Dear Friends: "Let's get things back into perspective!"
I’d like to quote an old line from the movie “Cool Hand
Luke” and it goes something like this: “What we’ve got here is failure to
communicate!” (Strother Martin at his best.)
The same thing can be said about Russia
with regard to the rest of the G7 countries because everyone seems to be
talking past each other instead of holding a sincere dialogue about areas of
common interest.
Russia
was ripe for a re-set of its relations with the West after “Perestroika” and
the fall of the U.S.S.R. but several factors intervened to make this all but
unattainable.
First of all NATO’s expansion of its influence right up to
the Russian border during the 1990’s set relations back quite a bit and gave
impetus to Russia’s old pro Soviet guard who still dreamed of Russian power and
influence on a global scale.
Add to this the fact that the United States rubbed their
victory in the ‘Cold War’ in Russia’s face at every opportunity, and then
rebuked offers of military aid against terrorists by Russia after the 9/11
attacks and you have the making of a steadily declining relationship here in
the 21st century.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova evoked the Kremlin’s reaction to the 9/11 attacks in comments rejecting the U.S. stance on Russia’s Syria campaign. “I want to remind you … after the September 11th attacks, we shared the U.S. pain as if it were our own, understanding what terrorism is,” Ms. Zakharova told a news conference, Reuters reported.“We supported the United States in everything, (including) in the U.N. Security Council. We helped them fight terrorism. We didn’t ask, ‘Are they good or bad terrorists?’ “
Things had not reached a
crisis point until the fall in oil prices in 2008 – 2009 which caused Russia
under Vladimir Putin to change the countries internal policies from “we will help you
get rich,” to “you might not be rich, but we will protect you from our enemies!”
This shift in ideology
brought Russia into direct conflict with the West and spurred
the present situation of isolationism and hostility that is so evident today! Russia
has taken the position that it will boost its power and influence around the
world by disrupting and dividing the members of NATO and the E.U. as witnessed
by the attacks on Europe
and America’s
electoral processes and institutions. (They took the position: "If you can't join them, beat them!")
SO, how to solve this dilemma?
First we have to realized
that much of the blame for present relations falls on the West during the Nineties
and early 21st century and then on Vladimir Putin for his policies
of isolationism and confrontation with Europe and North America over the last
ten+ years.
The solution?
It will mean waiting for Putin
and his Kleptocracy to either fade from view or be removed from office before
any more resets in relations can occur …………., and then both sides should try talking to
each other rather than past each other!
The way I see it anyway!
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