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Tuesday 20 June 2017

If I ruled the World #5: Russia!



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.)

Image result for putin clipartThe 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.
Image result for uncle sam clipart 
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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