Who'd Have Thought (back in 1984)?

[castlebravo92]

Originally Posted by Nowhere Man 1966

I agree with a lot of it. Again in the 1990's we kind of blew it where we should have engaged Russia more to get her on our side. I say the real threat is Red CHina and even though the Russians are with them now, I foresee the Chinese screwing them at some point and they will be Jonesin for help. I always felt as a trump card, Ukraine should have held on to all or some of their nukes, *I mean we promised to protect them in the future, but many times we write check with our mouths we can cash and that leaves them in the lurch. We need to work to get all sides to the peace table.

The problem is, Russia was/is a mafia state. The realistic post-USSR choices for Russia were either an extremely corrupt democracy or a return to autocracy of some form. From a Russian perspective, the US and the West used and abused Russia even when Russia acted in good faith (like after Sep 11). Then again, the US isn't forcing countries to join NATO. That kind of thing happens when you invade your neighbors and murder and rape their civilians.

The ironic thing is, the US and Russia share many of the same geopolitical threats (China, radical Islam), and Russia is under much more of a direct threat from both.