Our national conversation about Russia is alternating between indifference and hysteria. For most of the quarter century since the breakup of the USSR, we have treated Russia as a country in a state of long term, even terminal decline — “too sick to matter.”
Now, we are told, Russia has emerged as the biggest threat to the United States. Almost daily we learn new details about Russian cyber and information operations that have flooded our media with fake news and threatened the integrity of our elections, striking at the heart of American democracy.
Why it matters: Russia, our intelligence chiefs tell us, is poised to keep interfering in the U.S. and in our allies and neighbors. From Syria to France to Mexico to Venezuela, Russia is trying to expand its global footprint.
Yes, but: If there is a silver lining to our current obsession with Russia, it’s that it provides a much-needed correction to a decades-long patterns of neglect and misperception in U.S. policy.
Even if one agrees with President Barack Obama’s description of Russia as a “regional power,” one look at the map is enough to see what a region it’s in. It is the biggest power in Europe and Asia. It sees itself as a major power with interests in Europe, the Middle East, South Asia and Asia-Pacific, where it has relationships that date back decades, sometimes centuries.
The bottom line: Russia has recovered enough of its economic and military strength to back an agile influence campaign well beyond its borders. It is armed with a diverse and effective toolkit and an experienced leader committed to building on the Soviet legacy of global activism. The time has come for Washington to move past its hysteria and get serious about Moscow's reach. A new phase of Russian foreign policy is underway, so we better pay attention — and respond.
Go deeper: The Carnegie Endowment's Return of Global Russia
Comments(2)
Disagree, as long as the current mob is ruling Russia, they will remain the role as spoiler. We could give their kleptocracy leaders everything, and they would try to grab more; enabling their leaders would just embolden their ambitions. As Stephen Kotkin said in a recent video, what has Russia got, not much; falling GDP compare to USA, declining population, etc. A program of containment is needed, just like the cold war, for a Kleptocracy is just as bad as Communism for the west, and worst for the Russian people. Détente did not work in the 1970s, and it will not work today.
“THE EMPEROR’S NEW CLOTHES” (short fairy tale written by H.C.Andersen in 1837) In the realm of hypocrisy, manipulation and corruption, the Kremlin, Beijing and Washington are Emperors. They prefer leading vacuous leaders into proxy wars than confronting themselves militarily. The first irony is that there are always fools who would believe their lies. Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt, the Baltic Countries, Poland, etc. still believe The Emperors have their backs. The second irony is that Beijing and the Kremlin will never rest till they break Washington global economic preponderance. Would the friction between The Emperors become the beginning of the end?- Perhaps not if we stand up to them. People are afraid to oppose these centers of power and corruption because they assume assume (wrongly) that everyone is a supporter of it. And remain a bystander. In an age where fast internet communication is available to anyone, we don’t have to ignore the horrible things happening around us. The destruction of Syria, Yemen, the murderous President Duterte in the Philippines, the assault to the judiciary independence in Poland, Hungary etc. are just examples of how we become accomplices if we remain quiet or ignorant of such events. We should not be afraid to say the Emperors have no clothes.
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