listen to putin. and then find a speech by chavez, or castro or perhaps khrushchev, even. what you should immediately see is that putin is a different kind of foe; he's what we see when we look at ourselves in the mirror, or at least what we fancy we see in ourselves, looking back.
there's so much talk of russian recklessness and demonization of them as evil incarnate....
...but, for years, i've been amazed - astounded - at how remarkably passive the russians have been in the face of unprecedented aggression against them. through aggressive western action after aggressive western action, they just sat and waited for the leadership to change.
and, it seems that, even with a long overdue assertion of greater influence, they are still holding to the same fundamental line. the russians legitimately believe that it is only a matter of time before the neo-cons are removed, and that relations will finally improve once this happens. they are honestly, legitimately and patiently waiting for a peace movement to take power.
i'm not exactly a pacifist. i think defense is legitimate, where warranted. but, i strongly dislike violence. and, even i'm amazed at this placement of faith in american democracy, and have essentially no label for it besides naivete, even as i'm out there marching.
it's a hard truth, but what got us through the height of the cold war was not mutual trust but the reality of mutually assured destruction. there's a part of me that hopes the russians are right, that there's some daylight on the other side of some electoral event, that the re-establishment of trust is just around the corner. but, even bernie sanders is a hawk. i see no path to this end.
if you value world peace and stability, the reality of american ambitions necessitates the reassertion of mad in a way that american military strategists and politicians can clearly understand. the russians clearly dislike this. but, they're also clearly - if slowly - coming to the unavoidable conclusion.
they really don't want this. but, we've left them with no choice. and, we should maybe all reflect on this.