Comments on: Thoughts On Russian Nationalism And The West

By: Indya

Indya — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 21:32:14 +0000

The problem is that we expect the world to comport with our interests. Sometimes it is in our interest to engage Russia, sometimes it is not. And we expect the Russians to be okay with that.

By: mbtogut

mbtogut — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 21:24:48 +0000

Ditto what you said about Russians being perplexed by the US reaction to the Russian-Georgian conflict. My husband is Russian and, while not a big fan of his former home, cannot understand why the US would want to get involved in a region rife with ethnic conflict. He and his friends also see Georgia as the aggressor in this matter.

We’ve been amazed at the reaction of both candidates to this matter.

By: polistra

polistra — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 21:17:07 +0000

Perhaps our “brightest and best” could learn something. Putin, acting in accord with Russia’s own interests, has an approval of 88%. Our gov’t, acting persistently against America’s own interests, has an approval of 12%, the exact opposite.

Regardless of governmental system, the people intuitively understand who’s with them and who’s against them.

How do we get our “brightest and best” to understand this point?

By: bryan

bryan — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 20:11:31 +0000

I lived in Russia for a couple of years in the nineties, and my wife’s family still lives there and in Ukraine. To say that I despise Putin’s regime and all it stands for is an understatement, however I have to say that I’m not sure that anything the Clinton or Bush administrations have done, other than supporting programs to secure nuclear material, has achieved anything resembling a constructive relationship.

It’s not that I necessarily even disagree with most of the decisions that impacted US and Russian policy, such as the expansion of NATO and intervention in Kosovo. It’s that each time the US has essentially said, “I don’t care how bitter the pill is, you’ll swallow your damn medicine and you’ll like it.” You cannot continuously humiliate a former great power, whose people believe in its exceptionalism just like most Americans believe in ours, and not expect there to be any repercussions.

Missile defense is a perfect example of an absolutely stupid policy decision in this regard. It plays right into the nationalists’ hands. We could have easily taken Russia’s original offer for a joint theater missile defense system and more realistically achieved our objective–to minimize the threat of a missile attack from “rogue” states such as Iran and N. Korea. Instead we’ve just given more justification to those in Russia’s military and government who perceive or wish us to be perceived as a continuing threat.

I also can’t believe that both candidates still support making Georgia a member of NATO as soon as possble. Regardless of who you think is most responsible for the recent conflict there, there is no way in hell you should support membership for a country whose government behaves so recklessly. Besides, given that we support Kosovo’s right to self-determination, shouldn’t we at least consider the fact that Abhazia and S. Ossetia should have the same right, even if we think they’re making the wrong decision?

BTW, I’ve bookmarked your blog. This is my first visit here and definitely won’t be the last. Very fine work!

By: el_longhorn

el_longhorn — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 14:39:20 +0000

The irony is that any non-military solution regarding Iran requires Russia to play a helpful role, and we seemed to have doomed that possibility by getting into this unnecessary pissing match with Russia over Georgia.

Was this intentional?

By: Daniel Larison

Daniel Larison — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 03:38:35 +0000

In some ways, I would say the U.S. does play a similar role, but it is not quite the same.

By: mattius3939

mattius3939 — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 03:33:53 +0000

I Haven’t been reading you long. Does the U.S. play the same antagonist in the middle east as it does in Russia?