Oh you crazy Russians, you just love to be the center of attention don't you? While you played second fiddle to the United States for most of the Cold War (except 1976-1980 thank you very much Jimmy "History's Greatest Monster" Carter), you at least were a worthy advirsary, until the West discovered that your statist economic system was a total failure. So you disappeared from the world stage for a few years, only to gain headlines concerning your brushfire war with Chechnya. I didn't care, did anyone else care? Well, the past few weeks have been witness to different varieties of Russian activity, activity which in most peoples' minds is antagonistic and worrisome and at best nostalgic for the Cold War. Resuming long range nuclear bomber flights, systematically starving its neighbors of oil and gas when they "act up", poisoning an ex Russian spy in London with polonium, symbolically planting a flag at the bottom of the Artic Ocean claiming it as Russian territory, and now re-writing history in new text books explaning that, Stalin really wasn't so bad after all. Pathetic. These are all symptoms of a bigger problem, however, and that problem is Russia doesn't know what to do with itself. Instead of taking proactive and dynamic measures around the world to prove its new found wealth and prestige is indeed noble, Russia has reverted to Cold War tactics to show the world that it "means business," and that means basically trying to oppose everything the United States does. Again, this is completely pathetic. By arbitrarily trying to oppose the United States, Russia is essentially proving to the rest of the world that the best it can hope to be is a static and reactionary force to the dynamic and world leading American superpower.
After September 11th, the world saw a dramatic change. The United States was leading an effective yet incredibly reserved retaliation attack on Taliban forces in Afghanistan led by U.S. special forces and CIA intel. There was also another player on the ground contributing in a major way, and that was Russia. Giving huge amounts of ammunition and logistics to the Northern Alliance, Russia almost single handedly paid for the U.S. friendly NA to take the Taliban stronghold of Mazar-i-Sharif while American forces hounded Taliban forces in the south near Kandahar and Tora Bora. This was a major contribution and led to the now famous meeting between Bush and Putin in which GW said he found that Vladimir Putin "had a good soul." Despite a meeting with Presidents Bush 41&43 and Mr. Putin last month in Maine, not much seems to have gone well since.
Many experts on Russian foreign policy suggest that George Bush's lack of appreciation for what Russia had done for the U.S. in the war on terror is to blame. I find this dubious. In the event that George Bush had erected 50 foot statues of Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin across the U.S., I doubt Mr. Putin would have rescinded his recent $36 billion dollar call for 4 Russian made aircraft carrier battle groups to be completed by the mid 21st century. Nor would I doubt Mr. Putin using oil wealth to pressure neighbors not to stray too far from Russian policy, or from selling a bonanza of arms to U.S. enemies such as Venezuela, Syria, and Iran.
It would be easy to say that the Iraq war caused U.S./Russian relations to cool, however Germany and France also held strong objections to U.S. involvement in Iraq and both countries are experiencing much better relations with the United States, so why does Russia continue to look the part of the antagonist? More than anything, it looks as if history is the culprit. More often than not, average (and I stress the word, average) critics of the U.S. say that as a country it has only been around for 230+ years and thus not experienced enough to be a world leader. Again, average at best and completely nonsensical. Outside of Moscow, Russia has barely been a nation state as long as the United States-stretching back to the expansion of territory by Catherine the Great in the 18th century. So it should serve as no surprise that maybe Russia feels the United States is a perpetual adversary, considering the two countries have never been the best of friends and for the better part of the 20th century were bitter enemies.
So lets stick with this theory for a moment. Russia is feeling good about itself once again, wants to prove so, and who else but the big bad United States to challenge in order to demostrate. I couldn't care less, and neither could the rest of America. The Cold War is over, and the U.S. came out bigger and stronger than ever before. All the soldiers, aircraft carriers, and tanks in the world can't negate the fact that both countries are armed to the teeth with nuclear weapons and that is the sole reason the two super powers never fought a direct engagement. What is troubling is that someone like Stalin could possibly be written into Russian history books as some sort of positive force in the world is madness. Genocidal madmen, no matter how "nationalistic" they are or were, must never be regarded in any other light than the filth of humanity. Indeed, the whitewashing of history is already having an effect. 54 percent of Russians between 16 and 19 believe Stalin was "a wise leader," and a similar number thought the collapse of the Soviet Union was "a tragedy." (Two thirds also thought that America was a "rival and enemy" and 62 percent believed that the government should "deport most immigrants.")
What ultimately makes this ongoing saga sad is that Russia has enormous potential. In the event it wanted to make a new and powerful name for itself, it could do so in the pursuit of peace and prosperity. But it hasn't. Russia has never taken action to stop carnage in Darfur, never taken positive steps in the Middle East crises (unless of course arming Iran and Syria is "positive"), indeed, one would be hard pressed to find Russia taking part in any concrete activity intended towards global prosperity. Regardless, I personally don't feel threatened by Russia. Their women literally sell themselves over dozens of websites in order to come over and marry those unwanted by eHarmony.com. Its economy is based on weapons manufacturing, oil, and other basic industries. That said, it is regretable to see a country that could fulfill great achievments through openness and intelligence revert back to needless angst and propaganda in order to fulfill a sense of pride.
After September 11th, the world saw a dramatic change. The United States was leading an effective yet incredibly reserved retaliation attack on Taliban forces in Afghanistan led by U.S. special forces and CIA intel. There was also another player on the ground contributing in a major way, and that was Russia. Giving huge amounts of ammunition and logistics to the Northern Alliance, Russia almost single handedly paid for the U.S. friendly NA to take the Taliban stronghold of Mazar-i-Sharif while American forces hounded Taliban forces in the south near Kandahar and Tora Bora. This was a major contribution and led to the now famous meeting between Bush and Putin in which GW said he found that Vladimir Putin "had a good soul." Despite a meeting with Presidents Bush 41&43 and Mr. Putin last month in Maine, not much seems to have gone well since.
Many experts on Russian foreign policy suggest that George Bush's lack of appreciation for what Russia had done for the U.S. in the war on terror is to blame. I find this dubious. In the event that George Bush had erected 50 foot statues of Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin across the U.S., I doubt Mr. Putin would have rescinded his recent $36 billion dollar call for 4 Russian made aircraft carrier battle groups to be completed by the mid 21st century. Nor would I doubt Mr. Putin using oil wealth to pressure neighbors not to stray too far from Russian policy, or from selling a bonanza of arms to U.S. enemies such as Venezuela, Syria, and Iran.
It would be easy to say that the Iraq war caused U.S./Russian relations to cool, however Germany and France also held strong objections to U.S. involvement in Iraq and both countries are experiencing much better relations with the United States, so why does Russia continue to look the part of the antagonist? More than anything, it looks as if history is the culprit. More often than not, average (and I stress the word, average) critics of the U.S. say that as a country it has only been around for 230+ years and thus not experienced enough to be a world leader. Again, average at best and completely nonsensical. Outside of Moscow, Russia has barely been a nation state as long as the United States-stretching back to the expansion of territory by Catherine the Great in the 18th century. So it should serve as no surprise that maybe Russia feels the United States is a perpetual adversary, considering the two countries have never been the best of friends and for the better part of the 20th century were bitter enemies.
So lets stick with this theory for a moment. Russia is feeling good about itself once again, wants to prove so, and who else but the big bad United States to challenge in order to demostrate. I couldn't care less, and neither could the rest of America. The Cold War is over, and the U.S. came out bigger and stronger than ever before. All the soldiers, aircraft carriers, and tanks in the world can't negate the fact that both countries are armed to the teeth with nuclear weapons and that is the sole reason the two super powers never fought a direct engagement. What is troubling is that someone like Stalin could possibly be written into Russian history books as some sort of positive force in the world is madness. Genocidal madmen, no matter how "nationalistic" they are or were, must never be regarded in any other light than the filth of humanity. Indeed, the whitewashing of history is already having an effect. 54 percent of Russians between 16 and 19 believe Stalin was "a wise leader," and a similar number thought the collapse of the Soviet Union was "a tragedy." (Two thirds also thought that America was a "rival and enemy" and 62 percent believed that the government should "deport most immigrants.")
What ultimately makes this ongoing saga sad is that Russia has enormous potential. In the event it wanted to make a new and powerful name for itself, it could do so in the pursuit of peace and prosperity. But it hasn't. Russia has never taken action to stop carnage in Darfur, never taken positive steps in the Middle East crises (unless of course arming Iran and Syria is "positive"), indeed, one would be hard pressed to find Russia taking part in any concrete activity intended towards global prosperity. Regardless, I personally don't feel threatened by Russia. Their women literally sell themselves over dozens of websites in order to come over and marry those unwanted by eHarmony.com. Its economy is based on weapons manufacturing, oil, and other basic industries. That said, it is regretable to see a country that could fulfill great achievments through openness and intelligence revert back to needless angst and propaganda in order to fulfill a sense of pride.
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