Why can't Americans understand Russia? Why did the president constantly misunderstand the Kremlin stogue, regardless of their party affiliation? This enduring incompetence is especially impressive considering that Ivan's age has not changed at all from awful or even better.
Many countries have changed. Some people moved from enemies to friends. Some people moved in the opposite direction. Some became peace and war. Russia, on the other hand, has always been and will likely remain the same.
Russia had a very simple and well-defined main strategic goal, first under Tizal, later under the Bolsheviks, and now under Vladimir Putin. Territory expansion driven by anxiety adjacent to schizophrenia. The doubtful mania is rooted in the internal political reality of Russia, and the absolute failure of successive regimes to govern effectively.
Russia never concealed its ambitions and intentions. World history of the past few hundred years is a story of Russia where it does what it wants to do. There is no need to read a long amount of history to understand what Russia is doing. You need to pay attention to current events.
So why is it so difficult for Americans to pick up those obvious and historically self-evident purposes? The main problem with Russia is that Russia is literally a big problem. To resolve this, a strategy spanning multiple presidents is required, and there is absolutely no discipline. It requires attention to detail and understanding that issues that are not addressed today will inevitably pose a fatal threat tomorrow.
Few presidents recognized or had the courage to call Russia publicly. It's a dangerous enemy. Unfortunately, democracy is inherently awful in planning. Failure to maintain a single policy across multiple administrations across the parties has led to unfortunate shortcuts in which decision-makers are irritated and impersonating actual policies.
That situation has produced many e-musical representations that have defined US policies regarding Russia for decades: engagement, containment, reset. This nomenclature allows Washington to deal with Russia as a crisis of temporary nature.
These pseudo-policies never address the problems seriously, and the ignorance of the subject and total misunderstanding among the American elite who have lost all institutional knowledge of why these pseudo-solutions were invented in the first place. It has led to the development of.
US treatment of Ukraine and recent Russian invasions speech Addressing European leaders by Munich's Vice President JD Vance is a way to see how deep the denial of Russia's issues has become in Washington, how both parties have created them, and a world that transcends national boundaries. It emphasized how to create parallel reality and feel very comfortable. .
Joe Biden has acknowledged Russia as an enemy and Vladimir Putin as a bad guy. However, he did not believe that Russia was a strategic threat. They also did not believe that attempts to take over Ukraine were a threat to the United States, and a threat to America's Pax as a world order.
The first American response to the attack was to send “Uber” to evacuate the Kyiv government and hope that Kremlin Tantrum would end. The potential victory for Russia was not considered a geopolitical earthquake. It was just Russia behaving badly.
When Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his government refused to surrender, Joe Biden and his administration were forced to support Ukrainian efforts to stand up to Russia. The US was dragged into efforts against its original intentions, but there was no desire to allow Ukraine to win. Russia was to be managed as if the current conflict was not part of centuries-old policies, but part of the stubborn, unfortunate and horrifying actions that exist in the world.
Soon after, the White House, supported by European allies, came up with a great strategy. It was not a strategy in itself, nor a way that didn't address the core of the problem, but rather that it seemed to be working hard on a solution. Keep the war of attrition against Russia to the last Ukrainians. The end result will satisfy everyone. As a friction spot between the West and Russia, Russia will be exhausted and Ukraine will no longer exist.
Again, understanding history helps us to know that Russia has not been exhausted in the war of attrition. The outlook for encouraging Russia and conquered Ukraine has become more and more possible. Even with these surprising signs, Washington did not believe the approach was wrong. However, Europeans began to get worried.
And here comes Donald Trump and his new approach to MAGA, especially Russia. President Trump doesn't think Vladimir Putin is a good man, contrary to what his detractors claim. But Trump is somewhat unique in his thinking. He is the first truly pacifist post-Christian president of the United States. He does not believe in the eternal struggle of good against evil. There is no god, no demon, but there is random human interaction. They all have negotiation-based solutions, like business transactions. In the end, there are no good or bad aspects.
President Trump, like his democratic counterpart, sees Vladimir Putin outside of historical context. In his view, the current crisis originates from decades ago, and includes the wrong American negotiation approach. Vance's speech was a prediction of Russia's view.
With few exceptions, the concerns expressed by the Vice President were valid and timely. Without the necessary context that was lacking in speech, they sounded like an excerpt borrowed from Vladimir Putin's meditation. To assert that Russia is not the most dangerous threat to Europe made Vance look dangerously naive, touching on issues that otherwise would be very important, making him look grotesque and unnecessary offensive .
It will involve another crisis with Russia that directly threatens America, and will change America's mindset about its current and future enemies before that. Just like the kids at school, only those who fail will send them back to the library.
You should also advise “experts” to read too much Russian classics. Those pages are wonderful works of art. They are also the best propaganda Russia has ever produced. They imagine that universal human struggles and instability are mistakenly masking countries ready to use them to their advantage.
Lev Stesin is a founding member of the voice of San Francisco, Israel.
