn Yankees.
Also, the East Coast includes the Old South....
I think the truth is somewhere between extreme positions that are taken by those who admire Putin to the extent of being sycophants, and those who have not adjusted their thinking since Brezhnev ran the USSR.
Trump seems to have established a position in this new reality, HRC is still back in the Cold War mentality and some internet bloggers seem to be on Putin’s payroll.
On the question of Ukraine, we should negotiate an end to that unnecessary crisis, set the border in east Ukraine where demographics work best, accept the Crimean reality, and make it clear that further incursions are not tolerated. This principle should then extend to the Baltics and Poland, no further adventurism there.
And on Syria, we should acknowledge that the policy followed by NATO for the past several years is idiotic, that Putin’s support for Assad makes more sense than any other alternative, and work to co-ordinate strategy against ISIS, Al Qaeda and other bad actors in that complex war zone. Assad was far less of a threat to western interests and security than almost anyone else who could conceivably govern Syria but the fact is self-evident that nobody else can govern Syria anyway.
As for Iran, we need to hassle that out in a second round of talks that would take place once a better relationship is restored. The main thing we all need to do in relation to Iran is to nullify their nuclear threat and keep them contained until some future date when a less radical government is offered up by their political system.
Having Russia as an enemy right now is a dangerous and unnecessary risk. Our real enemies are radical Islam and China, as well as non-state rogue actors with abilities to disrupt cyber networks. If it turns out that the Russian government is behind any of that, we need to raise it as a serious concern, but I believe it’s more likely to be happening from other sources, notably China.
This issue alone is probably a foundation for electing Trump and not Clinton. With Clinton, we are going to get all of Obama’s bad judgment times a worse attitude and the hawkishness of an era that is not exactly fully relevant to the modern situation.
I hope Trump delivers a major speech on this set of issues and offers a detailed and (dare I say) nuanced position on a better relationship we need to have with Putin and Russia. This could win him the election but tick tock. People are already voting.