I don't understand why this article did not mention the intended free trade deal between the US and the UK that Trump has repeatedly mentioned, and that now can become a reality with Johnson's election. The bias against Trump is palpable here. But why do it? Why claim to be a source for the news if you aren't willing to provide full context? The plans for the agreement totally undercut the claims made in the 2nd paragraph. Why be so brazen about your bias? It alienates anyone who actually pays attention.
3
@David K - Perhaps because none of the things Trump repeatedly mention ever come to pass.
Remember the great health care and infrastructure he promised?
4
@DR Healthcare is going through the courts right now. Democrats couldn't get infrastructure done under Obama either. Doesn't make a difference, this is trade policy. Trump got NAFTA updated, played hardball with China successfully, got a new trade agreement with South Korea, forced NATO allies to pay more, why would anyone think he couldn't get a free trade deal with the UK, especially after they would be leaving the EU ostensibly with no deal.
This is not an excuse for why the NYT didn't mention it anyhow. It's stated policy. It is the plan of the US administration to bring the UK closer to the US and further from the EU via trade policy. That is a significant fact and it went unmentioned. Perhaps this article showed its true colors by paragraph 2.
@DR Trump renegotiated NAFTA, played hardball with the Chinese succesfully, forced NATO members to pay more, got a new South Korean free trade agreement, why couldn't he get a UK free trade agreement? The presidency has the most power in international trade. Uninformed response
The only reason “Russia is playing with the Wests mind” is because Vladmir Putin obviously, OBVIOUSLY has incriminating evidence that would bring down President Trump. At least according to retired MI6 agent Christopher Steele he does. I absolutely believe that Vlad Putin had “kompramat” on President Trump because it is the ONLY thing that would explain each and every one of Trumps cuckolded moves toward Putin. I only hope history discovers what Putin was holding over Trumps head so we can at least have understanding of Trumps cowardice toward Putin.
6
Russia punches at its weight, the weight of mega tons. I recall some multi starred brass head grousing about Moscow's ICBMs that Stalin just made a "lucky" choice. Reality being that, instead, Khrushchev was in charge of that, putting one of the commanders of an army (52nd, 54th?) under him at Stalingrad as system manager after WW II.
Their economy is small? Two points.: a kielbasa has: 1) 500 calories of nutritional value; here it costs $5, there 10 rubbles. On the first level all equal, on the second one is "smaller"; 2) what every collitch kid learns- a pitcher of beer is not all equal either- sometimes it is full of brew to the brim, on $2 a pitcher nite it is half foam. A lot of GDP can be froth, all that insurance, lending, finance gambling...
For us, the little people, the problem is what are our DC folk doing. Is NATO expansion smart, given the weight of a Russian punch? Suppose they decide our having taken (de facto) Ukraine into NATO is to put their counter strike ICBMs under threat of a quick first strike by our new "intermediate range" missiles Put in Ukrsaine?
It is a bad sign when all in DC spout nonsense like "Ukraine is at war with Russia". If it were, Russian tanks would roam all its streets by now. Or it would glow in the dark.
What is actually going on?
5
The United States is not "convulsed" by impeachment. The tiny ruling class in Washington and media types may be convulsed, but the vast majority of Americans are uninterested and going about their normal business. The next election is less than 11 months away.
4
There is a lot of corruption all around the world, including NYC where 1 mile of subway construction costs 5 times more than in Paris...
Also spending trillions of American taxpayer’s money on useless wars and enriching only a few same guys on a way does not stand out as exceptionally progressive.
Be careful what you are spending your money for, you may end up in the same ditch with blamed for everything that is going wrong in the world Russia.
3
The Russians have forever wallowed in national self-pity and eviscerated themselves by surrendering to their autocrats.
Call him Tsar, or General Secretary or merely President, in the case of Putin the man has reconstructed the only kind of government to which Russians respond - a dictatorial, terror-infused autocracy in which one man's will and entitlement is supreme.
And the terror continues unabated. Call it the Secret Police, the Cheka, the MGB, the KGB and now the FSB, Russia, and Russians are forever at the mercy of a national system of police terror ready to squash the least dissent.
And every time the Russians appear to be in a place to take a new direction, to institute actual self-government, to make their own decisions they do what? They surrender it all to the oblivion of another autocracy.
In 1917, in 1956, in 1990 - each time history presented an alternative the Russians sank back into fear, into national malaise, into resentment as again they submitted to tyranny and terror.
The acid test will come after Putin -- even he cannot live forever. Will he groom a successor, a Tsarevich? A General Secretary in waiting? Will the autocratic center hold in that transition? You can be sure it will. It's Russia.
6
Augustus used to say ruling Rome was like holding a wolf by the ears - he didn't have the luxury of letting go. So Augustus engineered the political technology that kept him in power, and incidentally, kept him alive.
Putin is in the same situation. He is clearly a more than competent autocrat. But what comes after him? The deluge?
4
So many of the memes I see today that attack not just our government, but governance and even the objectivity of truth seem like they are generated out of some Kremlin double-think factory. Why hasn't DoD been tasked to counter these? Have we ceded objectivity to a tenacious authoritarian?
3
Add Mr. Putin to the list of autocrats that our foreign policy and blatant imperialism have created. Perhaps we will wake up one day and realize that placing our troops and weapons around the world have done more damage to our democracy than social media disinformation ever will.
4
Putin is a judo expert. He knows how to use the weaknesses of his adversaries. And the US has many.
It may do nice in the Western press to highlight accusations that Putin had a few dissidents killed. But international diplomats who consider the hundreds of thousands killed in Iraq by the US couldn't care less. It is no coincidence that Russian diplomacy is doing so well at the moment.
It sounds nice to claim that the American economy is ten times as large as the Russian. But when you take America's huge budget and trade deficits and Russia's sound finances into account things look a bit different.
Look at the destruction in Mosul and Raqqa by the US and compare it to the relatively clean conquest of East Aleppo and East Ghouta under the lead of Russia and you have to wonder whether Iraq wouldn't have done better to invite Russia.
2
The guy gets his muscle from ultimately overseeing his country's nuclear weapons.
If you think that things will "normalize" when Putin passes on to the great Red Square in the sky, think again. They will likely get another Yeltsin and the inevitable backlash that follows such a bendable leader - a hard line Sovietophile and more authoritarianism.
Such is Russia. It's a country that loves a "firm leader", no matter the consequences.
The Soviet Union fell but that mindset has been transmitted to subsequent generations. The past cannot be uncoupled from the present. A reading of the memoirs of those who went through the camps, went into exile, lived through the revolution, fled the revolution, created the revolution helps illuminate just how wide the gap between Russian democracy and Western democracy must be if the past still permeates the present (which it does).
Read Alexander Herzen "My Past and Thoughts"; EM Almedingen "Tomorrow Will Come" anything from Nina Berberova for a start.
1
Economists usually compare the GDP of countries on a purchasing power parity (PPP) measure. On this standard, Russia is the world's sixth largest economy and Italy is 12th.
Also what matters to the public mood/satisfaction in a country is the direction of change. Even though Russia's economy has been growing at only just above 1% annually in recent years (compared to about 1.5% in the Eurozone), the Russian population has presumably not forgotten the big improvements in average living standards of the period 1999 through 2008.
3
To understand Russia today, one has to look at its history going back centuries. Russia has always had an inferiority complex when it comes to the West. It has a broken economy today that cannot hold a candle to China or the United States as it is always mired in corruption and a weak and incomplete infrastructure made worse by the country's size and geographical constraints. The opportunity was there following the collapse of the Soviet Union to rebuild and inject a new life into the country's moribund industrial complex, but regrettably, that never happened. Meanwhile, in the West, frustration, misdirected at the so called "liberal elite" and stagnation, exacerbated by the Financial Crisis of 2008 which has not fully resolved itself, has led to the view by (regrettably) some that far right thinking is the solution to the world's problems and here, Russia thrives.
1
Russia is the world's largest country, China the most populous, and both have a nuclear arsenal that can be delivered anywhere in the world. That gives them influence on the world stage. But what magnifies that power (punch) is their political unity. Whatever disagreements might exist among the leadership are kept internal and ultimately resolved by unchallenged leaders, Xi and Putin, who also happen to be both patriotic and smart, or at least cunning. Anyone who voices or protests otherwise will suffer consequences, so they rarely do. Political leadership in the democratic West is divided on seemingly everything and those divisions are magnified among the citizenry by free speech and the free press. In unity there is strength and that's why these countries punch above their weight.
1
Give Putin credit for being the most impactful world leader in the 1st half of this century. Putting Trump in office and helping Brexit pass - those acts were ones of genius and he may go down in history as the greatest Russian leader in history.
2
@BP. That you believe Putin elected Trump indicates Putin was successful causing turmoil in the US. It means Obama was ill informed when he emphatically stated a week ,before the election "it is impossible for anyone to tamper with election systems". It means you must have agreed with Romney during'12 debate when Obama mocked Romney for identifying Russia as the biggest geopolitical threat. It means you must have supported Obama not responding to Crimea invasion and not giving Ukraine lethal military equipment.
Russians seek to cause turmoil abroad where ever opportunities exist. Democrat outrage over election results provided Vlad with fertile ground.
2
Under Putin, Russia has firmly settled into the position of a third rate military power. They couldn't even afford to put out the fire on their one and only aircraft carrier.
2
@anonymous
Ask yourself, Chuckie why they only have the one and invested in hypersonic missiles, stealth fighters/bombers and nuclear-powered torpedoes instead?
Because an aircraft carrier is like a sitting duck.
4
It's on a roll? Russia is isolated by the world, rejected by its former ally neighbors, an economic afterthought, and rife with corruption and internal dissent.
3
Any article about a Russian advantage that does not include the skyrocketed price of palladium is incomplete, a socio-political exoskeleton history of its own disconnect from the economics.
Don't forget the complicit role of western journalism in perpetrating the hoax that the Cold War was about two equally matched powers.
4
Everything about Russian power and influence is 'smoke & mirrors.' Even worse than during Soviet times. The Russian economy is smaller than Canada's; unbelievable. It's sad that massive theft (at least many $10s of billions each year), and gross economic miss-management every year for 20 years+ has destroyed the lives of 10s of millions of Russians and their future as well. Why are there so many Russian billionaires in the UK? Because neither they (or their families) or their money is safe in Russia. While Russia continues to occupy parts of Ukraine and Georgia, and fails to answer for the murder of 298 people (MH17) it will remain under ecomonic sanction. Putin has made the Russian economy dependent on high oil prices ($100 minimum a barrel is required), and that will probably never happen again for many years, if ever. Friends like Xi, are the friends you have when you have no friends. Who Russia's friends otherwise? Of course, the Assad family of Syria, they cost money, and are completely untrustworthy.
How long will Putin keep up the charade? He'll certainly make another catastrophic strategic decision which will lead to even more hardship for the Russian people. I find the idea that he will ever himself on the right side of history, fanciful at best.
34
@bill
Maybe in your googly eyes, Chuckie, but in reality, Russia - just like others, like India, South Africa - is studiously and determinedly moving up the economic ladder - outside the US-influenced 'order'.
Russia's total dependence on oil and gas is a myth. Their national budget is pegged at a minimum oil price of $40 (above that they make money; for comparison, Canada's Alberta tar sands LOSE money under $80). Russia's FX and gold reserves are growing at an accelerated pace, its trade is less and less dependent on the dollar, its import substitution program is succeeding.
In 2019 Russia will be the No. 1 grain producer in the world bypassing both the US and Canada (during Soviet times, they had to import grain to feed their people).
Russia's sovereign debt is almost zero (compare it to the US' $22Trillion and growing); its trade with the EU grew 20% in 2018 and stands to grow another 20% this year.
Now, all this is not from me, but from sources, like The Economist, Bloomberg, the OECD, the IMF, etc.
Merry Christmas and try to be just a little bit more open minded in 2020.
Amen.
20
@bill
Such Russian bashing is silly.
Google US debt/GDP and Russia debt/GDP.,
you will see which country better manages their finances.
US has obscene, colossal and growing inequality
where the richest .1 percent take in in over 188 times the income of the bottom 90 percent.
https://inequality.org/facts/income-inequality/
US has worse inequality than Russia.
The US has a higher rate of incarceration than any other country.
Yes Russia has problems... so does the US.
If the US spent as much energy working to resolve its very real domestic problems, as it spends energy hysterically bashing Russia, the US and the world would be better places.
REUTERS. Oct 2, 2015 - U.S. President Barack Obama warned Russia on Friday that its bombing campaign against Syrian rebels will suck Moscow into a “quagmire,”
And the US eighteen years in Afghanistan,some two trillion added to US debt, the situation is worse, no end in sight..
Who is in a quagmire????
The US and Russia could get along,
WHAT is the point of all this anti-Russia hysteria?
One of those oh-so-respectable Democratic impeachment witnesses, Pamela Karlan, a Stanford law professor, said, "This is not just about our national interests to protect elections or make sure Ukraine stays strong and fights the Russians so we don't have to fight them here,"
So the Russians intend to invade the US?????
The anti-Russian hysteria is insane.
12
Vladimir has a puny little economy based on exports of gas, troll farming and assassination. It is an economy destined to be parasitical... until it embraces democracy and rule of law.
2
The question that begs for an answer, of course, is why Putin’s Russia is punching at all. Nobody wants Russia. No “Mein Kampf” authored by the leader of a neighboring state calls for Russia to be conquered, its peoples enslaved or exterminated. Nobody actually threatens Putin’s Russia — his personal corruption and hubris aside.
Of course, the same could have been said about Hitlerian Germany in 1937 or Hohenzollern Germany in 1912. They reaped what they sowed.
Putin might have achieved great and lasting things and been a force for good in the world had he found the moral courage to shed his Chekist background and not fallen into the Al Capone lifestyle — how he became the Darth Vader of our times.
2
A large part of Putin's success comes from the turmoil the years long efforts to impeach Trump and the uncertainty that is causing not only at home but everywhere. We have the Democrats to thank for that as they bought Putin's efforts hook, line, and sinker. It would be far better for the Democrats to offer better choices in November than trying to destroy Trump which plays well into Putin's plans.
3
Russia is often mismeasured in terms of the size of its economy and thats how we getting it all wrong. In Russia costs of living is less than a half of any western country . Cost of production , virtually no external debt .
Why measure every economy in dollar terms ? The big projects being witnessed in Russia and it's military modernization and expedition would not be remotely possible in Italy thats being compared economically with Russia .
3
Good article. Now I know just how the Russians meddled with the 2016 election and continue to attack our Democracy .
"Moscow’s efforts to sow division through Facebook and other social media platforms were low-budget and often primitive, but they have had a disproportionate effect on the American political process." Putin's secret weapon was something we never suspected . It was and still is - wait for it- Words and on the internet too. How do we protect ourselves from these harmful words that are disrupting and dividing us? One solution is for all of us to stop reading them. Of course it's hard to know sometimes which words are safe to read and which words come from Russia and by definition are not safe. Obviously some sort of censorship is necessary. Not oppressive censorship of course but good censorship which filters out divisive words or one's that cast doubt on ourselves and our Democracy. If those Russian words are precluded from entering our thoughts , they won't have any effect on us and we will return to being one big happy united country just as we were before Putin came to power.
2
The failure of Western neoliberal capitalism to provide a promising future for ordinary working people, shockingly apparent since the great collapse of 2007, has created the opportunity for right-wing authoritarianism to gain ground throughout the world. Fourty years of increasing austerity for the masses capped by the Great Recession has hollowed out popular support for bourgeois liberalism by revealing it to be a hypocritical shell-game, a game designed to enrich the top 0.01% at the expense of everyone else. That, coupled by the political collapse of the left and its continuing failure to offer a realistic, compelling, egalitarian, democratic alternative to an economic system that is producing global warming and driving millions of species to extinction is creating a political vacuum that allows the recrudescence of reactionary ideologies and the return of blood and soil nationalism. If the left has nothing rational, and radical, to say to people who are justifiably fearful and insecure about their future, the right will certainly speak to them. Trump and Putin and their appealing illusions are simply replacing the discredited illusions of a failed economic and political system that cannot be restored. There is no establisment-endorsed, "centrist" path back to "normality". No one is going to Make America Great Again. We will either remake the world to save it or it will be destroyed.
6
Putin's Russia may play with a weak hand (its economy about that of California but much less diverse and dynamics) but play it well. Democracies are often a mess with diverse competing economic, religious and cultural interests governed through consensus instead of a concentration of powers via an autocratic cult personality. Russia and other US rivals have a leg up on the US because American leaders from Clinton to Bush to Obama are adverse to risks, particularly with a economically weak puny country tat still holds the second largest stockpile of nukes in the world and not afraid to flash it irresponsibly as leverage. Putin's Russia might display the veneer of a resurgent power but in the long run economic stagnation catch up with it. Economic power and cultural influence, not military prowess, is the true measure of a nation strategic powers. With this metric, China is much more a US global competitor than any other country and much more dangerous than the USSR because of its huge population, interconnection with global supply chain and innovation. Russia had the potential to be a global power through its enormous natural resource, top notch talents in STEM and cultural influence from the Baltic to the Balkan to the Far East, all squander away for a fleeting façade of Make Russia Great Again. Sad because I love the country and Russians deserve better.
2
At long last....a relatively straight-forward explanation of how a master of disinformation (Putin/Russia), w/ tons of money to burn, uses the power of data analytics to (1) manipulate the forgotten & dwindling middle class weakened by the Great Recession & (2) weaponize xenophobia released by migrants fleeing the terror & tyranny of failed/failing states.
1
@d4hmbrown
But from my understanding, remarkably LITTLE was spent (according to the committee report) on facebook and instagram adds and for tweets - and this was from a patriotic Russian oligarch who only had purported social ties with Putin.
6
Three basic myths that need dispelling:1) adjusted for Purchasing Power Parity, Russia’s economy is the size of Germany’s, and it is growing at a faster rate - moreover, if you factor in the under-the-table gray economy, Russia’s economy is probably the size of Japan, making it one of the 4-5 largest in the world. The more the US tricks itself into thinking it’s dealing with an opponent with an insignificant economy, the more unpleasant geopolitical surprises will be in store for the US in the future. 2) It is true that Russia is a lawless, massively corrupt, and semi-feudal state that in profound ways is alien to the West, but that is Russia’s (and most of the rest of humanity’s) steady state throughout its 1,100 year history. Putin’s responsibility for this is exactly 0%. In fact, to the extant that he has managed to spectacularly improve the country’s standard of living and infrastructure over his 20 year rule, he is moving Russia away from this disastrous historic legacy at a faster pace than it has ever managed before. 3) However corrupt and lawless Russia may be internally, this is a. totally the Russians’ own business, and b. does not hold a candle to the chaos and carnage unleashed by the West’s homicidal, megalomaniacal policies in Yugoslavia, Iraq,Syria, Libya, Yemen, and the Ukraine. Over the last 20 years, for all of its internal flaws, Russia’s credibility as a constructive force for good in the world is decidedly greater than that of the collective West.
9
Let’s assume Russians are given free pass to come to the US, as good as some say it is, it would be empty in a week.
5
Russia punches above its weight because it punches below the belt: it cheats. It cheats at sports. It cheats at arms control. It cheats at elections - other countries‘ and its own. It cheats international law, by annexing territory and assassinating opponents.
Free-riding on the stable, rules-based system maintained by others, as China has also done, is a quick and easy way to magnify influence. All you need is shamelessness.
13
It's all about the money. Always has been for Putin, and Trump, which is why and how they connect. No doubt Trump, Inc. has been laundering dirty Russian money for years, just like Paul Manafort. It's not complicated. Transactionalism is a form of nihilism. There is nothing to believe in, post Communism, so just believe in money. It is as Harrari says our "universal religion." Add in the ease of global communication - both real and false, a scarcity of resources, ensuing unrest, and it's not hard to see why some people in every culture want big strong 'daddy' to save them. However abusive fathers never save anyone much less those closest to them. Like most dictators, Putin is stuck in power in a weak country still dependent on oil and gas for 60% of their federal budget. Want to get him out of power? Drive oil down to $10 a barrel like it was in the late 80's. Sadly, that will make things much worse for the average Russian in order to remove the cancer they let mushroom in the Kremlin. Collectively the West is much more powerful militarily and economically. It is only because the West is playing by the rules that they appear weaker. If the West were to adopt reverse disinformation and train assassination squads, or use real military power, Russia would collapse in short order. That's the danger of vesting power in so few people. They are very, very vulnerable, which is why they resort to fascism and totalitarianism.
5
@Mark
"If the West were to adopt reverse disinformation and train assassination squads, or use real military power, "
Wait a minute! Are you suggesting that we start an actual hot war with Russia in order to effect regime change? How has that policy worked in the Mid East after 19 years? We have not been able to subdue Afghanistan a much smaller country or Iraq in spite of $6.5 Trillion spent tens of thousands service people killed or injured . Do you recall what has happened to other countries who have tried to use military force against Russia? Just which Americans do you think are going to support another war? Do you think Congress would actually issue a formal Declaration of War when they haven't done so since 1941? If you are going to propose starting a shooting war, you owe us some answers to these questions first.
He bought Potus the election. Both in for life.
6
I can’t remember ever having purchased something made in Russia. They sell natural resources for a lot of money, but produce not much. That isn’t a recipe for success, even if they manage to undermine the west’s political systems. They ought to make an effort to produce something of value, but that sort of thinking is foreign to Putin.
6
Yeah, and Russians don't buy Americans. They buy 'made in China' Does it mean the USA produces nothing?
2
So Russia buys iPhone made in China so they don’t buy American?
Who cares where the stuff is made in. Apple is the largest company in the world depending on the day of the month. And it is as American as Apple Pie. (Pun intended :-))
1
Boris Yeltsin was a puppet of USA. He allowed the Western corporations and the American backed oligarchs to loot the national wealth of Russia.Putin inherited a ransacked and bewildered country, with a poor and demoralized people…
Under Putin’s eight-year reign the Russian economy grew every single year, with an overall GDP increase of more than 70%. During the same period, investments rose 125%, industry grew by 76%, and poverty decreased 50%. The average monthly salaries in Russia increased from $80 to $640, and the middle class grew from 8 million people to 55 million. In 2000, Russia’s economy was ranked 22nd in the world – now it is seventh.Russia today doesn’t borrow money from anyone, it gives money to loan to other countries. Just compare it to the U.S, that has an external debt, that is trillions and trillions of dollars.Russia under Vladimir Putin is seen as an obstacle to US capitalist domination in Asia and the rest of the world. A consistent insistence of Russia in compliance with international law is an unpleasant obstacle for Washington, who wants to use military force when and where he wants to strengthen its global imaginary hegemony…
8
@Ivan Thank you for enlightening us, Boris. Uh, I mean Ivan.
4
@Ivan
Russia's main export -- besides ex-KGB agents -- is billionaire oligarchs and their attendant corruption.
Ok, the Russian mafia is a close second.
Don't forget it was America -- led by Herbert Hoover (a mediocre POTUS but a logistical genius) -- that saved Russian millions from starvation during extreme famine.
Russia's great economic miracle? Must be why millions of Russians have emigrated to the US, Canada, and Western Europe. Thanks to Russian emigres, Israel is on its way to becoming a Russian satellite that doesn't recognize non-Orthodox Jews as Israeli or Jewish.
Obama dismissed Russia as a regional power. But China toys with Russia as a failed state like North Korea. They see Chernobyl as a metaphor for Russia.
4
@Ivan
Putin is a small man with a puny little economy. A dangerous mix
2
Russia punches above its weight because Putin is ruthless: he kills journalists, political adversaries, the innocent residents of apartment buildings and the wounded in hospitals. He has no conscience. It is his ruthlessness that Trump envies.
7
Very few things that that this article mentions as a Russian achievement is permanent, or even an achievement. Many of the moves that it made may offend western sensibilities, but did not cross any real western interests. That may change in the future, someone somewhere will challenge it and the costs for Russian will escalate.
Russia has not significantly changed the balance of power and in some ways altered it away from its favor. For example, NATO spending increases and troop deployments in the east are a direct result of the events in Ukraine. And what did Russia gain from it in the long term?
3
34 years ago, a KGB defector chillingly predicted modern America [BigThink]
--In 1984, Bezmenov "there's a long-term plan put in play by Russia to defeat America through psychological warfare. It's a long game that takes decades to achieve but it may already be bearing fruit.
"85% of the work is "slow process in which we ideologically subvert, use active measures and psychological warfare."
The most striking thing about ideological subversion is that it happens in the open as a legitimate process. "You can see it with your own eyes," he said. The American media would be able to see it, if it just focused on it.
Don't waste time with idealistic leftists, they would become disillusioned, bitter, and adversarial when they realized the true nature of Soviet Communism.
Recruit from large circulation, established conservative media, rich filmmakers, intellectuals, cynical and egocentric people who lacked moral principle
"A great brainwashing of 4 basic stages"
The whole process follows 4-steps:
1. Demoralize a nation (15-20 years):Expose your ideology to your nation’s “soft heads”. (Tea Party, Trump & Supporters)
2. Destabilization (2-5 years): Essentials attacked – Defense, Economy, Polity. (Trump,the GOP and the Kochs are attacking the US)
3. Crisis (6 weeks): bring a country to crisis in such a way that violent change happens. (Faux Border crisis, North Korea, civil war)
4. Normalization (infinite period): Normalization of the enemy country to your own ideology.
9
I’m surprised this article left out the fact that Putin is himself partially responsible for bleeding the Russian economy dry. It is surmised that he is the wealthiest person on the planet. All that wealth in his pockets is NOT going into business capital investment, infrastructure investment, etc., to the detriment of the Russian nation.
7
On a roll how though. I mean, the economy is still doing badly. The population is still aging rapidly. None of this is made better by sending kids to Syria to die for some geopolitical influence. It’s just repeating the Soviet Union’s mistakes and will end the same way.
3
I'd like to answer the "mystifying question" of how such an economically puny country can be a potent force. Economies are measured in US dollars; US prints dollars and appraises the value of stuff. When one skyscraper in NYC can easily cost more than a whole midsized Russian city, or when just one virtual US company (Google, apple, etc) can cost more than Russian GDP, such valuations, while very flattering to the US, are also misleading. In reality NYC skyscraper is still just a building, and a city is a city. So, the answer is - the size of US economy is a fake, grossly inflated speculative number, especially when you see homeless encampments in CA or NYC. You won't see those shanty towns in Russia because, due to endless US (class) wars, the quality of life in Russia is comparable to US.
Just one example, US media was ridiculing the sole Russian aircraft carrier "Admiral Kuznetsov" when it set sail for Syria, because of its' black smoke and technological inferiority. And then the planes from said ship turned the tide of war in Syria, bombing terrorists to kingdom come.
3
Russia has historically always been an insecure nation among nations....even back when it was still under he control of the TSARs. 50 years as a Soviet simply codified how they behave in the modern era with respect to other nations.
Russia will keep pressing with asymetrical covert warfare against other nations as long as other nations continue to allow it to do so with no real consequences.
You want to bring Russia under the leash of decency among nations ... world nations need to collective embargo Russia into submission, as well as conduct assymetrical covert counter warfare. Russia already treats every other nation as a either a puppet or an enemy.. so there is no real downside in terms of how Russia under Putin perceives other nations.
And NO.... nations need not fear a nuclear Russia because above all else.. Russia seeks to survive and it knows better then even the US that nuclear weapon use is a national death sentence.
As for Trump.... I don't think Putins sees him as a useful asset or allie... but much more of a useful idiot who can be easily manipulated in a number of different ways.
7
Remember when John McCain compared Russia's economy to one gas station? And Putin knows it.
3
@SCZ In 2000, Russia’s economy was ranked 22nd in the world – now it is seventh.Russia today doesn’t borrow money from anyone, it gives money to loan to other countries. Just compare it to the U.S, that has an external debt, that is trillions and trillions of dollars.
1
@Ivan
Okay, Ivan. Whatever you say.
2
Putin is a big leaguer, Trump is not. That is why he has so easily manipulated the impeachment effort to benefit russia.
3
Western nations need to pay much more attention to Ms. Khrushcheva's narrative about Russia. She knows much about the nuance of how Russia behaves, all the way down to it's national psyche.
Ignore her advice at your own peril western nations.
3
Current Russia is no more than an international trump.
3
Yes, the hysteria from the Democrats exaggerating Russian influence on our election are a big win for Putin, and an incentive to continue. Congrats on the moral imperative!
4
@Alberto Abrizzi How do you know the extent to which the Russians influenced the elections in 2016? How do you know that the Democrats “exaggerated” that influence? Please provide some facts on this matter, not just more Fox News/Trump administration Russian talking points.
4
@The Dude
Why don't you provide some facts to show how the Russians influenced the elections in 2016?
did they actually change votes that were cast for Hillary into votes for Trump? Who did the Russians influence into voting for Trump as in which people? If the Russian were so successful in their disinformation campaign, why did Hillary get more popular votes? That is what has to be proven to show that the Russians actually influenced the election. That's the way Proof works.
4
Putin is smart, no doubt. And opportunistic. Obama gave him the reins to the Middle East when he allowed Putin to take the lead in Syria and he took full advantage of it. With Trump, a supplicant to everything Putin represents (power and no one to answer to), Putin has found manna from heaven. With the current American President in awe of him and staying out of his way, Putin has been triangulating brilliantly - making further inroads in Syria after Trump's withdrawal, cozying up to Erdogan, enlisting Netanyahu, staying close to Greece - never mind his hacks of Britain during Brexit and the US during our elections. The only weak link I see is money. All these foreign adventures cost a lot of it. Russia is by and large a petroleum economy. We should all hope the world price for oil stays weak into the future.
5
At our distance it appears that Putin, like your President Trump, has a certain Pied Piper, con-artist quality that seems to mesmerize people into believing that he, like your Mr. Trump can solve all of their problems. Playing off the fears and aspirations of an under-educated, uninformed, non-critical thinking population, just like your Mr. Trump, Putin, like Trump, has hoodwinked those people into supporting him.
It seems to us that the proper thing to fear is not so much the leader Putin or Trump but those in the government and in the population who support him/them. Leaders come and go - the population that chooses and enables them stays.
Your country is in a very weaken state to try to lead Russia or any other country into a democratic-republic status. As we see it, if your country continues to be "lead" by Mr. Trump, his political party, and his agents, the USA will soon become like Putin's Russia. We feel badly that there is a chance that Trump, like Putin, is here to stay.
11
Simple. Russia isn’t “a mess” as an earlier headline claimed. It isn’t a regional power.
Your premises are wrong and so you continue to misinform readers on this very important topic.
10
Do you know any Russian immigrants?! Their stories are frightening. Russia is more than a mess.
5
No analysis of U.S.-Russia relations and Putin's place in them is complete without viewing what happened in Kiev, February 2014. Online dispatches from the The Guardian of Feb. 20 and 21, 2014 from Kiev show that paramilitary rightist extremists broke a truce, surprised off-guard police and set in motion a process that “putsched” an elected president from East Ukraine from office. Read the Guardian online today. Don't wait for the historians.
9
The biggest threat to dictators and autocrats like Putin is the idea of freedom as demonstrated through liberal democracy empowered by people working together and sharing in prosperity. But democracy is only successful in this way if a nation respects the larger human community, regardless of nationality, religion, race, culture and wealth. Together with the divisive politics of ethnonationalism, democracy is weakened when extreme amounts of profits are allowed to be gobbled up by a few, leaving the rest of society struggling and divided instead of working together. This is what Russia is exploiting.
5
The most disturbing detail here is the assertion that Saudi Arabia is our country's closest ally in the Arab world. Saudi Arabia is ruled by a degenerate crime family whose petro wealth makes them "respectable".
Mr. Putin's alliances with the Saudis are of a piece with his subcontracting foreign policy to trusted oligarchs, several of whom are dangerous psychopaths, but capable enough to get the jobs done without leaving (too many) fingerprints.
With a $45b personal fortune, one wonders what more ego gratification Putin requires. He does at times, however, seem bored by the endless fawning and praising he receives from criminals, despots, celebrities, and the occasional legitimate, foreign leader.
It's virtually certain he is enormously entertained by the ease with which he makes a fool of Trump, and by his reckoning the United States.
7
Trump was won over by Putin through a play to Trump's own naivete, narcissism and avarice in business.
Intel professionals viewed Trump's assessment of Putin as "warm and fuzzy."
Putin pretty much played a Game of Thrones, as Trump saw it as admiration for him. Then a lot of the public bought the falsehoods from Twitter and Facebook, courtesy of the 2016 disinformation tacticians.
To this day, Trump admires dictators and autocrats. And Russia remains a capable adversary.
6
Why the West tolerates this tinpot dictator is a mystery to me.
Putin's Russia needs to be isolated as an international pariah.
9
Putin is a formidable adversary because the Trump Organization appears to be laundering Russian money and thereby financially enabling Putin and the Russian Oligarchy to thrive and prosper.
14
@Cliff Everything is much worse. We are not interested in the US and all your pride parades.
1
"Russia Is a Mess. Why Is Putin Such a Formidable Adversary?"
Because he relies on the kindness of frienemies. And of course compromising videos.
12
Russia is running on fumes. Putin is like the Wizard of Oz.
They may be able to look strong and influential in a limited scale, but that is it.
Its like someone who has twelve credit cards and maxed them all out. They may look prosperous, but they are not.
On the other hand, we should be worrying about China. And our capitalists look at the 1.4 billion people there and see customers. And are willing to give them technology and the means of advanced production. We will be sorry.
11
@RM
That Americans' perennial problem. Always worrying about someone else.
2
Putin has proven to be a very gifted diplomatic player, especially during the Trump years when he has replaced the United States as the principal power broker in the Middle East and has done so with much lower military expenditures.
The genuine popularity of Putin in Russia is rooted in the Russian experience in the early 20th Century in which they suffered from two invasions from Germany, the second of which resulted in the destruction of many of their cities and the deaths of tens of millions of civilians.
The Russians also have an historic memory of what happened to them in the 13th Century when the republican tradition in the cities of Russia (which was second only to that of the Italian city states at that time) and the petty principalities beyond the cities proved to be no match for the military discipline, structure, and technologically superior Mongols.
So to me it is understandable why Russians choose a strong dictator over a democratic visionary. The Russian obsession with strength and security is very similar to that of the state of Israel.
10
@Robert Scull You point out that "during the Trump years [Putin] ... has replaced the United States as the principal power broker in the Middle East and has done so with much lower military expenditures."
I would contend that in fact, Putin's investment in his dirt (whatever it is) for the extortion of our "president" donald trump may have paid Putin and Russia one of the greatest financial rates of return of any investment during the past 1,000 years.
3
Putin is terrified of mobs and has no faith in Russia being successful in a global economy where success requires offering goods and services others want. From his perspective the world order introduced by the United States which has enabled global economic development and not wars between major powers is one in which Russia will always be small.
The Russian people have never experienced self government and have never been free to make their lives as they want, with centuries of authoritarian regimes which rely upon suppressing the energies of the population in order to control them.
Putin will eventually lose power and then Russia will have no means of peaceful transition nor a civil society that can endure without an autocrat.
4
@Casual Observer
" success requires offering goods and services others want."
Very true.
Can you name a few of these things that the American economy offers and others actually want, excluding arms?
You said airplanes? Airbus bypassed Boeing even before the 737 Max disaster. White goods (home appliances)? All made in China.
What else is there? Smartphones? Made in China. Wal-mart's entire inventory - China.
LNG? Almost twice, as expensive, than natural gas.
Stop proselytising.
4
Where things are “made” is only one aspect, and seen in perspective a small aspect. The more impressive power is where the intellectual property and the capacity and capability to continually innovate resides.
5
Dictatorships are more efficient than republics, whether it's for the good or the detriment of the country-- Rome didn't become a viable empire until Julius Caeser weakened the Senate and became dictator. Ask any religious, patriotic, businessman in Russia what he thinks of Putin, then ask a dissident from an ethnic or religious minority, and you're going to get completely different answers (a mirror of America regarding Trump). The problem with right-wing govts is they need natural resources, manufacturing or war to stay vital, which is why Francoist Spain stayed poor and stagnant for 40 yrs.
5
@Jorge
'Republic' is a political structure of a country, not its governance.
A republic is not a monarchy and vice versa.
North Korea is a republic. Chile is a republic. Spain is a monarchy, so is the UK.
2
The only reason Russian leadership can do as they like is because America is a total and completely inward turned mess. America is so self-involved that the whole idea of being a global leader (right now) is laughably ludicrous to contemplate.
The only reason why Russia, and to a lesser extent China, have been unable to maximize the advantage before them is they, too, have home-fire issues that are beginning to make their lives a little less comfortable than they (the leaders) would like.
If there's one thing they, all of the global leadership, should be congratulated on it's that on their watch the entire planetary mass of plebeian citizenry, in almost every single country, is up in arms and cranky, having had it "up to HERE" with the whole lot of 'em.
And that, my friends, is something of an accomplishment, isn't it? Heh!
John~
American Net'Zen
3
To me, Putin is a necessary weasel. He does everything that can be done in the dark and on the periphery, but can never be a success in the light of day. He has an influence, but is frustrated, like his country, because he can not really carry through with any grand plan. What small victories he has are just enough to maintain some pride for Russians and his political skin. I respect Russia and think they are still waiting for the immense credit they deserve for winning World War II.
4
@Terry
Compare today's Russia (under Putin) to the 1990's Russia (under Yeltsin).
The economic progress and the degree of social stabilisation is truly remarkable and not just by Russian standards.
But I agree with your 'weasel' reference. America needs a weasel to blame all its ills on.
3
@Terry
Their victories are not small when you take into account debilitating economic sanctions that have been in place for over a decade.
Yet despite these sanctions, their economy has weathered them well and managed to grow on par with Canada's middling economy - an economy that hobbles along now mostly because of unchecked money laundering, as the BIS, IMF and others have noted.
What no one seems to want to admit is that these sanctions do absolutely nothing to stem the corrupting influence of "oligarchs" and just punish regular Russian people.
Like with the Kim family of NK, oligarchs and their money are more than welcome in international capital markets, while their people starve.
Why is this so perplexing? Putin rightly assessed that once he took care of his Chechnya problem, and rebuilt his military, the EU would be too diffident to push back on any Russian adventurism. And he foresaw that the US presidents - it didn’t matter who, W, Obama or Trump - would similarly not stand in his way. The US progressive revisionist view is that W and Trump were/are terrible on Russia, overlooking the contradictions and failures of the Obama years. Obama dismissed as delusional Romney’s prescient 2012 warnings of a resurgent Russia. Then Obama chose avoidance once Putin made clear he would seize all or part of Ukraine, instead claiming that sanctions would suffice, and taking care not to provoke Putin when Ukraine’ pleas for military aid went unanswered for years. Putin understood that US presidents put short term domestic political gain over anything else. And he’s been right.
7
Althought economic literacy may not seem like a must for understanding Russia (and representing the NYT there), it should be. Start with the fact that Russia has the planet's largest territory, the most freshwater, and $75 trillion in mineral reserves.
At purchasing power parity (PPP), Russia is not a midget next to Italy, or 10% of the US economy, or out of the worldwide top 10; it is # 6 in every serious ranking, as summarized at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP). Its economy is second in Europe only to Germany, is over one fifth the side of the US', and this makes the Russian domestic product per inhabitant at PPP not much less than half as much as the US GDP; and with negligible national debt, one of Putin's true economic achievements being to run down the debt taken on by Yeltsin.
With the US administrations since Clinton increasingly isolating and sanctioning Russia, PPP is what matters, and increasingly so. From food to weapons, Russia makes its own. Though not the giant that China is, nor second-largest USA, it has considerable economic power.
8
@Rob Natural Resource extraction only provided wealth if your population is small. Something the Saudi are finding out. Russia's population is large 140 million Even your 75 trillion is only 500,000 per person. Over a 25-30 years that is 15 -20 thousand per year max. There isn't a profitable market for fresh water yet. Russia's PPP is lower than Poland's and many other eastern European countries. Now lets talk about the dismal state of Russian Agriculture. Even after 40 years it lags the west.
Mexico with nukes
3
It starts with the semi-automatic framing of Russia as an "adversary", a framing that strengthens Putin considerably. The adversarial us-vs-them rhetoric is a major pillar for Putin, basically his insurance policy. And the sweeping anti-Russian bias in the US media has done much to support that adversarial narrative. If anybody needs an evidence of bias, I dare you to count the number of positive-vs-negative articles about anything (or anybody) Russian in the NYT for the last 5 years.
4
@Ilya wrote " If anybody needs an evidence of bias, I dare you to count the number of positive-vs-negative articles about anything (or anybody) Russian in the NYT for the last 5 years."
So by your logic if there are more negative than positive articles about a subject in the NYT, that indicates media "bias"? I guess that according to your logic, the media is also "biased" against pollution, organized crime, murder, war, etc.?
5
Russia has an outsize influence because it has spread a network of money and corruption and owns people with blackmail.
7
Give the Russians credit for finding our Achilles heel, the Electoral College. A mechanism where a minority of the population can elect a President if you can just get a charlatan over the hump in a few battleground states, convincing a big uneducated portion of the population that their government is a big swamp which needs to be drained, with Facebook and millions of social networking dolts getting a big assist.
8
@Phaedrus I do not really understand your inner kitchen. At least here in Russia elections are not accompanied by political assassinations in the United States. And we always have more than two candidates. More then six candidates every election.
Russia has always been weak as a state. In strong states the highest institution is law. A major and vital principle is often referred to in these days by one Nancy Pelosi: "No one is above the law". She wants to say by this that someone in a high administrative position in Washington DC doesn't walk the line. This is most damaging to the country and the people. Russia has always been full of such mandarins. It is questionable whether there are politicians in Russia in the first place. Providing room for political activity requires legal grounds to a point. There are no legal grounds in Russia. Has never been. Russia is ruled and driven by a small set of military chieftains, money bags and their errand boys. You US Americans are familiar with the scene. One crucial difference is that law supports civil rights, if vaguely, in the United States. These protective institutions are not available in Russia. Russian people are fully at mercy of the buccaneers in and around the Kremlin. Nation building never began in Russia. Russian capacity to manipulate the outside world is limited. They can shoot down commercial aeroplanes in foreign airspace. They can drive Ukrainian families away from their homes. They can kill women and children into their hospital beds in Syria. They can liquidate Russian adversaries abroad. On the other hand, any mob of gangsters can do that much.
3
Oh, no. All roads don’t lead to Russia. Pelosi and Hillary will be totally bewildered.
1
"[...] a president determined to 'get along with Russia' [...]"
I'm glad to see you put that phrase in quotes, because most people who've been paying attention would probably describe his relationship with that country differently.
3
Well, if Russia and China are trying to disrupt the world through disinformation then the only winning move is not to play. Cat videos are the answer. Flood your newsfeeds with meaningless bits of fun and recapture the internet.
5
@K Barrett
I'm totally with you on this one -:)
2
Absolutely brilliant!
1
You really want to know? - Because the democrats and MSM has not stopped whining about election interference and bogus collusion stories for the last three years! It actually is that simple. Better for Rusian pretige than 100 meetings at the White House.
9
Putin understands that democracy relies upon trust. Your comments reflect the kind of mistrust the Putin wants to see.
8
Except that Russia has been colluding.
9
@John S
Yes, it's really such a shame that some citizens in our republic just can't stomach Russia manipulating our election results with the knowledge and assistance of the candidate they helped win.
As Mulvaney scolded us about trump's enlisting the help of Ukraine to try to win the *next* election, we should really "just get over it."
10
Actually, there is an error in the very first line of this article. Russia, based on Purchase Power Parity (which is the true comparative GDP measure of economies), is the sixth largest economy in the world, far surpassing Italy.
For reference, look at data from the CIA: https://www.indexmundi.com/g/r.aspx?t=20&v=65
7
@Marshall Smith
The simple fact is that the average annual Russian household income is about $10K. Yes, having a high PPP due to so many services in Russia being cheap is nice and helps Russians service on such small incomes, but if a Russian wants to buy a non-Russian car or take a vacation outside Russia, $10K per year doesn't go very far.
4
@Samuel Weir Not true. Russia spans 11 time zones. There are regions in Russia with GDP per capita of Norway. There are also basket cases like Dagestan, etc. Go to Moscow. Plenty of foreign cars. Plenty folks make salaries comparable to those in the EU while things cost much less in rubles. Especially food that is now predominantly locally produced.
3
@RussianPerspective
There may well be regions of Russia that are doing well, but overall the median Russian household income is very low. That's not just my opinion. That's the view of the IMF, World Bank, and the UN, all of which have Russia's GDP per capita at about $11K. For comparison, the GDP per capita of the US is about $60K, and that of Italy is about $34K.
2
because his adversaries keep getting poisoned and disappeared? Just a guess.
6
@Allison
Allison, Allison, Allison...
You should know better by now.
Sergey Skripal, to whom you obviously refer to was thrown in jail for working with the MI6. Then he was pardoned and exchanged for British spies, moved to the UK as a free man, bought a house under his own name and lived happily for 9 years until the poisoning incident.
Now, if he had been hit with a military grade nerve agent he would have been dead under 10 seconds. He - and his daughter - are both alive.
Doesn't that sound strange to you at all?
Why on Earth would the Russians want to kill him so many years later?
Just doesn't make sense.
That whole thing stinks.
1
The question shouldn’t be, why is Putin such a formidable enemy; it should be, what is Putin so afraid of?
If his new ideology eschews ‘liberal democracy’, why is he going to such lengths to, kill it off? Shouldn’t it just die of it’s own weight, descend into violent chaos, collapsing economic markets, dissatisfaction of it’s citizenry? Why align with global dictators, to help bring it down? Just...wait it out, one would think.
Granted, liberal democracy has it’s faults (see progressive Dems ideas for reform), but I picture the Terminator in the movie; you can’t kill it. It keeps repairing itself, over and over. Little blobs, gravitating towards the other blobs- then reformation. Democracy’s history.
Putin reaching out to Syria, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, China...all our, great allies, trading partners. Take them. Please, Dictators, kings, theocrats - they will use you, turn on you, as they have us. Meanwhile, your people will again question what you did in wars, why your allies used gas, imprisoned thousands of protesters....et all.
Those demonstrations, in Russia, Iran, Lebanon....all the little blobs...coming together. And if you finally use fire to kill it- what will you have, then? A- tsar?
1
Republican politicians are taking campaign contributions from the Russians.
Why isn't this on the front page?
11
Just another of many NYTimes articles - a self-righteous, West-centered, imperialistic/neo-liberal whining about an inability to control the world. How one could possibly believe that the world is going to develop the way as a couple of so-called “experts” predict? Do Russian people (or Chinese, of Hungarians) care what a couple of small-minded academics in the West has to say? Will we ever learn from the past? When Russians wanted communism, they defeated the West + Japan in their civil war. When they came to the conclusion that it did not work – it disappeared overnight. That the West congratulated itself on “winning the Cold war” just says how delusional we are. When enough Russians decide that Putin must go, he will be gone.
Did Indians/Egyptians/etc. care what the British plans for their country were when they decided to take it back? Or Chinese with their reforms and the Communist Party capitalism? Did they check with the Western experts how they should proceed?
How about bringing the liberal values of diversity, tolerance and inclusion to the world stage?
My guess is that you can’t. You need to play with an average imperialist Joe-the-voter’s mind to make sure that the funds the military-industrial-complex at the expense of his own’s children’s wellbeing.
,
11
Why Is Putin Such a Formidable Adversary?
Because the American president is in his pocket.
7
Ugh, maybe Putin's such a fierce adversary because he's a Russian oligarch with billions to spend? Call me crazy ...
4
I watch boys and girls in America play on the same sports teams. The boys go down and search for their mothers. The girls take the hits, nose bleeds, pain, and keep playing. Putin probably watches the same games. Canada, Europe, and their snowflake leaders have given us Trump who can fight Putin, because he understands him. Liberal choices at the expense of reality causes the impression of reckless stupidity and weakness. This article should have been written five years ago. Why wasn't it?
1
@Anastasia Why do you want to fight Russia? Because of the media propaganda? They need to find somebody to blame. If it is about feminism then there were more women's rights in communist countries than it is in the US today.
4
How is Trump “fighting” Putin? Pretending Russian election interference didn’t happen? When he’s been forced to support sanctions on Russia, screaming at anyone who brings it up? Calling Putin for advice on foreign affairs and then taking Putin’s advice over the pentagon and his own advisors? What a joke. Putin is powerful right now because a Trump, for whatever reason, has made him so.
2
Putin gets his way because Trump lets him and the Europeans, just like in the late 1930s, do nothing
5
Russia is doing well because Donald Trump is a Russian dupe or an outright traitor. No further explanation is needed.
8
Putin is an absolutely ruthless thug. He will do absolutely anything he can get away with to take the power that he and his people believe that they deserve.
That is what Donald Trump aspires to. He was trained by his father's fixer, Roy Cohn, to also do whatever necessary to achieve money and power. His ruthless attacks on any Republican who would defy him are paramount to his success. He lies, he cheats, he breaks laws and defies the Constitution because his team of sycophants in the Senate won't lift a finger. His fake charm has evangelical Christians licking his boots and comparing him to Jesus (Rep. Loudermilk, GA, for one).
Trump aspires to be just like Putin.
So why is Putin so powerful? Because he defies all norms of human behavior if he can get away with it. And because he has the President of the most powerful country on earth eating out of his hand.
3
Putin is a spoiler, the easiest of roles to play. He rules by terror, poisoning his enemies with impunity like the KGB agent he remains. He creates nothing of economic value and no future for his people and runs an outmoded carbon-based/oil mafia state for his billionaire cronies. He is ensnared in Ukraine and in Syria, bleeding his pitiable country to death yet again as it has been bled by its autocratic rulers for centuries. He is China's lapdog. Explain again why Russia is to be feared.
2
Trump and his core supporters have made Putin a Russian Hero of his times! And all while America and its former allies suffer defeat. Disgusting. They have Made America Weak!
5
You really want to know? - Because the democrats and MSM has not stopped whining about election interference and bogus collusion stories for the last three years! It actually is that simple. Better for Russian prestige than 100 meetings at the White House.
3
Mueller was never looking for collusion. He could not find enough evidence that the White House “conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities” to charge them. But Mueller did find that the a trump campaign was aware of Russian’s meddling and even welcomed the help from Russia. The trump campaign coordinated with Wikileaks for the drip drip drip release of the stolen dem emails. I would say that falls under the definition of collusion. “secret or illegal cooperation or conspiracy, especially in order to cheat or deceive others.”
1
@John S Oh please. Enjoy trump/putin while you can. trump sold out our country to a foreign adversary. Criminal charges are pending his exit from the WH. Enjoy.
1
Putin would be á blip on the radar screen in the minds of Americans without the obvious devotion of the likes of Trump, the Republicans and Boris Johnson. Just another rogue state to closely watch. Instead we have Western leaders swanning around Putin and oligarchs. Disgusting.
3
Russia is a country of creased pants and unpolished shoes.
3
"Russia Is a Mess. Why Is Putin Such a Formidable Adversary?"
Because we have an incompetent no-nothing president who is incapable of dealing with such an adversary.
2
Is he a formidable adversary, or are we just stupid? Seems like every piece of super-vitriolic literature we read should be dismissed until further notice.
2
Question: Why is Putin such a formidable enemy?
Answer: The president of the United States is a Russian asset.
Do I get a gold star?
7
It sure helps to have the so-called Leader of the Free World in Putin's pocket.
4
Nuclear weapons is the great equalizer.Look at Kim Jong-un. and Israel.Iran knows this well and will do anything to have them.Happy Holidays to all
1
Here’s the simple answer: because Trump’s a dunce.
3
Putin is a formidable adversary because Trump is his Renfield.
3
Hmm maybe because he's enabled by POTUS? Also: he poisons his adversaries.
5
Russia is a country of creased pants and unpolished shoes.
1
What better way to distract others from Putin's inability, or unwillingness to actually provide a sound and just and stable society for Russians than providing evidence of his ability to be a mastermind on international manipulation? Putin is reverting to form: once KGB, always KGB. He cares about power, his power. He doesn't give a fig about Russia or the Russian people. He is similar to Donald Trump in his amorality, just a whole lot smarter. How pathetic that as a match to this deceptive, greedy man, we have Trump, both evil and stupid. As T.S. Eliot wrote, (and I paraphrase), "...this is how the world ends, not with a bang, but a whimper."
2
"Russia Is a Mess. Why Is Putin Such a Formidable Adversary?".........
WHY?.........
Because Donald Trump wants a hotel in Red Square - that's why!!.........
6
As far as success with the United States, Putin's culture-hacking campaign exploits greed, racism, and a nasty fascist strain in one native political party in particular that nurtures and exploits these things on its own.
1
As others have observed, Russia, like China, is quite skilled at playing the long game. Russia’s economy may be in a slump, but the map behind Putin really says it all: Russia is mind boggling vast (11 time zones!) with tremendous amounts of resources. As global warming continues, Russia increases it’s arable land. As the polar cap continues to melt, Russia’s access to year round shipping lanes increases. Besides look at the havoc they’ve wrought through disinformation campaigns, which are far cheaper than military incursions.
2
@T. Johnson
I don't see how Russia is particularly skilled at playing the "long game". Attention to the "long game" would mean paying attention to the long-term growth of the Russian economy and also diversifying it. Putin and Russia have made insignificant progress on this. Another "long game" issue is the declining population of Russia. Russia is now declining at a -0.5% rate, or about 750,000 people per year. There are fewer Russian alive today than there were in the mid-'90's. Russia is failing at playing the "long game".
1
So basically it’s all GWB’s fault.
Both Obama and trump needed to stand up to Putin when he broke international norms.
1
@LAM
What 'norms'? Like bombing a country and virtually destroying it without any kind of UN authorisation (Yugoslavia)?
Oops, that was the US, using NATO as a fig leaf.
My bad.
1
95% of what you think you know about Russia is CIA propaganda. For example, this article never mentions that the economic collapse of Russia under Yeltsin was guided by hundreds of US financial advisors or that the US completely rigged the 1996 presidential election in favor of their drunken lackey, Mr. Yeltsin. Russia is the deep state's favorite enemy. It provides them with an excuse to have a $738 billion military budget, largely largess for the bank accounts of the war profiteers. It justifies the US having 800 foreign military bases. Russia has three. Trump committed the ultimate crime of wanting better relations with them. Do you want improved relations with Russia, or would you prefer living on the precipice of nuclear war.
12
Trump wants better relations with Russia for Trump. Not for America.
2
Another Russophobic piece that attempts to propagandize Americans against Russia. Flaky and light in terms of analysis, while being blissfully ignorant of reality. The use of dark, and grandiose language does not mask the fact that Mr. Putin is a strong, intelligent and popular leader in his country. He should be respected as such.The piece does nothing to reflect reality that Putin and the Russian government have been right on many international issues when compared to the American government ( a la Iraq and Syria and arguably Afghanistan) The whole Russiagate scam that was the Mueller report also came to nothing unlike the impending doom predicted by this paper’s columnists for many years. So much for analysis and reflection on reality by the New York Times. It is sad when the paper of record becomes a propagandist rag. Like my many comments before, I would be surprised if the New York Times actually publishes negative comments.
13
Now comes the duty of the Senate to demand the truth. We are at a time in America that is greater than all of the previous wars. We are at a time when we are being attacked by Russia to destroy our Republic. The future of America has been laid out by men who came together over 200 years ago, and who envisioned how to respond to an attack by a foreign country. The American way of life is being challenged and the last bastion of hope lies in the Senate. It is up to the Senate to hold a fair impeachment trial of the president. Nothing more than a fair impeachment trial where the evidence can be presented for all of the world to see. If we can do that, then the world will see that there is nothing that can destroy this great nation. We must take the time to view the truth, not hyperbole, not conspiracy theories, not alternate facts, but the truth, letting the chips fall where they may. Our Republic is at stake and the last bastion of hope that we have are the 100 Senators to seek the truth to the House's charges against the president. It is important that we, the American people, be allowed to see the truth, wherever it may take us.
9
@Dan O - Party allegiances - partisanship - in the USA transcend objective critical thinking so the Senate will NOT impeach Trump because they're of the same political stripe as he.
As an outsider looking in, I've come to wonder if blind, unthinking party loyalty is a heritable trait and is part of Americans' DNA at this point!
Most Canadians will switch their support from one party to another if the one drawing them seems like a better option at the time, in terms of policy and leadership qualifications. Party allegiances are NOT part of the Canadian DNA!
1
@Jaroslaw Rudnycky'j At 71, and being required to be 21 the 1st time I voted, and being a Republican, I have voted for every president, except for Clinton and Trump. To me, the most important thing we can do today is to be educated on our political choices. Which is a difficult task. But, you are right, most people in America stick to one party.
1
The fake Trump Russia collusion nonsense fairy tale, created to soothe the pain of having Trump beat them, is the Democrats’ contribution to foreign policy.
Falsely accuse Russia, vilify Russia, portray Russians as evil, and placate the Democrats.
Can’t be that the Democrats’ message didn’t resonate, it was Russia!
You look like fools.
13
@Ken
Absolutely. But how can you convince the indoctrinated when they can switch from Russia to Ukraine without missing a beat?
4
17 intelligence agencies concluded that Russia hacked the DNC in order to help Trump win the election. Putin admitted that he wanted Trump to win and that he was “very happy” with the outcome.
@K. Martini
Nothing impeachable came out of the Mueller investigation. There was zero evidence that Trump interacted with any Russians involved in the low-budget internet/social media activities of the St. Petersburg troll-farm, much less with any official of the Russian government or Putin, himself. These unsophisticated activities were shown to have targeted BOTH campaigns (though Hillary's more) and were primarily designed to create discord (which worked unbelievably well). Thus, democrats had to come up with something different, like Ukraine malfeasance, in order to impeach Trump.
3
This article makes a very important point that all peoples living in democratic countries should take note. Putin makes clear that Russian disinformation contributed greatly to the "Russian collusion" narrative that is the beginning of the political storm that has torn this nation apart. He is doing the same in Europe pitting the left against the right. He wants Democrats to believe the worst about Republicans and the opposite in equal measure. He is using our democracy against itself and he says it's so easy. Just use the internet. Divide and and he will eventually rule. Those Democrats who are wild for impeachment need to think back about how this begun. They hated Trump and thought he could have colluded with the Russians. Putin wanted that because he realizes as he has said in this article that it is so easy to manipulate public opinion. Our democracy is fragile in this age of the internet. We should all stand back and look at where we are getting our information. We should not allow dictatorships to frame what we believe and not.
208
Nice subtle defense of Trump. Please give us all a break. Your argument is weak in the extreme. Trump has taken as much advantage as possible of Putin’s support.
116
@Robert Breeze Trumps connection and his campaigns connections with the Russians aren’t speculative, they are proven. The Russian interference on behalf of Trump and against Clinton are proven.
You’re simply repeating Russian talking points yourself by offering the idea that Democrats wish to impeach Trump based on hatred. Trumps own actions and those of his crooked campaign staff are how we got to this point.
136
We don't need Russian meddling to make folks think the worst of Republicans. Their actions take care of that.
53
We are living in Putin’s America. He is our king maker. Before 2016 election, Trump begged Russia to meddle in our election and help him to be elected. Russia did it happily. Trump criticized almost every world leader but all the praise is reserved for Putin. After all Trump is ever grateful to Putin. Brexit is executed by Putin very successfully. Turmoil in Europe is planned and well done by Putin. The Middle East including Turkey and Iran are under
Putin’s influence. In modern history of the world Putin is the most intelligent , shrewd , cruel and crook world leader, unfortunately, America got the worst president in our history,
86
@ASHRAF CHOWDHURY yes because Obama did so much to check Putin! Putin gained more between 2008 and 2016 than asny other time in power.
2
Many of Trump supporters wear T-shirts that say, “I’d rather be Russian than a democrat.” Kind of says it all.
4
All roads from Trump and the Republicans lead to Putin.
Trump supporters and the Republicans are fine with that. They have all the freedom-loving instincts of Czarist Russian serfs. Which, under Putin, is what Russians are, once again.
510
@Robert Henry Eller - his supporters have no clue about Russia, and I don't think they even care. They are hearing words from a person who is disenfranchised like they feel. It's that simple.
6
You sound like as much of a conspiracy theorist as Alex Jones. All of Republicans in the House and Senate voted for new sanctions against Russia and Trump has increased sanctions on its major allies, e.g. North Korea, Cuba, Iran, and Venezuela. If Trump supported Russia, he wouldn’t have increased the US Defense budget by 20 billion and asked NATO members to increase their budgets by billions of dollars. He has no business ties in Russia (all attempts have failed), and your precious Mueller report states that he did not conspire or collide with Russia, even if they wanted him to win.
8
@Alfred Stein And yet, Mitch McConnell has sat on/defeated every election security bill that has come up for a vote in the Senate and we still don't know how much Russian money was laundered into Republican campaigns via the NRA. Trump regularly cites conversations with Putin when declaring his either innocence or competence.
You say there's no "there" there, but clearly, there is.
9
Russia has many problems. The chief one is economic. The country depends on its export of energy--natural gas, oil--to the West for dollars to pay for infra-structure, military equipment, medical care, etc. Yet, it is running out of oil and natural gas. It is trying to develop new sources undersea in the Arctic Ocean. But those sources are harder to find, and much more expensive to develop. They require sensing devices, powerful computers, very long drills and special drill bits that only companies like Exxon and BP have. And look what happened when BP tried to access gas in the Gulf of Mexico some years ago.
Things will continue to worsen, unless the Russians can develop new technologies and businesses that deal with climate change and other pressing economic problems.
1
Most of the world has taken a hard right turn, and many are admirers of authoritarian style government. Look at us. I believe trump voters WANT autocratic and authoritarian government. Democracy is valued less and less, even here in the states. Why? Fear. Terrorism, environmental degradation, huge numbers of displaced refugees all over the world, and more, much more. Population pressure, violence and lawlessness right here. Big brother won't have to take over, we beg for "him" to come.
3
It’s easier to destroy than to create.
Russia would rather live in a world where everyone is miserable, but they are first among equals, than to accept the success of the West and the flowering of the Enlightenment.
4
"...propagation of fake or at least highly misleading news; the masking of simple facts with complicated conspiracy theories; and denunciations of political rivals as traitors..."
The article describes both Putin's tool kit and Trump's precise employment of the same. In terms of execution, you couldn't slip a fingernail between them. Say goodbye to "Truth, Justice and the American way folks. If you want to see what it's going to look like, move to Russia.
1
So Russia can’t do education, they don’t do housing or healthcare well; they are trashing their environment, and they can’t provide a future of hope for their next generations...but they kick butt at espionage. What does anyone expect, when your leader is a spy who spent his entire life in espionage?
Now look at the U.S: we are not doing education or healthcare very well at all. We are failing at housing; and experiencing anemic wage growth, increasing poverty and decreasing life expectancy and infant mortality. We are back to trashing our environment, and we are condemning an entire generation of our youth to struggling with debt and truncated dreams.
But hey: our congress has been captured by crony capitalists who have rigged the tax system for their personal benefit, and our politics has become a tawdry media spectacle. What else should we have expected from a leader who spent his life as a corrupt real estate speculator (set up by his rich father), and more recently, the star of a tacky reality show?
Perhaps it’s time for the citizens of the world to cast a more discerning eye upon the resumés of their leaders...because it appears that what you see, is likely what you are going to get....
5
The Democrats needed a scapegoat to explain their failure with HRC when they decided to build up the Russians as The Great Puppet Master of the American People. They're hurting under our sanctions. What's the answer, more?
My party alienated me with the Mueller investigation and Kavanaugh hearing. Also by coming out for every politically correct talking point from reparations to late term abortions. Maybe the Russians are behind that too. This construct that our freedom relies on the defense of the Ukraine should have sent progressives in fits of laughter instead they wasted four years trying to get Trump. For that they should get four more.
8
Decades ago, columnist George Will brilliantly summed up the bleak Russian economy:
"The Russian people pretend to work, and the Russian government pretends to pay them."
The May Day parades still displayed Russia's military might while Soviet-style breadlines, Vodka consumpton, and empty shelves underscored the dark shadow and reality of life in Comrade Land.
Putin, a former KGB gangster, appeared and charmed an entire country through an elaborate propaganda campaign, including provoking fear on the American psyche while trying to sabotage our election process.
"... Russia is playing with the West’s minds." - NYT
Putin is a master in the art of political seduction and deceit. He practiced his craft for years at KGB Central.
NYT states "Putin’s rule: his ability to present himself and his country as standing far taller than objective facts would seem to justify."
In Putin's world, high-tech cell phones and computers have replaced breadlines; military might is back, and it's aggressively flexing its power and pride.
But what Putin fears most is discontent in Russia and a free press. Protests increased on Moscow's streets after Putin announced decreases in pensions.
As my father once said about perceptions and reality:
"You can't go buy a tuxedo if you have holes in your underwear."
When media reports show how much Putin and his gangsters have stolen from the Russian treasury, and the breadlines resume, it will spark outrage.
The large underwear holes will be exposed.
1
I read a bit of this and didn't see anything about propaganda so I stopped reading. Putin is a master of disinformation; he learned from the masters, and is teaching Trump. Until the New York Times wakes up and understands how dictators manipulate the global masses through actual fake news, viral social media campaigns, secret messaging, vote tampering, Kompromat, assassination and imprisonments, along with kleptocracy and the international oligarch mafia, they won't understand any of this. I wish you would give us more information about it. There should be regular articles tying these techniques an dollars to each other, ferreting them out and getting to the bottom of how they are implemented, explaining why Putin would want to rile up Americans on the far right and far left and what's in it for him. Why Trump wants Russians buying his Florida condos. Tie all of it together and help the public understand.
3
Russia is a wonderful and beautiful and awesome nation...surviving the worst of communism...it has reached heights that are unimaginable in just a couple decades. Its stature and honor stand high among nations. The negatitivity coming from the lunatic and uninformed western media does not fool anyone.
5
@Licinia
Don't you mean that it 'should' not fool anyone (but it does)? Your bias is a refreshing one.
2
No, it's the nationalist chest-beating from Russians that doesn't fool anyone. It's sad that so many of you are deceived by Putin's lies, and blind to his obvious corruption.
3
Well which is it? Are we fooled or aren't we?
3
Putin is formidable because he's former head of the KGB and has dirt on most leaders. He clearly didn't have dirt on Obama and he hated the fact.
5
trump in his lack of wisdom, with 5 secret meetings with Putin, puts the Russian on center world stage. Any other president would let Putin fade into obscurity. But trump is no genius, so things re different because of his inane ignorance.
3
Scroll to the 25th most popular comment in Readers Picks with 68 reccomends, left by istriachilles . Or go here for a bettter perspective on Putin's grip on Russia: http://cepr.net/blogs/beat-the-press/new-york-times-doesn-t-have-access-to-data-on-russia-s-gdp
Also missing was any mention of Russia's oil and gas, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum_industry_in_Russia
Aside from mentioning Obama's dismissal of the Russian threat, (say, who was his Secretary of State for most of his administration, I forget) no discussion of who lost Russia (Bush and Clinton). No mention of Georgia incursion in August 2008, so really norms didn't turn on 2008-2009 financial meltdown.
1
@C We, the Americans, the enlightened readers of the NYTimes know better than underdeveloped Russians what is good for them. We are so eager to save them from themselves. God Bless America!
1
Russia is a rogue terrorist state fighting a hot war against global democracy.
They are fighting are allies the Ukraine, a bulwark against Russian expansion and a invaluable prospective NATO member.
That is why the Russian asset occupying the White House wanted to stop Congressionally appropriated military aide and trip them up in a scandal.
Instead, Donald was caught red-handed and impeached. He failed.
Putin must be stopped by any means necessary. The Russian people should receive what he stole from them, and gain a leader who will no longer engage in global terrorism and corruption.
The American people also deserve a better leader than the impeached disgraced corrupt Trump. This time we will pick our own leader though.
4
Trump=Russia= corrupt GOP men and women who hate America.
The rest of the sane world realize that Putin like Trump has nothing to offer the rest of the world. Our democracy is working because Trump has the letter I next to his name just like the A in the Scarlet Letter.
Trump, Putin only offer kaos in a world where people want good jobs, to live their lives in peace. Putin may one day find out that killing everyone doesn't change how the world thinks of him and Trump. Two corrupt, damaged personalities who doesn't matter. You can only die one time no matter how many nuclear warheads you have.
2
It’s the “I’m a mess, you should be a mess too. And I’ll help bring you down” geopolitics theory.
1
As a pretentious self-important pseudo-intellectual, I know the answer:
global a-national capitalism loves autocrats like Putin. This is the unholy alliance of dark money from criminal enterprises, corruption, rape-and-pillage "economic development" ; and the despotism of neofascist regimes, loaded with trillions of dollars that slush around looking for a place to multiply.
The Left used to inveigh at multinational corporations but those were the happy days. What we have now are the "apolide" (from Greek apolis: without a state) megalo-capital, disconnected from goods and services, tethered only to itself and its imaginary value.
And, Dems or Reps in power, the dynamic is not going to change: Bitcoin was just the first test of the new world order. Wait until Libra becomes a reality.
Good night.
1
For a Russian, subspecies Russian-American, the solemn nonsense about us here, is hilarious. Comments included.
During the 1950s, white people thought they were experts on Black life, motivation, psychology, physical traits, intelligence, and stability.
If you guess that this very confidently held claptrap was uniformly negative, you would be correct.
But Non-Black people are no longer allowed to mouth-off about things Black.
Take heart. The fun of racism lives on.
One, unique, acceptable bigotry is still left. Non-Russians, more exactly non-Ethnic-Russians, are invited to blather about us as they once did about Blacks. Eg, here.
This prattling builds on an old tradition, one dating back 150 years.
Before then, Russia was America's friend for the first century of the Republic. We aided, in our small way, the Revolution. We were the North's only ally in the Civil War.
As it became an imperial power, the US changed. From the 1880s, we became for America, as for the rest of the "civilized" (read White) world, the subhuman foil for its preening sanctity.
The contempt, based on racial and moral superiority, spread into the population, where it became a reflex.
Through the years of Communism, pop sociology identified us with the Stalinist state. Ridiculous. Communism killed more of us than of any other population.
These are the starting points for understanding us. Y''all don't have a clue about them, and thus quack when you hold forth on us.
8
If you look at all the major wars we have had since WW2, namely Vietnam, Korea, Afghanistan, Iraq no one has been able to sustain victory. Not the US, not USSR, not China. Even in Yemen the Saudis haven’t been able to achieve any victory.
It’s too easy for another power to funnel arms and support to the local population to fight off the invaders. And no one wants heavy casualties on their side.
War is now shifted to the war of the mind, war on the truth and on public opinion. And Russia has mastered this to the point of achieving victory with an agent in the WH, and the cleaving apart of Europe.
5
One of the things that Putin depends on is that the democratic industrialized world isn't as obsessed with wrecking Russia as he is in wrecking the democratic industrialized world. He says that Russia is in that sort of existential danger, and on some level he probably believes it, but the poor state of military, IT and police security in Russia shows that he in fact depends on not being attacked in the way that he attacks others. The successes he achieves depend on the weak state of the internet and the incentives that exist for governments and countries to keep itt hat way, and on the fact that military operations in our time are very small scale compared to the big wars of the 20th century, more like the colonial wars of the 19th century, but with a wider distribution of fairly modern weapons. If he and others keep wrecking Russia's economy and infrastructure, some day it will be hard to keep doing the things they do, but "some day" may be quite some time from now.
1
This piece reminds me of an old SNL skit, featuring Al Franken, titled 'Daily Affirmation With Stuart Smiley'. It features an outlandishly dressed character in front of a giant head-to-toe mirror.
He is talking to the audience in a calm, reassuring voice, asking people how they feel about their problems, minor or major, family or work-related. It is a monologue, where he lists all the ills that can affect people, telling them that they should not give in to bad feelings about themselves, providing the following example: he turns to the mirror half way, so we can see his real face and mirror image at the same time, saying the following to the mirror:
"I feel fine. Just fine. Because I am good enough, I am smart enough and doggone it everybody loves me".
It seems the American psyche needs a daily affirmation with Stuart Smiley.
3
Interesting point about the 2008 financial crisis -- stimulated largely by the elimination of regulations on banks and the predictable greed that followed -- changing Putin's ideas about Western dominance from strength to weakness.
Reminds me of a remark attributed to Lenin: "The Capitalist will sell the rope to his hangman."
1
I lived & worked in Russia for four years in the late 2000’s. This long, rambling, article does not (in my opinion) answer the question it set out to solve. There is no doubt Putin has brought order & stability to Russian society; something folks there yearned for post the demise of the USSR. As to why he / Russia are so effective versus the west it is (in my view) the same as why Russia was first in space, credible foe in the arms race, etc. It is a nation that can successfully deploy its resources in the pursuit of a small list of important tasks; in this case using social media to shake the foundations of democratic systems in far away places, and increase its hegemony in lands close to its immense geographical borders. It’s very long term demographic fate seems unclear but, until then......
5
The economic turnaround after the economic debacle of the Yeltsin years might have something to do with Putin’s popularity.
2
It was good to mention that Russia excels in the arts, classical music, ballet, and sports, like gymnastics. Perhaps more revealing is that many of the world’s greatest chess players have been Russians. Putin plays a ruthless game, and the West is just rousing itself from a nap.
1
To quote a friend with whom I had a contentious relationship long ago as to why he acted that way: "It was easier to tear you down than build myself up." And thus we parted ways.
Putin, if you're listening, man up!
1
How has Russian been so effective at manipulating us, despite being just a shell of its former self - which was itself an exaggerated shell used to pump up our military-industrial complex? This new shell supports our political-media establishment unbelievably well. Putin can thank 'Boris and Natasha' and all the other cartoon and more adult products of our mainstream media that have indoctrinated us over the years.
3
"Russia’s economy is dwarfed by that of America’s, which is more than 10 times bigger in dollar terms..."
You can compare GNPs unfavorably, but remember as an example that Russian citizens generally live in much smaller homes. Our McMansions over-inflate our GNP. The same no doubt goes for automobiles.
I have been wondering about this for decades.
I remain shocked by how easily we in the US like to blame Russia for our own readiness to be so easily brainwashed.
What I’ve seen in RT and elsewhere, over the years, would not be particularly persuasive to anyone of strong mind or capable of an ironic perspective.
But clearly, so many in the US are easily fooled and rather literal-minded, without the slightest capacity for irony. It is a deep, cultural failing.
RT shows if anything look like the 60 Minutes or McNeil/Lehrer Report of old, with, granted, a few twists every now and then that seem a bit odd. But mostly, it’s refreshing perspective, different from the dull, droning propaganda we get in the news and the movies in the West, day in and day out.
Max Keiser got old, though; Nina Kruscheva remains witty, entertaining and is a real superstar. Her interviews are often thought-provoking.
We should stop behaving like the Morlocs we are quickly becoming in the US, and in turn look at the world with a little more wit, irony and perspective, instead of the literal-minded, suspicious paranoia we’ve gotten into ever since the ‘50’s.
5
It has been said that the Russian people have never grown beyond the need for a dictatorship.
They have merely traded a tsar for an autocrat who has arranged to be “elected”.
Churchill’s famous assessment calls Russia
“a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma “. Perhaps maintaining this image works for Putin as it has for other leaders.
1
Some Russians believe the propaganda but many, many Russians do not. They are afraid. Rightly so.
Liberal hubris is largely responsible for our present plight. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, America and her allies pushed NATO into Russia’s great power sphere of influence. They did so to promote democracy—a liberal article of faith. In so doing, they misjudged Russia's ability to push back, and ignored the lessons of history. Now, as a result, we have Trump, and democracy in decline.
2
Michael Che and Colin Jost. If you're reading this, the backdrop would be a perfect variation on the standard Weekend Update set. Just for one episode.
Invite Vladimir Putin to be a guest. Let him congratulate Mr. Trump again in his own words, and herald a new day for Russia's "The Ukraine" and the Baltic States. (And, of course, also thank Mayor Rudy for his help in getting things done...)
Not to deprive you of the scripting possibilities, you might even start with Vlad on center, and Colin and Michael joining him to his left and right mid-skit...
2
Why ?
Obama is smart but does not understand the use of power
Trump is not smart, but does understand the use of power
Putin is both smart and understands the use of power
And thus he wins
We tend to give way too much attention to an economically, scientifically and morally weak country that has long given up any pretenses of being a viable democracy. In contrast, Democracies in the West are economically, scientifically and militarily as strong as ever. If Russia wants to entangle itself in Syria, Libya and the Ukraine, by all means let them. It got them nothing but immense debts, young men returning in body bags and global political isolation (sanctions and unceremoniously kicked out of the G8). The Emperor has no clothes!
2
To perhaps paraphrase, "American is a large, strong, and mostly unafraid person, but saddled with clothes loosely stitched of dead meat" - Corporations and individuals without allegiance to our country and whose only/major objective is the bottom line.
1
It's simply a case of them vs us... Working tirelessly to improve oneself is hard. To someone that judges themselves by comparing with others it might be well easier to improve their stature by diminishing that of their counterparts. Throw in a few generations brainwashed by communism and you arrive at Putin's Russia today. Also consider that when viewed from within, the lack of any domestic prowess only enhances the underdog feel. It's human nature at its basic urges, and Russia does not have a monopoly over it.
4
It takes two.
There might not have been a President Putin but for a historic mistake by the west regarding NATO in response to the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Warsaw Pact. NATO should have been dissolved, but instead it expanded towards the Russian border. It should not take a PhD in international relations to conclude that this would be seen in Russia as a provocation. It played into the hands of some nationalist politician like Putin, and he took full advantage. And he came in with all the sinister arts he learned in the KGB. He knew that, especially in the cyber world, they could be far more effective in undermining the west than all his Soviet predecessors' armed might.
All this has renewed the need for NATO to exist - but not to fight the last war. It needs to learn to match Putin on his turf.
And there was another historic mistake by the US. Post cold-war, the US flooded Moscow with Chicago School economists who persuaded the Russians to go cold-turkey into full raw capitalism. People's livelihoods were destroyed overnight , and their economy never really recovered, apart from a select few who helped themselves to state assets at bargain basin prices. The old Soviet apparatchiks, Putin included became the new suopercapitalist oligarchs.
12:45 EST, 12/23
2
Being destructive is not that difficult. It is easier to destroy than to build a good society. Having the media under control it is possible to fool most of the populace all the time. Just repeat a lie often enough and it becomes true. Lock up or beat up those who insist 2+2=4.
Russia despite its size and endless resources has a GDP the size of Spain, produces enough military stuff to kill everyone on the planet repeatedly, but off their own bat would be hard pressed to manufacture a tv or automobile that anyone would want to own.
To shore up his administration at home Putin needs enemies abroad and this is best achieved by belligerence. NATO is blamed for expansionist ambitions eastwards while in reality the east european countries were terrified of the bear and needed the security provided by the western alliance.
An opportunity to counter Russian expansionism will present itself in november '20 when hopefully Trump will be removed from the White House. I shudder to think of the consequences if he is reelected.
1
Adam curtis of the BBC did an interesting documentary titled "hypernormalization" which is available on YouTube. it highlights Putin's smoke and mirror tactics in keeping the entire world guessing at what unbelievable move is next. us in the USA would probably do well to not take the bait from manipulative and power hungry leaders in this country and realize that the real power is in our hands! working class Republicans Democrats and independents must unite!
MSM unwittingly plays right into the smoke and mirrors game just by keeping tabs on everything that Trump does and the "circus" that his administration has become, and if we follow too closely and start to believe everything that is said to be in good faith, we'll forget where we came from and really be marooned.
1
I did not see my reasons. First, the US was complacent with the power of the internet, propaganda and the rise of White Supremacy. Secondly, the party in power the last decade was simply opposed to everything except enriching the rich. As long as that happened, literally nothing else, including national security, mattered. Thirdly, with Trump, the GOP went all in with supporting anything Putin did. Oh, the made tiny noises with a couple economic sanctions, but the GOP was happy to let the Russians have their way because it benefitted the GOP and their quest for authoritarian rule in the USA, which certainly appealed to the White Supremacist, the White Evangelicals, and the corporatists. So, with the Party in Power so happy to give away security in return for power, what is a good Putin to do?
1
I am a long time Russia watcher/analyst, and this article provides badly needed context to Putin's motivations over the past twenty years.
A creature of the Soviet state, Russia's power ministry leader employed ime tested tactics and strategy from that era to attain his goals. They include (in Russian) pokazhuka, dezinformatsia, vranyo.
He also rejiggered and expanded the security services (at the expense of the armed forces) , squelched the nascent autonomy of the regional governors, and created a cadre of corrupt billionaires who have benefit from ownership of the state's resources and will do his dirty work to coopt other adversarial governments.
Too bad, but too true
2
Putin is such a formidable adversary because he purchased a U. S. President and is trying hard to get him re-elected.
3
Those who actually are short-changed are usually angry, and combative to make things “right” from their point view. The seeking of justice ... what’s fair ... in other words. These are, after all, human beings. Russia suffers impoverishment, which is made worse through competition that alienates them further. The nations of the world have, for the most part, engaged in struggles to be the first, the best, the smartest, the most wealthy, etc. ... and “winners” unwittingly become the losers and unhappy in anxiety at that. MLK said, and it seems true, that either we’ll live together like brothers or we’ll die like fools. Once one is “over oneself,” the solution isn’t hard to figure out. With the likes of Trump, though: forget it.
2
"Bitterly disillusioned with the West on security issues, in 2007 Mr. Putin delivered a speech in Munich bristling with resentment and anger at American unilateralism and disregard for Russian opposition to the expansion of NATO. "
Once again we see American attempts to dominate the world leading to disaffection throughout the world. Former Defense Secretary, William Perry, in his book "My Journey at the Nuclear Brink", laments how the US pushed the expansion of NATO to the opposition of Russia. The opposition we see from Russia and Putin is largely of America's own doing. This country simply feels it can do whatever it wants to the world, and any resistance from other countries in the world is irrelevant. We had an opportunity to work with Russia and cooperate with it after the break up of the Soviet Union and with our stupidity failed to do that.
5
Simple, really. A handful of cronies looted what little wealth Russia has. Petro dollars mostly, as Russia makes very little anyone wants. Couple that with what Russia does very well outside of classical music and ballet, intelligence, and you have a very effective weapon of asymmetric warfare. Now all they need is a major political party within a rich, giant advisory that's morally bankrupt and you have the debacle we find ourselves in.
2
Putin may be busking in military glory. If he has a sense of dignity, there’s nothing to be proud of being the head of a mafia state, in which he dispenses influence to his siloviki – people like him, who came into politics from the security or military background.
Officers of the former KGB, GRU, FSB have created a corrupt elite that keeps Putin in power. History shows that the sun had set on empires. This authoritarian kleptocracy won't be an exception.
Putin may enjoy being cunning, cynical and evil, taking pleasure in undermining the West. But he and his cronies need the West for personal interests, given the vast stocks of Russian capital that have piled up in New York, London, and elsewhere.
In fact the West has the possibility to exploit this fragility and use it as a leverage. But its financial elite – the Tories in the UK and Repbulicans in the US – turn a blind eye to dirty Russian money.
It's interesting to watch what the future will hold for Putin. No doubt he fears meeting the same fate as the last Russian czar, Nicholas II.
4
When the United States has a president who praises Putin and says "Putin is a much better president than President Obama" you can see the damage trump is doing to our country, and our allies. It is no secret from trump's private meetings with Putin, any chance he can get, without press of anyone in attendance and trump even confiscates the notes from the translator after the private meeting, this alone should send chills up all the republicans spines...Even if they are spineless!
4
Is it only me or does this article really end in a rather abrupt manner, failing to fully develop the last point made, namely that it was the 2008 crisis that set Putin on his current path?
2
How do you present a country like Russia as simultaneously a titanic failure, hopelessly falling apart and on its last legs, and yet presenting a mortal threat to our vibrant American democracy--and so needing to be confronted militarily as soon as possible? . . . .This is the perennial dilemma faced by bourgeois journalists, in their role as cheerleaders for US imperialism. But as Mr. Bernstein in Citizen Kane said, of the great journalists of his day: "They're like everybody else. They've got a job to do and they do it."
6
@Red Allover
Because they DON'T present Russia as the minor threat that it is.
2
No mention in the OP-ED piece's metadata that Russia's threat has apparently been downgraded from an "Enemy" to and "Adversary"?
Do tell, what caused that action? Did Trump tweet something?
1
Every dog has his day. They created trump and they'll go down with trump. Short-lived victory is exactly that. In 3 years we'll see a much different picture. GOP = Putin.
5
Politics is increasingly bought and Putin is the biggest buyer in the market.
The global rich trade favors with each other and they welcome anyone with a bag of money or monetizables regardless their human rights records or labor treatment that hardly any of them values anyway.
English is attractive to learn with all the movies and other stuff out. His disinformation army is far larger than the joint efforts to instrumentalize the political clout of the Russian public opinion. (And God save America now that the Chinese, Saudi etc. are chafing at the bit to jump in.) It's easier to dumb down than to educate and elevate, should we want that - we usually can't because inner divisions undermine and lame us. With the poor average levels of education in especially the US, a 'trophy' wanted by church and corporate leaders who eye to divide and rule, he has a walk-over. Putin's autocratic power basis is intact, there for the long run. (He'll be gone in 2025 though, if the recurring 36 year watershed 1st comm. international, October Revolution, Death of Stalin, Berlin Wall Fall repeats itself - all in years with a Saturn/Neptune conjunction). The power of the chosen leaders of the West is much more subdued, unless what they want is perfectly in line with what the oligarchy wants. Since Putin roughly wants what America's kleptocratic and psychopathic CEOs want, he has a slam dunk. Both represent the interests of Big Oil's crusade to pollute the earth to pieces for a quick extra buck.
3
Russia isn't a mess to Putin. It's right where he wants it, because he has effectively turned the Russian Government into a criminal cartel, which he controls with fear, extortion, and outright murder. He has exploited it, as much credible evidence suggests, to become the world's richest man. It's why we should remain vigilant of him getting his tentacles even deeper into the heart of our Government or it could go way beyond his gang of Facebook trolls meddling in our elections. In fact, the way the Republicans are now behaving, undermining the FBI, the CIA, and the DOJ at every given opportunity, I'm afraid it already has.
3
Putin wakes up every morning contemplating how he can further damage the West. We need a president who thinks the same way toward Russia--as opposed to meeting secretly with Putin to receive his orders. It is hard to swallow this Times news feature, but the paper is due great credit for running it.
3
Why Is Putin Such a Formidable Adversary?
Because the foreign policy of the US in the Near East under President Obama was an utter disaster.
Obama was smart failed to understand the use of power
Putin is smart AND does understand the use of power
After the US's failure to enforce the red line, it was read as a tiger paper in the Mid East.
Emboldened, Putin moved in. Taking the Crimea, saving Assad, sending troops to Syria and Libya supporting the rebellion in the Donbas
When you deal with ruthless people you need to be ruthless
This article nails it on where the roots of the doctrines of a lot of members of the American democrats & the Canadian Liberals, who are in power but with shell shocked quiet at their fall from a majority to a minority government come from. If you to see what their leftist, socialistic policies that have no basis in practicality or integrity can do, peek over your northern border.
It's always been amusing to me witnessing the entire world quake in their collective boots over Russia. Russia's GDP is akin to that of Italy but no one is unnerved by the Italians. Another interesting fact: only 2 of 3 households in Russia have indoor plumbing and toilets. Fact. That's the country everyone fears? Look past the propaganda and all one sees is a bankrupt nation controlled by criminals. That's America's future if it doesn't wake up.
1
To a great degree Putin‘s power stems from his demasculization of Trump.
Who knows how much money the Russians have loaned our President, without which the Trump enterprise might very well become bankrupt.
3
Putin works on the divide and rule philosophy , identifying divisions by ideology and geography and exacerbating those divisions by cyber technology which he uses in the most evil way
His strategy is based on revenge , the West broke up the USSR he wants to break up Nato, E.U. and paralyses the USA by building on partisanship
Not only that it keeps this murderous individual relevant on the World Stage.
2
Is Russia doing poorly by our own metrics? The wealthy remain extremely wealthy. The country is militarily powerful enough to dominate its neighbors and even the US. “Dangerous elements” are kept in line by the state’s security apparatus. The Russian Orthodox Church is openly elevated, while “deviant behavior” like homosexuality is punished. Putin even denounces the evidence of climate change and the impeachment of Trump.
By the metrics of conservative America, is this not utopia? Isn’t this what nearly half of this country wants us to work toward?
2
Wow, terrifying Russia seized ... Crimea? the part of Ukraine that was overwhelmingly Russophile, and consistently provided the votes for Russophile victories. Meaning that, in essence, Russia ceded its influence in Ukraine.
This article is a bit ridiculous. The post-Soviet collapse had everything to do with the American advised shock doctrine, liberally applied. Yeltsin was put into a second term, in spite of being a medically certifiable alcoholic surrounded by a world class group of corrupt and often murderous oligarchs, cause American advisors manipulated the Russian media shamelessly. Everything Putin-ism is, in other words, was implanted and cultivated by the U.S. And the result is... exactly the kind of dictatorship the U.S. has so successfully planted in many Latin American countries (including, recently, Bolivia) and other third world countries.
Putin is not really scary. What is scary is "blowback" - the heedless, brutal foreign policy pursued by an American establishment which keeps doing the wrong things.
4
Russia learnt how to weaponize the Internet and the West has yet to figure out an effective countermeasure. So until it does, poorly educated and gullible voters will continue to act as unwitting agents of Moscow.
1
Russia is such a mess because it is irredeemably corrupt ant it concentrates the entirety of its national asset cache on military aggression and international confrontation and nothing on domestic economic development. Russia has determined itself to be a thugocracy; its future is accordingly limited, regardless of what the West does.
3
Formidable?
Maybe as a manufactured boogeyman.
Despite all the FB/IG influence campaigns a human still had to press a button, pull a lever, punch a chad, fill in circle, etc. at the voting booth.
Red Scare - The Sequel proponents still have yet to answer how Russian influence campaigns were so effective on everyone else but THEM? Magic? Science Fiction? Mass Hypnosis? What???
3
"Why is Putin Such a Formidable Adversary?" Because, as our ideological adversary, our having a president* with the IQ of a rock puts us in such a detrimental position we're not only losing face and credibility on the geopolitical stage, we've lost anything remotely close to our previous global position...
1
We don't know what's in the minds and hearts of the Russian people.
2
What we need to understand is how critically important it is to get the Kremlin and its agents out of the White House.
Russians Ousted, America Restored.
2
Perhaps because the president of the United States is a Russian stooge whose predecessor stood down in 2016 for fear of appearing partisan?
2
America is in tumult, huh? You folks have seriously lost your minds. You just won’t admit things are just fine under Trump. If you did, and instead pointed out that we could do better morally, you might actually have a chance at winning the presidency.
The only thing in tumult as far as I can see is the Democratic Party which seems incapable of talking about anything but absurd theories that Trump is a Russian asset (that have been totally proven false) till your blue in the face. Meanwhile all facts point to Dems using outside influence (the Steele docs) to improperly spy on American citizens.
Pelosi says that she prays for the president. I pray for her and her supporters mental well being. Goodness.
1
Why don't Russians overthrow their government? In any other country where people suffer as much as Russians, the government gets removed. Russians are lame.
And what will be after? Russians see the example of Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and they are not impressed. Why would they want to be more poor than they are now?
1
Does anyone believe that Putin would help the US?
Putin set out to weaken the US and NATO
Very simple, tilt the scale towards an ignorant Con artist.
The corruption within the electoral college, and the republican party, will do the rest.
3
The end of communism was handled with profound idiocy.
1) Both democracy and capitalism require sustained institutional development, and legal institutions must be in place long enough that they generate a supportive culture such that democratization can be expanded. (The current destruction of our own social bases of democracy is reserved for another discussion).
2) We should have immediately initiated a new "Marshall Plan" for Russia once communism ended in Russia in 1991 to strengthen democratic institutions by (a) spreading legal norms, and (b) using American investment to temper the savageries of "the market." (And "the market" without rule of law, and without democracy, becomes just another form of economic warlordism -- see the oligarchies around the world from China, to Russia, to former communist countries, to the collapsing democracies in "the west" in the face of unregulated capitalism.)
3) Just as morons in the administration of Bush the Second expected modern democratic capitalism to be a "natural" thing that would just "pop up" in Iraq once the "oppressive regime" was gone, morons in the Bush the First and Clinton administrations also expected democratic capitalism to "naturally develop" in Russia once communism was gone. The historical illiteracy was simply spectacular.
4) Finally, speaking of history, the historian William McNeil wrote, in The Pursuit of Power (1982), that Russia has always built a first rate military on a second-rate economy.
1
because he controls trump.
2
The reason Russia is seen as “the great boogeyman” is because our media likes it that way. It sells papers and , of all groups, The Social Democrats see Russia and Putin as good campaign strategy because Trump dared to reach-out to “ the evil empires “ like Russia, North Korea and China offering them trade thru peaceful means vs belligerent rock throwing....
3
"Reality is" advice and consent IS civilization, Mr. Putin, not a joke.
This article can be summed up just saying "much ado about nothing." Putin is only a player because we make him one. Our own incompetence, greed and corruption is much more worrisome. So what Russia is involved in the Middle East (he can have it and good luck) and he takes advantage of our own stupidity to sow discontent. Believe me, Putin is not the problem, we are the problem and I don't think there is a fix for that. I can see why some people admire his leadership, as bloodthirsty and cruel as it is. Especially given the lack of leadership in the West, especially the U.S. But no Russia is not "ten feet" tall just like the old Soviet Union was not that tall. Russia is an illusion, another boogeyman, that we like to cry about because our own reality is so messed up.
2
I have seen quality presentations that state while the US it trying like mad to hurt Russia, it isn't succeeding, in fact classic Russian ability to weather storms is working to improve their economy, largely due to the leadership of Putin:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZk-fZUI8VI
I have read perhaps 40 serious books on Russia, and follow it closely, but everything I garner here her is negative propaganda I find misleading. The question is why, why not just tell the truth. You may have to fire a lot of staff including management, but you'd be a lot better off for it in the long run.
4
Maybe Putin could resign from Russia and lead our country...
1
Russians have been oppressed by Church and State, czars and commissars, from time immemorial. Putin is simply the latest in a long line...
Russia has produced great names in the arts, most especially in literature, due to the seemingly unlimited capacity of its people to suffer. From a lit class many years ago,"Literature involving suffering, then, is often true to life, in that it portrays suffering as inevitable and sometimes inexplicable, occasionally endured and overcome."
2
I think a history lesson not too long ago is important to remember. I was a child during the collapse of the Soviet Union but even now it is hard to imagine what it’s like to wake up in a new country with centuries old parts forming new nations and having a non existent economy and government.
If the US fractured it would be inevitable that an authoritarian figure would rise up to attempt to rebuild and reunite. As much as I love a true government of and for the people, it is terribly slow to act and indecisive at times where action is needed.
That being said, I think a question needs to be asked if these regimes are going to stay, or if the people will eventually demand a say. Given the history of monarchs and absolute dictators, I’d say it is only a matter of time. Putin is a once a generation figure.
3
Wait, do you mean the authoritarian figure that HAS risen in the fractured US?
Um, because he jails, poisons and out right kills anyone you goes against him and his close followers are all a bunch of crooks?
6
“America and Europe in tumult”? What rubbish. Now we have strong leaders in the US and the UK. I write this from the UK. I live in the US.
The only entities in “tumult” are the left wing editors and journalists of the NYT. The coastal elites in the US should prepare themselves for a Trump landslide in 2020. It’ll be bigger than Boris’s.
9
Utter nonsense!
Both Trump and Putin demonstrate underlying weakness in their demeanours. Call them out for what they are: insecure bullies. Instilling fear? Ha!
4
@Gordon Schneemann
Your first sentence implies that you understand their psyches. You don’t.
Russia is punching above its weight for now. Russia's economy can not sustain these overseas engagements for long before it all comes down. This will be the Soviet Union - the sequel.
Russia seems less like a bully at times than mischievous imp. It's success in promulgating false news in Europe may be coming to a conclusion as Europeans wise up, but here in the US, Russian-backed false news is still the go-to propaganda for the Trumpist right.
While Trump remains in office, Russia will continue to punch above its weighty if only because of the useful idiot in the White House.
5
@johnlaw Umm wrong. Russia can actually sustain these deployments. All of this is within budget and for the last couple of years there has been a budget surplus. So So Russia can actually bring it up a notch if it wanted to. Easy. The thing is Russia is much smarter and efficient about achieving its objectives around the world and doesn't require a trillion dollar budget like the US to change facts on the ground in Syria Libya or Ukraine. Maybe instead of worrying about Russia you need to get smarter too and spend more on your infrastructure and education instead of supporting an enourmous military budget and your hegemony around the world. Maybe you need to make sure your cities have good water supply instead of financing islamist terrorist in Syria or neonazis in Ukraine. Maybe you need to stop feeding your military industrial sector and address issues at home for a change instead of blaming Russia for your own mistakes.
5
Russia is no mess!
You,mr Higgins,wrote it to have BEEN a mess,but the NYT writes on the head of your article that Russia IS a mess.This is surely anti Russian propaganda of the NYT,that daily publicies hate articles against Russia.
You always write about Putin as a former KGB spy and thus you also try to denigrate the President of Russia(to please your bosses at the NYT?)
And you also always lie about Putin working for years to undermine the trans Atlantic alliance.What FACTS you have about that?
So I fully understand that you are mystified by Putin,because you don't accept what he told Oliver Stone in that interview about the way Russia uses her power.Your readers still think of him as a "genius of brute force".Don't they see the brute force America uses (often illegaly) all over the world?
5
LOL! Russia is a ZERO threat to the US...
Putin and Russia are a CLICKBAIT, time machine, scripted, FEAR mongering, FAKE NEWS recycled throw back to the 1950s/1960s.
The sole purpose is to try to damage the President, as is EVERYTHING that the Trump deranged loony left media and their echo chamber does.
5
Way too complicated. Russia has plenty of nuclear weapons. It is run by a mad man who will use whatever military might he has to achieve his objectives. He is unfettered by fair elections or any separation of powers to do exactly as he pleases. How did Germany take on the world in 1939, exactly the same way. He counts on the Western Democracies to let him take territory, just as Hitler did in Austria and Czechoslovakia in 1938. Whether the result will be the same - eventual overreach (say Belorus followed by Poland), is up for grabs. NATO is falling apart and the EU is basically a paper tiger more concerned about pensions than weapons. There you go.
4
@Ross Salinger What do you call ppl who ruined Iraq Afghanistan Libya and supported islamist in Syria to enable regime change? Are these examples of great leadership by the US? Those who stirred conflict all over the middle east since 2001 are the real madmen. It seems the US government is full of these maen hellbent on stirring chaos while their own citizens are drinking poisoned led water back home in places like Flynt. Worry about your own country and the problems you have before you start talking about madmen in Russia. You are no better if not worse!
2
Play off everyone against each other so that you have more avenues of action open to you. – Howard Hughes
His Majesty Putin excels !
1
He’s not formidable. Unless you’re an egocentric fool on whim he has Kompromat.
2
I wonder if Russia's surge had anything to do with Obama and Clinton allowing it to annex Crimea while drawing imaginary "red lines" in the sand?
1
This evil Russian thug played on people's genuine fears...no wonder he has a poodle, Trump. Russia is a mess, always been a mess, and will be a mess until Russians change. They've been beaten up so many times - 45 million dead from 1914-45 - it must seem normal. Americans are famously ignorant of history and vote against their own interests.
It's going to be a wild ride folks until both countries get rid of these two parasites.
3
Putin’s Trump’s loan shark!
Follow the $,$$$,$$$,$$$,$$$
Billions in debts to Russia’s oligarchs through the private arm of Deutsche Bank. We the people need to see those
‘mysterious ‘tax returns to prove who the current occupant of the White House truly owes allegiance to.
3
You have state TV, no one thinks for themselves, like a bunch of "sheeple" following blindly. Who does that remind you of?????
1
No Discussion Ever in the major media about how we, in turn, fight our adversary Russia.
It can't all be TOP SECRET!
Let's now face it, we have President Putin Lapdog as our leader.
( AKA) President Donald Putin-Puppy
2
We had better get some leadership in the US that can see Russia and NK for what they are, because this is the model for all global wanna-bes.
I think Obama understood this. His policy toward the NK was simply to advise them to be careful with nukes or be incinerated minutes after indiscretion. Obama's action against the invading Putin was not a war of words. It was simply monetary sanctions targeting a soon to be enraged Putin and his uber-wealthy minions.
Now we have fawning compliments from our 'juvenile-in-white-house' resident Trump, who treats North Korea and Russia as peers and equals , and really, they are peers and equals of Trump. But not he United States- Not even close.
However, as long as we have the Trump drama train pulling , we will stop at every single Chicken-Little station of blurred and trumped-up paranoia so he can step out and ejaculate ad-lib 'speeches' punctuated by his moronic half-grin.
4
Putin is so formidable because Trump is not. Putin wanted a "useful idiot" in the White House and he got one. Unfortunately, so do we.
4
Nothing too surprising when you have a president who is willing to bow to the president of Russia on every important issue and is willing to believe Putin no matter what lie he tells.
And, of course, we have the propaganda that keeps Russia's own people from knowing the truth about their country. Anybody watching RT, the state TV broadcast network, would believe that everything is terrible in the west and that everything is wonderful in Russia except that there are a handful of dissatisfied protesters who are obviously mentally ill for not appreciating all Putin has done for them.
Hitler was able to make a financially challenged country into a much greater world power in a shorter time than Putin with similar tactics. The U,S. president didn't bow to him but many important people in our country did as did most of the major European leaders.
3
Hmmm…
No mention of Putin's billions of stolen wealth? Extortion and flat out appropriation of existing businesses, arrests of owners?
No mention of his rise to power in 1999 after connection to mass murder in the suspicious apartment bombings and subsequent Chechen war?
https://www.google.com/search?q=putin apartment bombings&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari
Anyone want to side with Putin rather than our American system and democratic traditions?
If so, read this from a 21 year old who is facing prison in Putin's Russia for daring to think and act and breathe free like any
red-blooded American.
It will cure anyone who might be fooled by Putin or the American president who loves him.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/a-powerful-statement-of-resistance-from-a-college-student-on-trial-in-moscow
Remember what America stands for.
Even if Trump wants you to forget.
4
Russia is what it has been for the last 100 years, painted rust. They are the lefty boogie man because the lefties need someone to blame for their own failures.
1
First, Russia is an adversary only for bloodthirsty liberals who are always on lookout for enemies and battles. Also, their grotesque and totally stupid notion that DT is somehow Russian agent is not helpful.
Second, it is not formidable by any stretch of imagination. It is another matter that for anglosaxons only dead Russia is good Russia. Hence their love for the profound moron Yeltsin, and hatred for Putin who is all that Yeltsin was not. And whatever it is you think of him, he will almost certainly be beatified by the Russians.
It is easier to destroy than to build, simple as that. Russia can't build itself up so it is no hell bent on destroying everyone else. It is really sad. It's almost as if Russia has watched too many James Bond movies and accepted it's role as the bad guy and destroyer. Russia has so much potential, but it's complete lack of history of democracy puts it at a distinct disadvantage in the modern era.
1
Russian influence is strong partly because no one stands up to them, partly because they’ve done a good job of spreading propaganda favorable to Russia, but mostly because western democracies are in a rough patch.
Take us; we’ve an ignorant and amazingly crooked gas bag for a president who fawns on Mr. Putin, a Republican dominated Senate where laws go to die (about 400 or so have not been brought up for vote because Mr. McConnell won’t allow it) and about half of our states elect mostly right wing whack jobs to Congress thanks to vote suppression and extreme gerrymandering. Throw in an administration dominated by Mr. Trump’s toadies, many of whom are as corrupt as he is, a critically understaffed State department led by swaggering right wing buffoon and Trump toady Mike Pompeo, and its small wonder Mr. Putin eats our lunch. But that isn’t because Mr. Putin is so clever; it’s because we’re being led by idiots. Elect sensible people to government, both liberal and conservative (not corrupt right wing whack jobs; conservatives!) and we’d see Mr. Putin off in short order.
3
How is Putin exerting influence?
He throws money at key players in the West. Would someone betray his country for $200,000? Maybe not.
But for $20 million in an untraceable bank account?
Clearly there are many people willing to help him .
3
A House of Cards looks pretty strong right before it falls fast and furiously. Sometimes all it takes is a gentle breeze or one card to move a bit.
3
Yes, I am pessimistic about our economy as well.
the Russian people are the biggest sheep in the world. they're poor as church mice yet putin is one of the wealthiest people in the world. it's where we're headed..
13
I am no fan of Saint Ronnie, but one thing he got right was to apply economic pressure, at the right time and the right ways (mainly thwarting the USSR’s attempt to build a massive gas pipeline that would’ve supplied 70% of western Europe’s supply) that ended up bringing down the Soviet Union without firing a single bullet. Lesson: Economic vitality is the single most important aspect—and weapon, when required—in our national-defense “arsenal.”
Putin’s an evil genius, but he knows it’s much easier and way cheaper to spread propaganda to disorient, confuse, and break up his foes than through military action; analogous to what Reagan did using 21st-century technology and a limited pocketbook. Truly brilliant, on his part.
The Dems aren’t particularly adept at countering this “asymmetrical warfare,” but the GOP is even worse: Actively aiding and abetting Putin’s disinformation campaigns, fomenting divisiveness, and ruining the economic aspirations of a wide swath of the country—most everyone except the American Oligarchy. Everyone else is being sucked dry, and with it goes our most important national-security tool.
Coincidentally, don’t forget China, which aims to surpass the US in the one area where they know they can—and will—eventually come out on top: Economically. And we're making it easier for them when we diminish ourselves from within.
6
Influential Russians testify Reagan’s influence through those years was inconsequential to the downfall of the USSR. Sanctions back then were ineffective and nothing more than a starting gun for grey markets. I’m surprised Republicans don’t credit themselves with the sun rising everyday on their watch. They’re doing the same thing now, crediting Trump with basically President Obama’s economy. Look at any graph of the unemployment rate. The straight line trend started the second year of Obama’s first term.
4
@Mike :"Influential Russians testify Reagan’s influence through those years was inconsequential to the downfall of the USSR. "
Just can't bring yourself to say that Reagan was right as rain about the Evil Empire.
BTW, in terms of "testify" Gorby and Lech might say differently.
1
Here's a recipe for a disastrous repeat of the 2016 election. Take one dictator hell bent on causing havoc in our democratic system (Putin). Couple him with a "useful idiot" seeking his help once again (Trump). Add to the mix the chief law enforcement officer of the United States who will provide cover for Trump no matter what (Barr). Finish it off with a gerrymandered electoral system benefiting Republicans. Voila: You have the reelection of Donald Trump. Yes, Russia is a mess and that mess has infected the United States.
8
Hysteria...good, cheap advertising for the MIC
2
With an economy smaller than Italy the Russians are not the behemoth that the NYT likes to pretend they are. They obviously serve a some weird pseudo-liberal omnipotent role just to vex Trump.
7
Can you imagine if a former lt-colonel of Hitler's Gestapo ruled Germany for 20 years after WWII? That basically is what you have in Russia with Putin. As the educated Russians say, it is a ''позор.'' (A disgrace) As per his friend Trump, Putin is the ultimate sign of weakness and decay, not of strength.
6
Except that he is taking US with him.
1
Its really an easy answer; Putin has more than a useful idiot in the WH. Trump actually has helped Putin many times while president.
4
the Times is behind this love of power. get over it. i know an amerikan marine who bragged to me that he spied in Moscow for 17 years. we do it. they do it. the israelis do it. the saudis do it. the koreans & the chinese do it. it's all about power and money. time for a BIG change. is it getting better or worse? you decide. perhaps look around yourself for a once & stop hiding behind your church or your state. or do you believe in lies?
1
2019 The Russian equity market is up 30% versus the Dow up 31%. The Ruble up 10% versus the dollar. Russia has dumped almost all US Treasuries as it de-Dollarizes, now does bilateral, CNYRUB trade with China and an increasing number of countries. With the US having pulled out all the stops to wage economic war on Russia, the economy has still grown at 1.5%. This is remarkable. They are fighting the Battle of Stalingrad again and are winning.
The real beef the US has with Russia, and it is not the American people but the US ruling class, is it did not allow itself to be looted by American heroes of capitalism after the dissolution of the USSR. The USSR had its own crop of villains waiting in the wings, the Kodorokovskys, Abramovichs, Deripaskas, et al. to loot the country. Like the majority of their American counterparts they have no allegiance to their countrymen.
But what seems the most profound problem for Russia is the number of egos that have been bruised in the US: State Dept lifers have seen their Russian counterparts become rich to wildly rich, out in the world US businessmen are no longer treated as cock of the walk while their Russian counterparts are fawned over, the parasitic US think-tank industry cannot forgive the Russians for mastering propaganda and manipulation to the point they are competitive with the best disinformation campaign the U.S. Agency for Global Media has ever created.
AND STILL Hillary was un-electable with or without Putin.
5
What is Russian politics but a malignant, corrupt and ruthless authoritarian government practicing capitalism.
Russia is a natural with its tyrannical rule, as is Britain‘s monarchy and class system.
And now we have a monarch wannabe working against our constitution and corrupting everyone and thing he touches and undermining every value we have ever stood for, for profit.
Profit has no philosophy or moral structure except to exist and enrich those who practice it and the world be damned.
4
ANSWER: It isn't. The Russkies are falling for the same trick that the CIA played in the 60's and early 70's (again!).
QUESTION: How has a country like Russia, huge in size but small when measured by economic and other important metrics, become such a potent force?
BACKGROUND: Just google how CIA analysts as early as the mid 60s concluded that Russia was an economic and political pygmy -- that for all the TANKS they had in Eastern Europe then, they had NO gas to fight a war on a sustained basis. But the CIA purposefully kept this intel on the down-low cause they wanted to let the Russkies act like 'big shots' even though we knew all along they were bankrupt. THEY STILL ARE in the same economic circumstances (ie mess) now as then, and with the oligarch-controlled economy, they will never get out except through a revolution (!); and Putin, like Brezhnev is acting like a big shot though he hasn't the means to really do anything in the world, except do stupid not effective stuff like one-off dissidents. The difference between the 70s and now is that young Russians come and go as they please, and they have friends and family in the West, so many see how dumb things are in Russia, and how it **could** be better if Russia jsut got serius about economic reforms. They have the skills and intelligence to do this -- but not the will or political system.
But, ssssshhhhh . . . let's let Putin believe he is a big shot. Remember that Looney tunes cartoon: "But I am Napoleon!!!"
3
Politics from above: Many journalists covering Russia today are children of the Cold War (I am one of those children as well), and vivid reminders that evil men in the Kremlin were at any moment prepared to shower us with nuclear hell still influences our thinking.
Politics from below: I remember from my last visit to Moscow asking my friends about President Putin. The reply was part “hush” and part “you don’t have any idea.”
Because our idiot president doesn’t even realize. He IS an adversary.
3
What Hitler would do with access to soc.media technology, having oil money legal for bribing and ex-kgb agents arround the world?
In about 10 places in both the article and the comments
I see the word, "democracy" with reference to the USA.
However, it should be noted that in the USA
we do not have a "democracy," rather we have a "republic"
If we had democracy, we possibly could have "mob rule,"
e.g. in a democracy, 10 million votes for what is right,
could be defeated by 10 million and 1 votes for what is wrong,
and presto, you have mob rule and chaos.
So when we say "a democracy," with regard to the USA
we probably should be saying "a representative republic."
6
So tired of this "it's a Republic!" argument, as though it means it's wrong to refer to the US as a democracy. The republic is based on the principles of democracy. And every political contest is decided by who, or what referendum, earns the most votes -- except, rather oddly, the presidential contest, which is decided on the rather whimsical notion that we need the Electoral College.
Following the collapse of the USSR and the Warsaw Pact, I remember there being debate about the relevancy and future of NATO. Europe's dawdling during the Balkan Wars, meanwhile, forced the USA and NATO into action. NATO found a new life. But Russia and Putin bristled at its continuing existence and even expansion eastward into formerly Soviet Russian spheres of influence. Remember Russian troops swooping into Pristina Airport at the end of the Kosovo War? Russia has been pushing back for a long time. Interesting that Putin views the Financial Crisis of 2008 as a "moment of truth."
4
@italyfrance:"Following the collapse of the USSR and the Warsaw Pact"
Still can't bring yourself to say "the defeat of the Soviet Union in the Cold War".
1
@Jp
Our people who negotiated the end of the Cold War saw it as just that: a negotiated end, without a victor or loser.
Russia had the power to continue the Cold War for an indeterminate time. It accepted our offer of a satisfactory termination.
The triumphalism of "by the grace of God, we won the Cold War [Bush I]," followed the hard work of Gorbachev and (amazingly) Reagan in ending the conflict on equal terms.
Those who parachuted in to claim "victory" remind me of my Tomcat who proudly exhibited the bird he caught, which actually had broken its neck on our glass-wall window.
That's why one shouldn't say "defeat of the Soviet Union in the Cold War". It's a lie, according to those who brought the end about.
2
Trump is not a Russian asset. He was elected. If American people are so easily influenced by some Facebook trolls - they fully deserve the result. There was an attempt to influence the 2016 election, but it wasn't crucial. The main reason for Trump election was (and still is) a significant popular demand for a charismatic leader who tells pleasant things at the right time for the right people, even if these things are incorrect and irrealistic.
Having an immoral leader gives an excuse to your own imperfections.
Too many Americans have lost their sense of responsibility.
I can not speak on behalf of the whole of Canada, but people from my circle of contacts were shocked when America elected Trump in 2016. It was so disappointing. So, if there is someone who is to blame for what is going on in the US - it is not some Putin or anyone else. It is American people.
For what was said in the article, Russians are not strong. They are afraid. Afraid of the reality that has opened to them after the fall of the USSR. Suddenly, they (and I was amongst them also) became aware that they are "inferior" and "underdeveloped" compared to western countries. They didn't like this so, instead of working hard to become strong in the future, they have chosen the easier way - to live in their "glorious" past. What we see today are fantom pains of a dying empire. It will not last long, as well as Putin.
7
@Alexander Litvinov
Reasonable point. I'm not a fan of Trump or Putin but I haven't seen any evidence to suggest Russian election meddling was decisive or significant in the 2016 election. No one, and I repeat no one, was unaware of what kind of person Trump was since his campaign was one of the most scrutinized in history with wall to wall coverage. If you voted for him and don't like the result you only have yourself to blame.
2
Size doesn't matter, that is geographic size relative to economic power. Two good historic examples: Rome and England.
The United States' economy is not big because of its landmass, its big because its a republic. Free people, acting unencumbered make big economies.
What about China, we would ask. China is essentially a factory to the free world that is ruled with an iron fist, like a factory town. If the free world stopped buying thier stuff, China's economy, and its power, would collapse.
We were born for freedom and greatness. Take freedom away and we are just another mammal.
10
Perhaps a better question might be, "Why do Russians support him?" Of one who has been to Russia several times, part of the answer is wrapped up in how Russians feel about Stalin. Even young Russians LOVE Stalin. They think he was the greatest man who ever lived. Perhaps this has something to do with Putin's success.
2
Invoking famous figures of the past (even if they have to make up their own details) is often what autocrats do to poise themselves as their natural successor in order to boost their legitimacy to the masses.
1
On Russia's financial system
But the real turning point, said Mr. Pavlovsky, who was then working in the Kremlin, came a year later with the meltdown of global financial systems.
“For Putin this was a decisive threshold,” he said. “Before this he orientated himself toward America. Yes, he disliked in the extreme what the Americans were doing around the world, but all the same he saw America as the strongest economy that runs the world economic system. Suddenly it turned out: no, they are not running anything.”
Part of the credit in restoring the Russian financial system after the melt down is do to Elvira Sakhipzadovna Nabiullina, widely considered to be the best Central Bank President in the world
Putin does have knack to pick very good people - and to listen to them.
1
It's always good to learn more about Putin's rise to power and his playing his few cards to advantage. However, the larger unknown is the failure of his targets to recognize and respond adequately.
Foremost of these unknowns is what we've all puzzled over for years: Trump's allegiance and gullibility in all things Putin and this in defiance of all objective evidence from American intelligence.
Trump's gullibility puts us at a horrible disadvantage: with a president who denies Russian influence on our social media and elections, how can we effectively oppose Putin's subversive war on American minds?
And it isn't only Trump that loves Putin. At the RNC convention in 2016, I recall a photo of the Russian ambassador with Jeff Sessions and then an adoption of a platform to decrease aid to Ukraine in its struggle against Russian dominance. So what was going on between the RCN and Russia. Does it have to do with the power and money of oligarchs Russian and otherwise.
And how vulnerable is the UK to Russian influence. I've read only a few references to Russia promoting Brexit. If there is truth in this, how about some reporting on this issue?
So the question is not how devious Putin is; the question is just how vulnerable are we. It seems we are just now recognizing the war that has been waged against us and we have yet to figure out the weapons used against us in this new form of warfare. The Russian bear is on the attack and we are as babes in the woods.
7
They Russians I know are actually pretty satisfied with Putin. In Russia he definitely has mich higher approval ratings than Trump.
1
Putin is “succeeding” the old-fashioned way - by cheating. A recipe for short-term success, until his reputation, and sadly, Russia’s, is established as a pariah. Ruining anything you can to try and elevate yourself by comparison is a short game with long range consequences.
2
In my opinion, Russia would be a great nation, both in military power and in living standards, if it could only rid itself of its dictatorship and empower its citizens.
3
Putin’s stature and image of strength is maintained with great help from the US propaganda system. The Pentagon needs bogeymen to justify excess spending (corruption) and Putin fits the bill.
2
Putin is just another in a long line of power hungry, greed and antisocial czars. The problem is the society that allows such callow and mean men to take control and flourish.
This is the dark soul of Russia. Power and abuse are one of the same. Enriching yourself and friends and killing your enemies is the usual way of business (see this weekend's NYT article about assassination squads). Doing good for the people is a preposterous idea, and is more likely to get you killed.
It is sad that as a country and empire all they have are nuclear weapons, oil, assassins and hackers to spread disinformation. As one famous politician said during the Yeltsin transition, "We tried to better, but everything stayed the same."
3
It's their 5000 nukes, not Putin, that make Russia formidable. If it weren't for the nukes, the US would've invaded and made a much bigger mess out of it like Iraq long time ago.
If it weren't for the nukes, Putin would've had no choice to submit to the West and focus on economy to survive. The nukes instead gave him an option to stroke patriotism and national pride without fearing an American invasion. And Russians under him chose to become a hungry wolf rather than a well-fed dog.
1
Russia and Saudi Arabia are becoming the home to liars, cheats and billionaires who has looted others to become rich for free.
And Trump is making field simpler by making US government bad - so no one will trust us in future when we try to challenge Russia or SA for any grave mistakes they make.
Trump is in the office as there are many dark billions supporting him in that seat.. and if you look hard - they don't need GOP votes through policies.. they have bought them all over again and again.
1
Another reason for Putin’s success in disrupting the US, is the abysmal parochialism of so many of our citizens. Having never been out of the country, having not read much beyond People Magazine, they are completely out of touch with real-world conditions in other countries, and are exceedingly gullible.
4
What do Russian disinformation campaigns look like, and how can we protect our elections? [Brookings]
--Russian goal, using information warfare, create a society that that confuse fact and fiction
--Using digital; bots, trolls, micro-targeting disinformation
--Old Strategies w/new, digital tools are
-- More disinformation; fake websites working together as a network; fake personalities using Twitter, Facebook, Google, YouTube etc. We’re not paying enough attention to algorithmic manipulation
--More frightening use of artificial intelligence to enhance the tools of political warfare where AI driven attacks harder to detect
--AI driven disinformation will better target specific audiences and will predict/manipulate human responses; Soon, we won’t be able to tell the difference between automated vs human entities
--Convincing real deep fake video/audio appears convincingly real being used to mislead/deceive us. Debunking this content will be like playing whack-a-mole
--We can inoculate the US against political warfare, disinformation, and cyber-attacks
--Step one; develop a strategy to deter political warfare
--Currently we don’t have a strategy, because we dissolved our capabilities we had during the Cold War
--Step two be more critical consumers of information and recognizing that the information we consume is not neutral but often manipulated by malicious actors. As citizens, we have a responsibility to be more discerning and aware
The world is capitalistic. Russia doesn’t get it. China does.
1
As with Putin, so with Trump. There is magic in boldness and audacity; sometimes the magic is evil.
As a European I‘m more afraid of the US than I am of Russia. One reasom is that the US spend ten times more on the military than does Russia. I can very well understand that Russia is scared and tries to dissuade its most powerful adversary to mose ever closer to its western border. NATO is now hundreds of miles closer than it was before the fall of the Berlin Wall. NATO has done nothing to negotiate a new concept of mutual security and hasbroken all promises made to make „Mr. Gorbatchew, tear down that Wall“. And just now Congress passed a bill for „securing the enegy supply of Europe“. Would the US administration please allow us to decide, where to buy our natural gas? There he is again „The ugly American“, arrogantly telling us that Russia is a mess. US foreign policy has come a long way since WW II. I‘m grateful that the US helped the Soviet Union to end fascist rule in Europe but this gratefulness has its limits when making America great again is getting dangerous for the rest of the world.
4
One glaring omission in the Times articles I have read on the subject is the reason why Putin moved swiftly to seize Crimea after the coup in Ukraine. Even if one still views it as inexcusable after all the facts are known, context matters.
@Peter Fast
Exactly. In matters of energy suppliers, I fail to see why it is any more moral to support Saudi theocratic states than Russia.
How many Russia state sponsored people have killed thousands of people all over the world in terrorist attacks? How many religious nutjobs have the Russian state financed and supported overseas?
The real problem with Russia is that Russia is not filled with exploitable, compliant people. The friendliness of America towards the Saudis and the Chinese is that they can foster unbalanced business relationships that benefit them quite easily. It's far more difficult to exploit Russian oligarchs.
2
Russia is not our enemy. our enemy his corruption, oligarchy over democracy, and gangster capitalism both foreign and domestic.
5
@vincent lalonde :"Russia is not our enemy."
"Why Is Putin Such a Formidable Adversary?"
v.
"Why Is Putin Such a Formidable Enemy?"
Apparently the NYT has had a change of heart. Putin is now an "Adversary". Just some hours ago, he was an "Enemy".
Airbrushing is a wondrous thing.
Russia is so "formidable" because, as Kissinger alluded to recently, the paranoia emanating from the Dems, and part of Western Europe, regarding Russia has allowed them (Putin) "...to play a very weak hand well'. Thanks Dems. And thank the Times as well, for that matter.
3
Why is Putin formidable? Because he has dupes like Trump and his allies ensuring his name is in the press every day.
1
Putin is the closest thing to a real-life Bond villian we have ever known.
Maybe we should think of him closer to a super-empowered threatening individual than an autocrat.
You start by acknowledging his subterfuge/KGB tactics and doubling down on the Magnitsky Act to pull his money away.
1
Dick Cheney has summarized Putin's Russia, quipping so aptly that "Russia is a gas Station Pretending to be a Country".
All that is needed to put Russia - truly Putin - is to put our own mess in order ASAP.
Look carefully at Russia- it is what Trumputin in making America into.
3
Remember how we howled with laughter back in 2012 when Mitt Romney warned us that Russia was a dangerous strategic competitor. Obama added to the howls with his satiric comment, "Hey Mitt, the 1980's called. They want their Cold War back".
1
The answer to why Putin is good at disrupting other countries is simple: that’s ALL he does. It’s the same reason why IMPOTUS and the Republicans are successful at winning votes: that’s ALL they do.
I know! It's because we need a big bad evil villain to explain how HRC lost. Russia wasn't a threat before that per Obama. None of the NATO countries mobilized to help Ukraine. It's a lefty myth, pure and simple.
2
@Yulia (a Putin sympathizer albeit a little reluctant) Deliver what?
Invade Crimea
Superb usage of Polonium and camouflaging it in perfume bottles
Employing Chechnya’s best thugs and mafia dons in extinguishing their own rebellion for liberty
Helping Bashar Al Assad demolish his own cities older than Moscow and St Petersburg combined. Get rid of the population of those cities
Helping a wonderfully democratic leader with all his internal and external woes (his name is Erdogan)
Jailing Khodorovsky after taking his money (at least what he could reach)
I could go on for a while longer.
4
I lived in Russia from 2010 thru 2017. Russia does punch above its weigh. However the day of reckoning is coming. The only thing Russia has to sell to the world is oil, gas and military weapons. Oil & Gas funds over 50% of the gov't budget. By 2030, or before, the demand for oil & gas will begin to diminish & the standard of living will continue to decline. Also, I never found Russian business managers to be the equivalent of western business managers. They are generally appointed because they are friends or family of the political elite or oligards. Most of their executives would be the equivalent of a mid-level manager in a western company and that would be a compliment for many.
6
An excellent and insightful article, thank you!
A few missed points.
First, Russia's recent successful influence efforts re: US politics owe their success to the Democrats, who bought the false Russia collusion narrative and ran it for three years.
No surprise here. Putin knows judo. A key element is using leverage -- a small push can tilt the odds if directed right. Putin leveraged the Dems to destabilize US politics.
Second, let's not fault Putin for medding in US, European or other national affairs. We did it in his country.
Having been in Moscow in the run-up to the 1996 presidential election (when an ill Yeltsin was re-elected in a tough contest), I saw the overwhelming, explicit and direct intervention by the US government and various proxies.
US campaign advisers and US cash were everywhere. Even the campaign jingles ("Vote or Lose"!) and campaign events were US-designed. When you went out to a Moscow bar it seemed as if you were in a US campaign and not in Russia.
Everyone does it. International politics is not a simple little moral game.
9
Obama remains totally correct.
It is only that now an insignifiant global player can disrupt the major world leaders by digital means. It has serious consequences (Trump) and must be dealt with, but Russia will never have a serious real global influence (and only appears to have it now due to grave errors by the US). Russia and North Korea have more in common than any other two countries, and that is not a good sign for Russia’s future.
@W A Curtin :"Obama remains totally correct."
Yeah he did a bang up job in Syria ("Assad has to go") and help immensely in Libya. Maybe you can help your Southern European neighbors keep watch over their Mediterranean border and welcome their newest residents. It looks like Switzerland has tightened things down - smart move BTW.
1
The article fails to mention the relative poverty of the median Russian household, which earns less than a third of most western European and other advanced economies, and is lower even than the former satellite nations of Eastern European it once walled off from the world economy.
And that is because Putin has tranformed Russia into a kleptocratic petrostate. The leaders of successful private sector oil companies were thrown into prison and their companies sold off to a state controlled company, led by a Putin aligned oligarch, at steep discounts. It is estimated that more than 20% of the Russian GDP originates from illegal activity, which fuels global money laundering, most notably through Deutsche Bank, which has been Trump's largest lender.
The cost of major projects like the $50 billion Sochi Olympics and Nordstream pipeline are grossly inflated to cover the required corrupt kickbacks.
Households in former Soviet satellites have benefitted from foreign investment and technology, while Russia has stagnated under western sanctions for annexing Crimea and illegal international activity.
The Kremlin is now assisting oligarchs in moving into poor Africa nations to obtain resources at bargain prices through government corruption.
None of this benefits Russian households. But many support Putin in a kind of Czarist imperial revival promoted by state controlled media.
There is a lesson here for the US, which has adopted a system of legalized corruption.
3
@Look Ahead
//And that is because Putin has tranformed Russia into a kleptocratic petrostate. //
The far more plausible explanation is that international sanctions crippled their economy and punished regular people the most instead of the oligarchs it was supposed to.
Like with North Korea, regular people starve while the elites are most welcome everywhere abroad.
If sanctions against NK really were applied to everyone, the Kim family (or your Saudi princes and Russian oligarchs) wouldn't be filthy rich from their overseas investments. Yet of course they're not cut off from Western capital markets.
With over 80% of the population native Russian, 97% of the population educated in Russian and a tolerance of the over 30 languages spoken by minorities, Russia despite its geographic size has an internal cohesion that mystifies outsiders - an example being the reclaiming of Crimea and the eastern provinces (over 75% Russian natives) given to Ukraine. Its scientists are among the best in the world, resources per citizen unmatched, and strategy of designing practical weapons which work make it an overwhelming adversary. The Harvard 'Cold War/Hot War ' strategy - useful against the Soviet Union (Poland/Afghanistan) - no longer applies and undermines the West in its 1500 year old war against an increasingly militant theocratic Islam.
2
We seem to have perpetual need for bogeyman to spend money on military industrial complex
Russia does not have resources to compete or supplant American power.
It has its own concerns about expansion of NATO into its historical zone of influence .NATO expansion has caused Russian neighbors to adopt a policy of confrontation and nationalist rhetoric instead of peaceful coexistence. Soviet leader late Khrushchev gifted Russian majority Crimea which belonged to Russia to Ukraine Eastern border regions of Ukraine is populated by Russians causing conflict with nationalist Ukrainian Governments
Is average American voter so gullible to be influenced by Russian crude attempts to influence US Presidential elections? Did Russian attempts have any influence on outcome of elections?Can US claim that it did not try to influence elections in other countries?It is in overall interest to have good US Russian relations to counteract rise of totalitarian China which is serious strategic and economic competitor to US We need another breakthrough Kissinger moment to wean Russia from the arms of China.US needs to get rid of Russophobia which is remnant of Cold War
3
The secret of Russia’s success is the inclination of the opposing powers to underestimate it. Putin is extremely smart and uses his levers of power in a very distinct, brilliant way. I am sorry to say, but US probably has not had such a capable executive since Teddy Roosevelt.
But don’t even think for a moment that his objective is something other than diminishing US power and influence around the world. He will do anything humanly possible to subvert US. Putin and Russia, besides the high tech Chinese dictatorship, are the main enemies of liberal democracy in the world.
1
Everyone is attributing Russia's and Putin's outsized influence to their use of social media to stoke unrest here in the U.S. But their ability to do so is supported by two factors. First is Donald Trump's servile stance before Putin that has many rightly concluding that Russia has some incriminating/humiliating evidence it's holding over the head of "Donald" as Putin called him. The other is the Republicans' focus on their party no matter what damage they might and are doing to our nation and its people!
2
In addition to the 2008 financial crisis, I'd say another key date in understanding Russia's resurrection was March 20, 2003--the day the U.S. threw caution to the wind and invaded Iraq with all the might of its armed forces. Millions of belligerent Americans from Seattle to Miami were ecstatic at the sight of watching Saddam Hussein overthrown, but for very different reasons I'm sure Mr. Putin was as well (not to mention the mullahs in Iran and the Communist Party apparatchiks in China).
Putin, Xi Jinping, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and other people who had serious misgivings about overwhelming U.S. power in the world at the time couldn't have been more delighted than they were to watch George W. Bush & Co. march headfirst into an intractable quagmire that would eventually drain the U.S. of incalculable blood and treasure and (perhaps most importantly) credibility and any semblance of moral authority.
4
"Its successes raise a mystifying question: How has a country like Russia, huge in size — it has 11 time zones — but puny when measured by economic and other important metrics, become such a potent force?"
Not so mystifying. They installed a puppet as the US president. See the Mueller report for proof.
More mystifying: why the Republican party does not find this to be a crisis, or something the repetition of which must be prevented.
1
A good question with a simple answer: Russia pays a lot money to foreign Governments ploiticians and companies to destabilize countries and Democracies. First they "invested" in the leftist parties but this was not really successfull. Then they decided to invest into the right far right and conservative parties. And this was the key to change countries or to be on the way on that goal. (Just look at our own country) The proof ? Just look at one of the weakest currencies on the world the Rubel. Hush money in this insane amounts are creating weak currencies. And a healthy Russian printer industry. Merry Christmas World.
1
'Bitterly disillusioned with the West on security issues, in 2007 Mr. Putin delivered a speech in Munich bristling with resentment and anger at American unilateralism and disregard for Russian opposition to the expansion of NATO. “They bring us to the abyss of one conflict after another,” he said, creating such insecurity that “nobody feels safe.” '
Liberal hubris is largely responsible for our present situation. Pushing NATO into Russia's great power zone of interest, which America and its allies did to free satellite countries from Soviet domination—a liberal article of faith—misjudged Russia's ability to push back, and ignored the lessons of history. Now, as a result, we have Trump.
1
Vladimir Putin, with his aggressive actions to advance the interests of Russia, has a disruptive influence on the world stage far out of proportion to the size of the Russian economy, for the simple reason that the logical country to oppose Russia’s belligerence is the United States. As the world now knows, the U.S. President makes every foreign policy decision with an eye to doing whatever Putin wishes be done.
Not only is ‘Russia first’ the guiding principle of Donald Trump, it appears to be the thought which drives the Republican Party.
1
While everyone in the U.S. and Europe is either besotted with Putin or bedeviled by him, China has been honing its espionage and digital wizardry to employ against the West. Rather than clumsy like Russia, China has the sophistication to steal and ape America's know-how without yet getting nailed. It has also captured such a giant portion of the global manufacturing of computer components that it has the upper hand in determining many prices. And any whiff of a U.S. trade war with China drives device makers like Apple, Google and Microsoft wild with worry they won't have access to needed parts.
China is the enemy country that actually does possess the economic strength, stealth and will to beat back Western dominance in many markets. If, as this story suggests, China and Russia form a true alliance, their bloc will become a giant hammer they'll be able to swing in many directions -- including energy. Experts believe the world's energy needs will double by the middle of this century, just some 30 years from now. China has been working on renewable energy forms and Russia has still huge resources.
We've got to shut down this Western dalliance with strongmen like Putin and Xi to focus on filling our true needs and protecting democracy. We may also be better able to serve the needs of those failing or struggling states that are increasingly in thrall to or roped in by Russia -- without us being one of those.
1
@Peggy Rogers :"We've got to shut down this Western dalliance with strongmen like Putin and Xi to focus on filling our true needs and protecting democracy."
Insofar as Xi is concerned, he's doing nothing more than what a long line of leaders of the the PRC have wanted or tried to do in the past. Regarding any actions against China to counter these moves, well that ship sailed about 70 years ago. Enjoy.
1
We in the West have provided our adversaries with great openings for attack. Our social, political and economic situation is a recipe for division, and technology and social media platforms provide an easy avenue for the manipulation of many millions. Easy peasy, Putie!
There is no real mystery. Russia has two huge assets, it is unburdened by any sort of anti-corruption apparatus, and, it is historically skilled at espionage. Think of these as the carrot and the stick.
Putin knows that you don't have to buy a people to take control of a country, you just have to buy its leaders. You don't even have to buy all the leaders if your only intention is on destroying the country, just enough to spread chaos and paralysis.
Other countries, even China, are limited in the fact that there are opposing interests in their own country. They always have to worry about a knife in the back from a domestic opponent funded by those countries they just messed with. Putin doesn't. He has already killed them all.
The next closest thing to Russia is not China. China is far more like America, where political elite fight among themselves for power while scraps are thrown to the masses. No, Russia is more like North Korea, but, North Korea is a basket case.
Putin's real genius is simply in not pushing authoritarianism in Russia to its usual end. A madman ensconced in a golden palace hated and feared by his people. I fear Putin not for his dictatorial powers, but for his self-restraint. A strange thing to say, I know, but he really does break the historical mold for dictators.
Still, someday he will die, and he will almost certainly be replaced by someone less cunning and with less self-restraint. Something to look forward to.
@Michael
Russia may be "historically skilled at espionage," but it also got caught pretty quickly during the 2016 election and since. It's the ghosts of a real power -- think China -- that have successfully been invading our internet waves.
No American intelligence agency thinks China is n-o-t sinking its teeth into us and they've repeatedly said before Congress and others. China is currently the nation with the real money, the skills and the will to do what benefits them. But unlike Putin and other strongmen, Xi doesn't have to even bother cozying up to Trump. With his nation's deep resources and vast earnings behind him, Xi doesn't appear very worried about getting into Trump's mind and graces in order to detonate American finances, public institutions and democracy.
China's leaders appear confident that our current American president and his kiss-up minions are doing a great job of blowing it all up by themselves. And the rest of us appear pretty lousy and ineffective at present in holding together our country and government and mores.
My understanding is that Russia has an economy as big as Italy's. When Ukraine asked that its nuclear missile stock be dismantled, Russia kept theirs after the collapse of the USSR. Something caused trump to support Russian interests. I have my theory as to what took place. This event or events causes him to bend over backwards to support Russian interests. It is why his election was so important to Russia. They established a system that interfered with our election in 2016. In realty, we have so much oil in he US, we could cut our price for exported oil in half and bankrupt Russia in two weeks. When Putin's president is no longer in office in the US, Russia will be faced with a new economic reality and Putin will be gone.
2
At the end of World War Two Britain and America were the only nations who had operational intelligence agencies. They were part of a handful of nations that had not lost the governments to attacks by Germany, Italy and Japan. We counted on them to blunt Russian aggression and their espionage capabilities - the KGB.
It is not a coincidence that Cambrdge Anayltical, Bannon and the GRU were involved in both Britain and our country's change of heart on everything Russia. That includes Trump conitinuing use of GRU propaganda, his coordination on foreign policy with Russia and his open denial of their obvious cyber war.
Now tell me why Trump has utterly compromised our diplomatic mission around the world or why our partnerships and treaties are being violated at every turn . . .
Who's side is Trump on?
1
If we didn't have Trump in the White House we wouldn't be facing this situation; we wouldn't be talking about what a formidable power Russia is. Trump's obeisance toward Putin is hard to fathom outside "The Manchurian Candidate."
1
The turning point: the recession? I doubt it. The guy was raised in a despotic state controlled system and embraced it as his creed. He couldn’t be deprogrammed. All the recession did was confirm his beliefs and provide room to maneuver. Technology and in particular the internet just gave him significant new tools to utilize.
Russian stocks, as measured by the VanEck Russia (RSX) exchange traded fund, are up 23.4% year-to-date while the S&P 500 is up 19.9% and the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index (EEM) is up 8.45%.
Forbes Oct 22, 2019
Russia's economy is far from sputtering.
2
Why is Putin in the place where he is at?
Simple - a very soft USA!
In every aspect possible. Russians can travel in and out of USA with such ease that was never imaginable once.
USA helped their tyrants grow and legalize their financial holdings.
Russia's military power is minuscule (MAD aside) and USA defers to them.
USA is playing soft diplomacy while Russia is using brute force to conquer all it wants.
Just releasing oil to the point where both Russia and Saudi Arabia will crumble is one step - yet USA keeps oil at inflated prices.
Russia will implode eventually - like the USSR did: sustainability of the current course is a house of cards.
1
Let's not forget American governments have a genius way of empowering their own adversaries such as Castro, Khomeni, Hussein, Minh, Noriega, and the list goes on. Putin is a classic example of how our knee-jerk capitalist impulses lead us to bring down governments and then walk away in the glow of arrogance and incompetence, leaving the field to whatever gangster cares to step in. When we did this in the Soviet Union/Russia we chose an adversarial path that made Putin, or someone like him, inevitable, and we continue fuel him with short-sighted policies that make hatred of the West credible to his people. We have gone so far down this path we have painted ourselves into a corner, with no good alternatives until Putin dies or disappears, whichever comes first.
1
Putin’s intuitive strategy to weaponize social media was exceptionally creative. With little investment he co-opted our vast population of real and perceived disenchanted or disenfranchised citizens.
Unless the Republican Party puts country over trump this will be us in 20 years.
4
@Ernest Ciambarella You're too optimistic. I give it 10 years.
2
"...countries that long saw themselves as bastions of Western values like Hungary and Poland..."
How long, exactly?
1
Well, when one acts like an autocrat; violently suppresses protests; misinforms the public with propaganda, and assassinates journalists and political rivals, one tends to stay in power.
1
Our military-industrial complex needs a boogy man, and Russia has played this role for many decades. I visited Russia extensively in 1987 and was appalled by what a ruinous state it was in. Here I'd been hiding under my desk because "the Russians are coming" and they couldn't even build an elevator that worked, and things have gone downhill since them. Russia is a paper tiger, useful to politicians and defense-industry greed-heads, and of no consequence to the rest of us.
Incredible that Trump is given the blame for Putin's rise.
Putin can only dream of Warren or Bloomberg or Sanders, and now Joe Biden, who wants tens of thousands of energy workers to lose their jobs, being the next president.
One of their first acts would be the banning of fracking on public lands. They would appoint an EPA commissioner who would submit a "study" that results in the ban all of fracking.
Result? The world-wide price of oil would skyrocket, we would be paying $5.00/gallon for gas, and Russia, the 3rd (and would be 2nd) largest oil producer in the world, would be raking in tens of billions every year more than they would with President Trump.
Nothing could make Putin happier than Trump losing to any of these Democrats.
3
As every ISIS and Al-Qaeda terrorist knows, disorder is not difficult. Blowing things up is not difficult. Order, building a country and a society is difficult. Putin is simply using the tools he has at his disposal, which are largely the cheap digital and intelligence ones, to cause disorder elsewhere. If you can't overcome your enemies, you can try to prevent their success.
3
The vast majority of Facebook posts claimed to be election interference by Mueller were written in Russian.
Let that sink in.
Americans, half of whom can’t read English properly, were supposedly influenced by posts written in Russian.
It’s sad to watch a political party completely dissemble. Although, in this case it is surely best for the nation.
NOT "on a roll". On a TROLL.
Russia is still a kleptocracy with rapidly declining population and an over-dependence on natural resources of declining value.
Even it's military investments and provocations are a form of trolling: seeking to provoke but accomplishing little for Russia.
It is a danger to us because of the havoc it causes, but it is not truly a competitor or rival.
In many ways the greatest damage Russia does is provide an ethno-nationalist, quasi-fascist role model for politicians like Trump and Orban. But that is damage we ultimately inflict upon ourselves.
It is a simple answer... authoritarians don't want a happy, stable country... the desire to be an authoritarian leader, a dictator, comes from a very dark place within... and nothing good comes from that much darkness. Putin's known history, his childhood, should give everyone all that they need to understand our problem. His willingness to harm without empathy tells you how bad he is willing to make it. Putin and Trump share the same dark room.
Russia may be a mess, but the USA is a mess as well. It's come down to who can bribe the country's leaders more. Looks like Trump, McConnell, and Barr are Russian assets and profiting mightily from this arrangement, especially our President. We need their tax returns to ferret out the truth, especially Trump's return, plus McConnell's wife. The key...follow the money. It's no surprise that Trump and company attacks our intelligence agencies, FBI, and military.
In one short sentence...the American Republican leadership has been corrupted. Tom Steyer is correct in that Congress and the Senate need Term Limits. It couldn't get any worse than it is now. The Teapot Dome Scandal has nothing on today's Republican Congress and Senate. Vote Republicans out and Democrats in.
2
@David Michael:" Vote Republicans out and Democrats in."
Right, stand up for Truth, Justice and the American way! Turn back the Russian Menace!
Bluntly said, he obviously has good security and intel to keep him walking.
Too bad.
1
Putin punches far above his weight because he has an ally/asset in the Oval Office and a Republican Party that's abandoned all of its foreign policy and other principles in deference to that ally. What's even worse, both our president and his party see their electoral interests aligning with Russian interference.
Five years ago, this would have been considered the stuff of an over-the-top spy novel. Today, it's our reality.
3
@Thunder Road : "Five years ago, this would have been considered the stuff of an over-the-top spy novel. "
Five years ago this was all in the making by Putin who outmaneuvered Obama & Co. at every turn.
One cannot know a person, a family, or a country without understanding it’s history and the context in which it relates to others. It’s unfortunate that the Times has not talked to a number of Russian historians for this article. You cannot understand Russia in sound bites.
The Tsar and Emperor concepts have never really disappeared in China or Russia. The idea of ‘all men are created equal’ and the value of the individual are not native to these countries. Nor, quite frankly, has The West ever really nurtured those ideas anywhere but in their own countries . The West, including the US, has trampled all over the idea of self determination in other countries when they had power, and now gets indignant and self righteous when China and Russia do the same.
The history of Russia is truly fascinating, and in many ways tragic, especially in the 20th century. I agree with Obama’s assessment. Russia is really not a formidable power. It’s an illusion they promote but Americans ( not Europeans) readily buy into. China is now the real formidable power, and as America destroys itself from within, it is skillfully expanding it’s power around the world while we continue to babble about Russia and Putin. Nice cover for China though.
18
If the west have helped Russia after the fall of iron curtain, for having a steady economy and mainly a transition toward a genuine democracy, we wouldn't be in a such situation. We (western countries) have given up Russia for a sad fate. Now, we must wait for the end of Putin era.
"The temptations of authoritarianism à la Russe have found fertile ground in countries that long saw themselves as bastions of Western values like Hungary and Poland"
That is a fantasy with which we misled ourselves, and still mislead ourselves.
Those countries did not exist before WW1. They been part of militaristic empires.
Between the Wars, they were authoritarian dictatorships, run older military figures.
After Germany destroyed that, they were re-created as parts of the Soviet bloc.
They had no history of Western values in government, no experience of it, no institutional memory of it.
We imagined they were suddenly something they'd never been just because it was pretty to think so. We wished, and so we imagined it was.
6
@Mark Thomason Both Hungary and Poland go back centuries, far beyond WWI, and as distinct peoples, they go back further than the U.S.A. Yes, like all smaller countries, they have been subject to "super-power" hegemony, but to say they "did not exist" is a misstatement. "Western values" are a relatively new construct, articulated primarily in the late 18th century, and then turned into a weapon for imperialism by Napoleon, so the claim that that these Slavic countries knew nothing of these values before WWI could be applied to much of Europe and the West.
@Gustav Aschenbach -- "so the claim that that these Slavic countries knew nothing of these values before WWI could be applied to much of Europe and the West."
Yes, it should be.
These are my values. I am not best served by thinking that others automatically share them. I am best served by responsible action to advance those interests everywhere they are new and might be welcomed.
Poland and Hungary have been intermittent political entities since Roman times. See Livonia, Lithuania, European Sweden, and many other widespread re-groupings of the region of Eastern Europe.
Poland was Partitioned from 1772 to the end of WW1, extinguished by Prussia, Russia, and Austria. The peoples of the region deserve their own good government, but it is a mistake to think they've got a very long history of getting it.
Poland at one point in its history failed because of too much democracy, which was interpreted to prevent any effective government in the face of serious threats.
That brings to mind Climate Change today and its interface with democracy. There are dangers that overtook them, of which we need to learn for ourselves. This isn't all us being so superior to them. That too needs to be applied to much of Europe, and here too.
Simplistic views of the success of liberal democracy tend to hide from us many real dangers. One is the danger of authoritarians. Another is the danger of democracy just failing us, in the face of risk like climate change.
It should not be difficult for any American to understand how a leader like Putin can have such high approval from his people who are suffering economically by appealing to nationalism and authoritarian exercise of power. Just look at how Trump rallies his base.
12
"The decision to grab the Black Sea peninsula from Ukraine was made at a single all-night Kremlin meeting in February 2014 and then carried out just four days later"
That is extremely misleading.
After the first Color Revolutions, including one in Ukraine, Russia had done extensive semi-public studies of how to respond if the US did it again. Semi-public means they made their concern public, but kept their conclusions private.
After Ukraine came to own the Russian Black Sea military bases in Crimea, the extended "lease" of them and its connection to natural gas pricing to Ukraine had been a hot topic in both countries and in the West. The lease was running short, as such things were measured, and the Russians were as concerned about keeping all of their southern military bases as the West was delighted by taking them away at the end of the lease period, if not by lease cancellation earlier.
The Russians had been very concerned about that lease position, and debating responses for years.
So when suddenly they faced another color revolution AND loss of their military bases, they were not just pulling an all nighter and action in four days. It was an all nighter to consider and re-consider actions they'd been hashing out for years. They were ready, they'd planned and practiced.
They just had to make a final decision to "Go." That is not a small thing, but they were not just making it up as they went as this implies.
The US knew all that, too.
10
We, as a country & as part of a western alliance, took our eyes off the ball the minute after the Berlin Wall fell and the Soviet Union dissolved. We were seduced by the idea of a democratization of the old empire and new freedoms being accorded to civilians in the former Eastern bloc. After Sept 11, 2001, foreign policy was twisted by the desire for revenge against an inchoate enemy. Our leaders’ obsessions led to the quagmire in which we are still engaged eighteen years later. During that time, Russia and China have made inroads into every corner of the world. The result is the position in which we find ourselves now. Flat-footed and warring internally while our foes make hay.
6
Crimea has been part of Russia for longer than Florida has been part of America. The people there speak Russian, have no wish to be ruled by the fascist regime installed by the CIA in Ukraine, and voted so by in a referendum by an overwhelming margin. What happened to the principle of self detemination?. . . Tolstoy was stationed in Crimea, fighting a war launched by England to take that territory from her, way back in the 1850s. The Czar had his summer palace there. It is a sinister ploy by the American media, taking advantage of Americans' ignorance of Russian history, this canard about Russian aggressively "taking over" its own centuries-old territory, Crimea.
1
With all you have said here and all Putin has been able to do on the propaganda front, none of it changes conditions in Russia. It remains an also-ran economy, has a declining, aging population and only managed to achieve 1% growth. The young are disillusioned and the rest of the population just goes along with the program. So how does all that Putin has done fix Russia for the Russian people? I don't see huge waves of people trying to immigrate to Russia. Putin's interference in foreign nations does nothing for Russia but make it more enemies. So again, how is Putin making things better for Russia?
7
The first point of order- in the 2012 election, Mitt Romney (whom I did not vote for, btw) was widely derided for saying that Russia was the greatest security threat to the US in one of his debates with Obama. I imagine nobody is laughing anymore.
Russia has geography on its side. The US has to stretch a long way to project power to the Middle East or Eastern Europe and is highly dependent upon partners. If the US was to lose Turkey's bases things would be far more difficult and any bases we have in SW Asia are quite vulnerable to any change in the political order. This explains the increasing investment in bases in Romania and Bulgaria.
Russia also has critical resources that give it leverage with out NATO allies. They are only able to abandon coal with natural gas from Putin's piplines- LNG from the US is not going to change that.
Putin has some level of paranoia or distrust on his side. The US agreed not to station troops in the former Warsaw Pact footprint as part of the agreements that allowed Germany to reunite and for Soviet troops to leave. We now have troops in the Baltic states, in Poland, in Romania and Bulgaria. We also maintain Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo long after the end of trouble in that area. The US and UK also promised to not expand NATO which now extends right to the Russian border.
6
Yes, Russia is a basket case. The notion that Russia is somehow controlling global affairs and infiltrating the Presidency is an illusion created and maintained by the major media outlets. And a large swath of Americans are taking it in , hook, line, and sinker.
8
Well, Russia helped swing the election in Trump’s favor. That’s not nothing.
1
You may be right. Provided you ignore the 2016 elections and Russian successes in the Middle East. I do wonder too what Putin and Trump talked about in those private conversions. Probably hair spray.
2
Read: Red Notice by Bill Browder
2
Why is Russia considered such a formidable adversary (when its aircraft carrier isn't self-combusting)? Probably because so many of our aged politicians want to relive their youth.
7
In answer to the published doubters: Russia influenced the last US election and will likely do again in 2020. There is plenty of evidence to support this... That makes Putin a formidable foe to not just the USA, but democracy itself.
1
One dead aircraft carrier doesn’t in any way equal what you can do with just a little computer malfeasance. See what happened in the Ukraine.
1
Because he's a convenient enemy for the defense industry, a section of the intelligence agencies, and competes on the global arms market. He's formidable because these factions say he is. China of course has developed far more power, but because it is legitimately stronger, the U.S. has played it more cautiously because it has much less choice. Russia is a target for American power precisely because it is not actually that strong. Meanwhile, the U.S. and the west by extension use massive interference in Ukraine, backing outright white supremacists, the entire Obama regime change push against Russia's only significant client in the middle east (compared to the rest, where the U.S. largely still dominates through dictatorships like the Saudis and the rest, and so on.
4
Putin, as a former Intelligence Officer, appreciated the bang for your buck offered by FSB-managed Intelligence. In the context of a world which has fallen for the simplicities and mendacities of populism, it was all too easy. Set up cameras in top Russian hotels and invite leading figures from the West over, and you may catch the biggest populist of all. And the beauty of it all? All done so cheaply. Or should I say bigly?
4
I don't think this article answered the question of the title - Russia is a paper tiger, and I am sure with some effort Putin's 70% approval could drop - but the real issue is he has exploited our own weakness in the same way any billionaire can disrupt the US or the UK - if not Putin, then Rupert Murdoch, or the Koch brothers or the Saudi Prince - he has aligned himself with autocrats and the rich and powerful all over the world and is using the same loopholes and corruption built into democratic governments as any other powerful person, the only difference is he is Russian instead of Saudi or Australian - unless we reform our own corrupt system there isn't much hope, because Russia, the country, is not the problem, it is the excessive influence of the rich
8
@DrJ
Any other paper tigers have 7000 modernized nuclear warheads at their command?
the greatest spy the world has ever seen is putin's not so secret agent.
putin does not have primary elections in russia, so his underlings are doing away with the primaries in several red states (in the US).
Answer: Russia added their traditional Kompromat tactics to a stealth modern social media blitz.
It worked, but like any magic act will cease to amaze once the trick is revealed.
Economy the size of Italy, with a hundred times the population, and a thousand times the land area? With a foundation on just one real industry: Oil. Yeah, not sustainable.
Without Putin it will fall like a house of cards.
3
I’m sure Russians are hardly offended by the fact that the outside world is more in love with K-pop than anything Russia has to offer, leaving the best all to themselves.
3
Just "follow the money." Trump Moscow tower. Selling Florida real estate to an Oligarch for obscene quick profits. How many condos are sold to unknown buyers of an LLC. Please, this is rather transparent.
3
I wonder do the republicans even realize how the fake "free trade and de-regulation" propaganda started? I suspect it is a lot like how the Brexit idea in Britain came to be. It is Soviet propaganda and psyops meant to do exactly the harm it has done by preying on known prejudices and ignorant beliefs.
Republican avarice and resentment has done all the rest.
Didn't one of the Soviet leaders say " You'll sell us the rope we hang you with" or something like that?
2
- and there has been a lot of very positive PR from a very important US VIP and the so called ''Conservatives''.
-(if y'all haven't noticed?)
1
In this whole analysis you made not one mention of the role of Putin's stooge Donald Trump in boosting Russian power and influence. How can that be?
10
If Democrats ever elect a liberal president I am moving to Moscow.
4
@RS You should, because we have now allowed the separation of powers under the Constitution to disappear. Successive Presidents will now be able to do whatever they want without consequence. Prepare for wildly vacillating governance philosophies in 4-8 year doses, assuming we're lucky enough to at least retain the vote.
On second thought, you should at least stay long enough to reap what you've sown.
1
@rs Bye! I’ve been to Moscow. I’ll stay here.
1
@RS: why wait. Go now. Then report back in 5 years!
1
As Putin said its not having power its how you use it. The US has misused power for years.The two ongoing wars especially have weakened our will ,our standing and left us confused.Our ignorant population is ripe for misinformation and Russia knows this.We are divided and misinformed and led by self serving people interested only in their own selves. We are a weakened country and the enemies see this.
5
For three years now, I have maintained that this country under Trump has slipped into Third World status, despite a booming economy for the rich. It is no surprise then that Putin with his massive propaganda machine is slowly getting the upper hand in this country that has been dumbed down as to believe that Trump has the country’s best interest at heart. Trump himself is enamored and jealous of this dictator’s power without ever spending a single thought as to how it was obtained despite a dismal economy. Trump and his sycophants have done immeasurable damage to the psyche of this county’s people that will take a generation to erase.
1
Simple answer, for those who read NYT (assuming they know to read) and listen to stations like PBS and CNN. It is not that Russia got powerful, but that the brakes on their becoming a neighborhood bully were removed when Trump assumed presidency of the USA. His policies made us weaker, more disorganized and divided. That was probably the reason for Putin's interference in 2016 elections that succeeded in getting Trump as a president, rather than Hillary Clinton.
3
I’m sorry — what?
Russia punching above its weight is as much a reflection of Obama's and Hillary's weaknesses as leaders than Putin's brilliance and willingness to play the cards he's been dealt. Obama's and Hillary's only successes are in the befuddled minds of Democratic sycophants, not in the real world. This is why believing that Putin preferred Trump over a Hillary requires a suspension of disbelief.
3
Except then you look at Russian operants like Maria Butina who were cozying up to the NRA long before Trumps electoral college victory, and you realize the sycophants were actually the conservatives opening their arms wide to Russia
1
The author omitted Russia's hole card: oil & gas. Europe depends on Russian gas to keep it warm in winter. With oil comes wealth and political power. We ought to know.
3
What a missed opportunity for the west in 1999 - 2004. Arrogance killed our relationship with Russia.
5
Putin and, to be frank, bin Laden know how to rattle our cages to our very cores. And, to be more frank, it was easy to do because we are so gullible and lean too much on money and guns as a substitute for the real power of intelligence and wisdom. We are easily played and the bad actors of the world, including our own excuse for a president know it.
We're No. 1.
God bless America.
2
The real reason for Putin's power is that he has the leaders of the free-world in his pocket - unable to act in the interest of their own countries for fear that Putin can out them. It's called the power to blackmail. It is easy to get such power over a geedy, attention-hungry, power-hungry, sexist con-man who was afraid to lose to a smart woman who did not play girlie games with men. Trump could not have won without Putin's help. Now we are all controlled by Putin and the fate of the free-world hangs in the balance.
6
What people often don’t mention is the influence of RT, the television “news” vehicle that most Westerners can access through cable or online TV systems. It appears cleverly like an ordinary news network, which I first watched to learn about Russia (it’s formerly Russia Today) - but it’s rarely about Russia. It is filled with “documentaries” cleverly contrived to make the West look totally evil in every way. All kinds of “commentators” - Europeans and Americans and others - speak authoritatively of how decadent the West and democracy are. The Russian Orthodox Church also comes off as saintly, as do its misogynistic and racist teachings. If you watch enough of RT, you can be either (1) converted to the “Russia is great” myth or (2) sickened by the often smarty disguised and incessant propaganda. I fear there are millions watching this madness and really falling for it. Writers should not ignore its evil influence.
1
Russia's economy is not sputtering. It is dead. This is a huge country with a huge population but Putin is only thinking of his own greed and ego. He uses the Russian treasury as his piggy bank. Russian has no exports other than gas or oil. The housing there dates back to pre WW2 or further. More and more Putin is trying to keep the economy afloat with tourism. As the world knows, that gambit doesnt work as we see Italy, Greece, and now Egypt trying to salvage their economy with tourism. This is fueled by incompetent leaders who dont know what to do. Putin is touting Crimea as a tourism spot! Can you imagine? When one cruises into St Petersburg one is immediately struck by the lack of activity and the rusting out of what was once a huge, bustling port. Putin is a cruel dictator and to say he remains omnipotent is a gross misrepresentation. When we see how Trump lavishes praise on him and his ministers, we should all be sickened. Vote out the GOP!!
3
As long as Russia speaks the language of greed and power, Putin and Russia can reach far beyond their economical power through the Republican Party of the United States of America.
3
Reading this is there any doubt that trump works for and with Putin.
4
A good way to get rid of Putin is by impeaching Trump and that will let democracy grow in Russia and sanity back in the US
3
Teacher, teacher! I know!
Because Trump and the Republicans are helping him at every turn??!!
2
it's difficult for a country to structure and execute a meaningful counter strategy to russia's perfidy when its president and his party are owned and operated by russia
1
It is easier to destroy and build. Putin is like the angry child who is jealous and breaks the other children's toys. That he has US born allies to help is astonishing.
3
Little mention of the well-documented, sustained looting of the Russian people by Putin, his ex-KGB/FSB security cronies turned crony “capitalists,” in concert with E. European organized crime over the last 20 years. One of the main reasons Russia’s economy is in such dire straits. See Karen Dawisha’s Putin’s Kleptocracy and many other studies. Fraud on a grand scale perpetuated by unrelenting disinformation and authoritarianism...hmm...no wonder he’s IMPOTUS’ hero.
1
"its population so disillusioned with Mr. Yeltsin’s promises of new capitalist dawn that it had elected a parliament filled with communists, cranks and crypto-fascists"
Bring that home too. How did American voters come to elect such a crew of cranks and crypto-fascists?
They too were disillusioned.
They did not have Yeltsin with whom to be disillusioned. But disillusioned they were.
With what? Try forty years of growth and progress that they did not share, and a loudly and proudly proclaimed "Recovery" from a Great Recession that did not reach them.
American voters were disillusioned, and many of them bitter too.
So what was offered to them? Status quo. Everything is so great, we should do more of the same. Even more of those forty years. More tech billionaires, more Wall Street abuses.
Hey, maybe we could even dive back into a Great Recession, since the bandits made such a killing out of the Recovery from the last one they so recklessly caused.
So voters did not vote for that. Conspiracy. Putin did that. Somebody did it to us. Voters are stupid misled bigots anyway, so nwhy should we care what they were thinking.
Don't do that again. We need to crawl out of this hole we've dug ourselves into.
3
While the unification of the Crimea with Russia raises several issues, there is still the fact that the people there wanted in large parts to be sa part of Russia and the majority of Germans favor Russia to the USA, (the Russian people), we never liked Putin , but since Trump we dislike both.
Reagarding the Ukrainian war it's pretty likely that western countries started it, the Ukraine, under Poroschenkow didn't deserve our support, it seems someone needed a reason to get rectrictions against Russia. The Ukrainians were blatently lied to, they actually thought an affiliation with the wester countries will lead to a better living standard (it does, just not for them)
But we won't forget that Putin never threatened us the way the US - gouvernment did, Russia didn't pull out from the Paris agreement after first signing is, same goes for the Iranian nuclear deal.
Also, I know a bunch of Russians, but they all were far way from hating the Americans, aside from the fact they they are mainly responsible for the emargo which was established due to economical and political interests.
There needs to be a lot of change, America needs to learn to treat Russia as a country on the same level, Russia needs to fully embrace values like freedom of the press, to be more open to minorities, both need to change a lot if we really want to solve global problems like war, hunger, undereducation. This will onls happen if we stop pointing the finger at tothers.
1
@claire good, reasonable comment.
I’m with those they say Putin’s stunning achievement is harnessing social media and spy technology to ultimately put Russians in the Oval Office where they are now fully installed and pulling on the puppet strings.
Mr. Trump and others, like Mich Mcconnell and Lyndsay Graham have opened the nations gate and let Putin’s Trojan horse glide effortlessly into the hearts of and minds of blithely naive Americans.
I’m so appalled that, absent any legitimate defense , I feel these men should be charged with treason.
The great irony is that during the cold war, Moscow was the guiding star (and source of support) for much of the worlds hard left and communist states. Today, it is the far right and authoritarian regimes that look toward Moscow.
2
Very interesting. In Russia, the kleptocrat/oligarchs are tolerated so long as they serve Putin's wishes.
But in the US, the GOP wing of our government serves the wealthy 400 families and business leaders. e.g., we still subsidize oil production!
But in both countries it's all smoke and mirrors. Here, the GOP has created an alternate reality industry - FOX news and others - and a jobs program: unquestioning obedience means a loyal GOP foot soldier will never be out of a job, even if she loses an election.
Campaigning to the lesser angels of our nature but governing to serve the plutocrats has worked like a charm for the GOP.
Trump's only novelty is that he has gone all in on right to life, immigration, and racism while in office. The old style GOP used those issues to win elections but governed differently.
4
The reason that Russia is as belligerent as it is (I wont say strong) is that absolutely no one is willing to challenge it. They invaded a country. They shot down a civilian airliner. And absolutely nothing of substance was done. This is a symptom of a larger problem. China took over strategic highly disputed Islands and built military bases on them. No one did anything. Even Iran is able to bomb Saudi Arabia and get away with it. We go to the UN and complain, we issue warnings and wag fingers, but we actually do nothing. And the 'we' is the world, not only the US. Everyone is so focused on their own narrow interests that they let the rest of the world burn if it doesnt affect them directly. America First does not mean America only.
275
@NYer When we torched Vietnam (in the name of democracy) the world definitely complained. 'We' just didn't listen. We claimed the clamor was a UN conspiracy against the United States
28
What exactly do you propose the world do?
10
@NYer
Maybe other countries value a different style of resolving conflict, than the US solution of killing hundreds of thousands, and wrecking countries.
NATO expansion is the driving force behind the new US-Russian Cold War.
December 2017 the National Security Archive at George Washington University posted online declassified US, Soviet, German, British and French documents revealing promises made to Gorbachev in February 1990, that if he removed all troops from East Germany and agreed to the reunification of Germany, in the words of George H. W. Bush’s secretary of state, James Baker, “iron-clad guarantees that NATO’s jurisdiction or forces would not move eastward”.
Most media ignored the release of these inconvenient documents revealing the GHWBush administration promises to Gorbachev.
Immediately,the Bill Clinton administration began pushing NATO closer and closer to Russia’s borders.
The Obama State Department admitted spending $5 billion to get a Ukrainian government that would want to join NATO.
Look at a map. Can you understand that Russia would be upset with the US breaking its promise to Gorbachev and the US aggressively pushing NATO/US bases to Russia’s border?
Pushing for Ukraine to join NATO is insane.
Trump may understand Russia’s point of view and unwillingness to accept NATO on its border.
The US is an extremely belligerent country.
The US need to learn diplomacy that is not demonize, destabilize, then decapitate.
28
Yes, Russians intervened in the US elections, just as do many other foreigners who fail to receive headline coverage in the NYT. Yes they favored Trump for what are now obvious reasons. But there continues to be no evidence that
"Moscow’s efforts to sow division through Facebook and other social media platforms were low-budget and often primitive, but they have had a disproportionate effect on the American political process".
Is there proof that "low budget" and "primitive" Russian intervention targeted just the right counties in just the right swing states to flip these into Trump's column?
Or is it more likely a causal chain could be developed around the "well budgeted" and "sophisticated" intervention by the foreign British Mercers and their Cambridge Analytica company, fed massive quantities of raw data by the equally mercenary Facebook, analysis then transmitted to Corey Lewandowski, Trump campaign manager, through the mediation of Steve Bannon?
Trump and MAGA are fundamentally an American creation, the product of 40 years of US oligarch-favoring, antisocial policy. Wrestling with capitalist oligarchs is playing on Putin's home turf. Let's at least play the blame game with some fidelity to reality.
5
Putin elected Trump, in order to weaken the US and turn it towards brutal dictatorship. We must not underestimate Putin's Internet Research Agency (IRA) or associated agencies, as they weaken democratic function.
6
@Astrochimp Not exactly sure how Putin elected Trump. Were thousand of Russian agents stationed in WI, PA and MI, giving free rides and free beer to registered votes who otherwise wouldn't have voted?
@Erik No, through internet trolls on social media and other channels.
In a contest between a reality TV host and real estate speculator who started with millions of dollars and still went bankrupt multiple times vs. a KGB cop who managed to take over a country, who would you bet on?
10
@mlbex , add in that trump also played in the casino business. Just two baby steps away from organized crime. Nobody in that disgusting business is what the rest of us would call "clean." trump owes a lot to a lot of people. And a lot of people hold a lot of info on trump. It's a perfect storm.
1
@karen Yep: Atlantic City casinos and New York real estate. Of course he's mobbed up.
I didn't have time or space to list all his problems.
I don't think the situation with Russia is complicated one at all. Russia wants as any country respect and security, with security is most important. Expansion of NATO combined with aggressive policies that brought instability in many parts of World definitely scared Russians. The Western sympathy for Chechen separatism didn't help either, considering all menace Chechens had done in Russia. Turning point was in 2008 when Georgia attacked Russian peacekeepers in Tsinhvalli . Georgia broke the international agreement but the West failed to condemn the violation that convinced Russians that the international laws will not protect it, and it started to act accordingly. It reminds me 30s, when the West didn't want to work with USSR, and then was shocked when USSR made the pact with Germany. Well, what did it expect? That USSR would just wait to be conquered by Germany while the West did nothing to help? The same situation here. Russia needs security, it tried to reach the West, the West ignored Russian worries, Russia has to take care of itself.
4
Ha ha ha. Poor Russia. The nicest guys on earth. Respect for invading Crimea and annexing it in the 21st Century :-)
2
@Blunt
The overwhelming majority of Crimeans are Russian-speaking. Ukraine refused for 23 years to let them vote on joining Russia.
Post-Maidan Ukraine's revoking the status of Russian as an official language is akin to doing the same to French in Canada, except it affects 30% of Ukraine but only 20% of Canada.
Russia did right to reclaim Crimea and its oppressed Russian-speakers, as it is right to give weapons to the Russian-speaking partisans in the eastern oblasts.
Perhaps the Ukrainian extremists in western Ukraine will learn from this that ethnic cleansing isn't always fun.
@alyosha
Think we should invade England since nearly all Englishmen and women speak English, even if with a funny accent?
2
"How is it that such a rotten system punched so far above its weight?”
In the final analysis I think the answer distills easily: The Internet.
It’s the perfect medium to foment the hate and chaos that so effectively chokes Russia’s adversaries. It costs almost nothing, requires no weapons stockpiles, and doesn’t require U.N. inspections. But it’s the most effective weapon Russia has ever had. Witness, for examples, the installations of Trump and Johnson.
3
Putin only has power because the press and uninformed politicians give him so. The reality is that Putin has resurrected the soviet bogeyman in the minds of the West. His military poses no threat and his economy cannot buy allegiances it once did.
Putin’s greatest triumph was his effort to undermine the government of the US, not by warfare but by intrigue. He gamed the Democrats by passing bogus information to Steele, who then, after getting paid by the DNC, passed it along. Putin played the Republicans by dangling info regarding the Dems and thereby ensured the subsequent political civil war.
Pelosi and Trump both got played. The evidence, which they both willfully ignore, points not to collusion but to gamesmanship.
Putin, for the price of a few thousand rubles, did more damage than his military ever did because our politicians and the press allowed him to do so.
1
The great question of history has always been, “Does a certain person make the times or does the times make a great person?”.
Russia has been an enigma for the West for centuries. It continues. Putin will eventually disappear, the Russian landmass will not. The variable effects of global warming will present future generations with much greater challenges including wars for safer havens and resources.
I wonder what the West and the America was doing in the two decades when Russia and “Its economy is sputtering and its young people are frustrated, but with America and Europe in tumult, Russia and its leader of two decades are on a roll.” Let us ask the people of Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Somalia, etc to find out.
3
Putin's "holding small cards, but he seems unafraid to play them"; Putin presents "the will of a single leader capable of making choices without constraint". Without malice, may I suggest that these statements are literally truer than they first sound -- that Putin in fact has the strengths and failings of a sociopath. If so, he can find and discard manipulative narratives with ease, himself "believing" and "disbelieving" them all equally; have not a twinge of angst for the future, nor regret for the past; experience people, facts, and ideas only as otherwise-unreal instruments to his self-chosen ends; and be utterly unhindered by tenderness, fear, attachment, wishful thinking, nor insecurity. On the one hand he may keenly observe us far more accurately than we dare perceive ourselves; on the other, he may be incapable of grasping human welfare itself. Only a vapid and soulless (to non-sociopaths) experience of power may drive or sustain him.
I would prefer my surgeon to be a sociopath. Or my pilot.
In a crisis, perhaps many citizens intuitively seek out a sociopath's unfazed leadership. Sociopaths are human antidotes to fear, sorrow, uncertainty, indecisiveness, moral clarity, and all other human experiences sociopaths are incapable of.
Is escape from some intolerable sensation the reason for the current world-wide rise in fascism and autocracy?
I'm not sure that when Barack Obama publicly dismissed Russia as merely a regional power, he believed his own words. Too much belligerence against an adversary can invite aggressive pushback. Surely, we have people in our government with the ability and knowledge to handle Putin, if Trump hasn't fired them all.
Right now, Putin sees Trump as very weak and hobbled by impeachment, so he's taking advantage.
1
Putin's subjective reality is not new, George Orwell saw it clearly in his predecessors. Putin did not miss a beat in molding the techniques to developments in media, excuse me, propaganda technology.
3
Issac Asimov wrote about this years ago in his book Second Foundation about how a small outpost advanced in psychology defeats the first foundation which is technologically advanced.
Much of Russia's power derives from its elevation of the status of science, technology, engineering and math. From Dmitri Mendeleev to 21st century rocket scientists and computer experts, Russia has produced outstanding individuals and technological group efforts, despite less than ideal political and economic conditions.
Under official atheism, relatively fewer minds were distracted by religious delusions. Relatively more were free to deal with empirical reality. Empirical reality was often harshly challenging.
The effects of invasions from the west, especially during the Second World War, and the privations imposed by the Cold War profoundly influence Russian thinking to this day. It took incredibly tough, practical, nationalistic people to beat back Napoleon and the Nazis. Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich turned invasion and suffering into supernal music, Tolstoy etc. into epic literature and Eisenstein into cinema.
Taken in historical context, there is no mystery about Russian prominence on the world stage.
5
@Steve M
And, they are still our only ticket to the Space Station . . .
1
@Steve M Interesting comment and am in agreement with it.
1
The first thought when I saw the photo of the map behind Putin today was....hmmm...wouldn't that be a subtle yet strong message that all countries seem unified as one...and that perhaps this is what Putin is telling us? There it is. That's his dream, his secret desire, to be the leader of this one territory, this one big landmass, and he's sitting at the helm, in his command control looking desk. It all seems very staged.
I'm sorry, but it really is just about the nuclear weapons. Failing those, Russia would have received the same treatment for its attack on Crimea that Iraq received for its attack on Kuwait.
...Andrew
3
Everything that Putin has done, and continues to do, explains Trump's fascination and deference to Putin. He is exactly the man that Trump wishes he could be, in every way. Smoke and mirrors, after all, has been Trump's stock in trade his entire life. What Trump sees in Putin's authoritarian rule, doublespeak and disinformation, lies and half truths, punishment of his enemies, legitimatizing his rule at any cost, and demanding unwavering loyalty from his appointees, as well from his party, is a road map for his own rule, which, like Putin, has no regard for fair elections. That should be unacceptable to any American.
1
I will say this for Russia... I'd take classical music, ballet and other arts over K-pop any day.
8
@S Baldwin
And krokodil instead of crack, I assume.
The Russians have always held the Empire together on duct tape, spies, extortion and misinformation. For me it's actually personal because my wife is ethnic Russian; she grew up in Central Asia. Behind my Russian Mother-in-law is a Drunken Son on who will occasionally try extorting my wife and I for a few dollars. Once he gets what he wants (or doesnt) he goes back to drinking, chasing women and ignoring his family. If we dont comply, he is very creative in making us miserable. Meanwhile, his kids run around wild with lice in their hair and sneakers that look like they came out of a trash compactor. My niece and nephew-in-laws visited one summer, we ended up using 4 bottles of lice-killing shampoo and washing our linens multiple times. My brother-in-law sent me a knife as a present that looked like it was made for a warlord. The kids had no idea how to swim so I taught them. We took them to NYC the Jersey Shore, the Franklin Institute. Our thank you for doing all this was an Ultimatum to my wife: sign over any share you have in the family apartment --- built in Soviet times, ready to explode from a gas leak at any moment --- or this is the last time you will see Mom for a long time. He's kept his word so far.
The question is - How did Putin buy an American President ?
4
@Bruce Savin He didn't, corporate America did, that's where the money is and that is what counts
If we had the right leadership in this country Putin would never be where he thinks he is.
1
Technology is leveling the field. The metric of difference should not just be land mass, GDP, rule of law, ...
As many intelligence professionals have sadly noted, Russia's interference in the 2016 US and UK Brexit elections is without a doubt the most successful foreign intelligence operation in history.
Without firing a single shot, Putin was able to do what no foreign army in the 243-year history of our country was able to do, namely, to corrupt our governing institutions, including one of our two major political parties, to sow massive social unrest and discord and, of course, to install an "asset" (whether witting or unwitting) in the highest office in our land.
Relatedly, in a series of plaintive tweets, the Russian dissident Garry Kasparov, has detailed how the practice of Both Sides Journalism enabled Putin's rise to power and how he continues to exploit it to maintain power, by normalizing his behavior and giving his actions a veneer of respectability.
He is always careful to observe the forms of a free and open press (press conferences, etc.) while at the same time exploiting it for his own ends. For example, he will speak humbly of the "Kremlin perspective", as if there is another.
The press obliges by publicizing his actions and statements using Western-style open journalistic conventions, such as anchor desks, slick graphics and field reports.
And most chillingly, as Kasparov notes, just as the American press does with Trump, all of Putin's crimes, no matter how overt and documented, are always referred to as "alleged".
Our liberal democracy is in grave peril.
8
@John M
Kasparov was once a dissident. Long ago he became a publicist for the US establishment.
Russia has never been a democracy, apart from a few heady days after the Russian Revolution and then for a few years in the early Lenin regime. It is, at heart, like China an authoritarian country characterised by fierce patriotism, enormously powerful historical myths, and a dominant cultural narrative (again like China) that conveniently forgets the multiplicity of ethnicities and regions. Russia (or China) will not, indeed cannot, conform to the model pioneered by Western Europe and the US. As in the times of the cold war, the Chinese and the Russian example appeal to Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Eastern Europe, where liberalism, capitalism and conventional constitutional democratic norms are weak. Zero leadership from the EU, a UK in chaos and a confused and fractured US make in-roads into the rest of the world extremely easy for both China and Russia, both of which seem coherent and successful in comparison, despite their structural weaknesses.
3
The brilliance of Putin is what he has done to consolidate power inside such a huge and disparate territory as the Russian Federation. He did this gradually, using control over local governors and realigning the internal boundaries of economic regional designations. While we on the outside have noted Putin's crackdown on internal press and civil society freedoms, we have ignored his manipulation of Russia's geography. From Catherine the Great to Stalin, this has been the key to Moscow's maintenance of power.
1
@Kathy
The Soviets never really went away.
He has used corruption, fear and terror like the good KGB man he is.
4
Russia has, historically, flexed its muscle looking for passages to more prosperous places. Then, Overreaching, returned to its stark lands.
As to why Russia was able to hold onto its core territory, there are few resources there that were easily exploited by foreign invasion or landscape simple to conquer. The result is the country has escaped being challenged and forced to modernize. Even into the 20th century farming was still based on a feudal system. The Russian people have had only small tastes of a free society.
Putin has taken all he can from the Russian economy and has turned his sites on the rest of the world. Having little that any other country wants gives cover to his sneaky ambitions as the world turns its eyes to richer partners. Crude oil, found in the back of beyond of nowhere, finances Putin's hegemony and fuels his iron control.
The problem the US and Europe has with Putin is not his designs on wreaking chaos on us to divert attention from his imperialistic interests, but our own neglect of strong institutions that would shield us from his underhanded tactics. Strong impartial schooling for all, good governance, care of our environment, sharing our resources fairly, tolerance of good people whoever they are is a short list of what the West has neglected to husband since WWII. Russia will always be the bully on the world stage. The problem is not understanding Russia and Putin, that has never been a secret, but how we understand ourselves.
9
Probably, because bullying does work. Look at the US. It bullies everybody friends and goes alike.
@Margaret Warner , such a thoughtful post. I cringe when I hear (or even read in NYT comments) that "America is the greatest country in the world." Or politicians-- even realists like Obama or Hillary-- being forced to wear flag pins and to profess "American exceptionalism." A federal government which has failed to emotionally unify its people; which allows backwater states like West Virginia to yield more power than a modern state like mine or yours; and which refuses to provide for its people on the metrics you mention (to which I would add a modern 21st century infrastructure)-- is failing its fundamental responsibility and reason for being. And is thus a failed state; with "leaders" who are vulnerable to outside influence from KGB agent Putin, and whose people are vulnerable to propaganda and in awe of a demagogue making false promises.
1
Russia has leveraged its "soft" power successfully through cyberwarfare and patient cultivation of client assets such as Donald Trump. Putin has exported his brand of fascism to the far right wing parties of Europe and the United States (Republican party in the US). Witness the similarity of the language used in RT and on Fox News. Installation of Donald Trump in the White House was a major Russian achievement, as was the Brexit vote in the UK, both of which were abetted by Russian interference. We now have a constitutional political crisis in the US, for which Russia has made a major contribution.
5
“...you expect one thing...and suddenly it is something else...”
As we approach a New Year, conflicted in so many ways and areas,
it may be useful to consider, and remember, if we ever adequately
knew and understood, that realities’ ever-present, interacting dimensions are: uncertainties. Unpredictabilities. Impermanence. Randomness. Unexpectedness. Outliers. Lack of total control notwithstanding one’s efforts; timely or not.
When these realities are not adequately considered in local, regional and global realities, which are driven by “success,” however delineated, temporary or more permanent ones, and are “infected” by a fear of failure, the “gift” of being able to “Fail better,” each time, with each decision, act,and outcome, is absent.
We remain challenged by the “something else;” all too often distancing ourselves from the opportunities, daily, to contribute to making needed differences that can make a sustainable difference.
1
If Americans don't come to our senses, we will look just like Russia with our leaders making deals with autocrats around the world to keep us all under their thumbs.
That economy will not look good for most Americans.
3
Sadly, I think it is already happening.
2
The photos of Obama with Putin, in contrast to trump with Putin are some of the most telling indications of where we are in relation to Russia. President Obama looks at Putin with knowledge of what the man is, and a calculating assessment of the need to counter the threat. The current occupant in our White House looks at Putin with fear of who the man is, and deference to the threat he poses.
If men like Bolton and Tillerson had any love for this country, they would be rushing to our Congress to provide testimony instead of banking on lucrative book deals and the manufactured vindication they expect from them.
7
@Gustav Aschenbach
Right.
That’s why the sainted Barack Obama fecklessly offered post-election flexibility to Putin on an open mic and sold out our allies on missile defense in the process.
You are right. The contrast between Trump and a feckless Obama is large.
1
@EGD Granted. But mistakes and miscalculations don't compare to the prostration that we've seen under this little "man" currently in our White House. A "man" who has no capacity to learn is a far cry from a man who can make errors, admit them, and rectify. Obama never "joked" about a 20 year reign, as this con-artist in our White House has, or about being the "Second Coming of God;" he never declared himself an emperor-god, and neither he nor the rest of America thought him a "saint." But I don't doubt for a second that competence serves our nation far better than the slimy stain in our White House who only serves himself.
But what does Putin want for his country and the Russian people, and what do they want for themselves? Can the goal really be a nation of global power and influence with a population still living in relative misery? Or is there a simple assumption that military power and global influence will automatically (magically?) lead to prosperity?
The Chinese may have methods different than those of western democracies, methods that are often deplorable, but their goal of a more prosperous China is clear, and they have made great progress in lifting people out of poverty. Meanwhile Russia seems to be wallowing in the mud, intent on pulling the rest of the world down.
3
Russia wants as everybody else security, prosperity, and respect. It is also worth to note that although China is an economical power, his population is much worse than Russians. According to human development index (adjusted by inequality) it is ranked 64th slightly worse than Moldova, while Russia is ranked 41th, slightly higher than Portugal. I guess Russians don't want Chinese prosperity.
1
@yulia I see that Russia wants security and respect, but how is Putin's agenda going to create prosperity for the Russian people?
China may be poorer than Russia in terms of per capita income and other individual measures, but their economy has grown and is growing at an enormous rate. Hundreds of millions of people have been lifted out of poverty in the last decade.
3
@Martin Well, millions of people in Russia were lifted from poverty under Putin, and? Why should China be praised for that, but not Russia? But Human development index is not based only on income but also on education, health and equality/inequality of wealth distribution. For example, Moldovan GDP per capita 4 times less than China, but yet it is ranked slightly higher than China. On the other hand, Chinese GDP per capita is only 1.2 times lower than Russian, and yet it is ranked significantly lower than Russia. It could not be just economy, right?
One cannot overlook the influence of Russia's political technologies on university education and academic publishing.
After interviewing 120+ authors and professors on Ukraine, Russia and Eastern Europe (for my channel UkeTube) it became clear that the topic of the Russian government and Putin is hands off with many (not all) professors and academics.
Most Western scholars refuse to appreciate/examine Russian culture, literature, language, history, or scholarly research without either supporting Putin or staying silent on freedoms denied to the Russian people by the state.
Even in Canada, which has 1.4 million Ukrainians, Canadian universities coddle several Putin sympathetic professors including Ivan Katchanovski (University of Ottawa), Mikhail Molchanov (St. Thomas University) Paul Robinson (University of Ottawa) and Piotr Dutkiewicz (Carleton University). In particular, both Prof. Lucan Way at the University of Toronto and Prof. David Marples at the University of Alberta believe that the conflict in Ukraine is an internal civil war.
Russia's disinformation campaign is not just on our computer screens, or in political lobbying in Washington, Ottawa and London, but in our books, teachers, and universities.
2
I worked and lived in Russia - actually Siberia.
I am fond of Russia and it's people - and I am a Republican.
Throughout it's history, Russia has been misunderestimated.
Even John Adams with his very able son who studied Russian just so ha can be his father's translator - took the czar empire as a second thought.
Europeans never understood Russians.
And definitely, the European royalty kept the czars at an arms length. It has been said that if brit royal family had any inclination - they could have saved czar by granting him an asylum along with his family.
After what happened to czars - the british royal family learned a lesson of not being too distant from the masses. Enter the tabloid royalty that we have today.
Putin succeeds because Russians are a proud folks of great literary and scientific achievements. Without their Uber service - America would be cut off from space.
And Russia has had incredibly dominant influence on its so called "near abroad" republics which continues to this day.
I worked in Azerbaijan - any Azeri worth his salt still thinks, speaks and works in Russian. We may think different about Ukrainians - but it is the same way - Russian language, tv, culture dominate.
I am totally with POTUS that "it's a good thing for America to get along with Russia."
Absent good relations - are the display of raw Russian power described in this article.
6
Russia's seeming achievements under Putin are not the results of what it has been doing right but rather what the United States and the rest of the free world have been doing wrong. American introversion, retreat, and subversion of the western alliance and democratic solidarity under Trump, Brexit, the weakening of the EU, the ascent of so-called 'illiberal democracy' in central and eastern Europe, the antagonism between Japan and South Korea, etc. How could Putin's policies and actions not look brilliant and successful on that background? Until a process of healing and reform is undertaken in the democratic world (the first baby step being sending Trump to the trash can of history), things will only get worse and more dangerous.
2
Putin is worth over $500 billion from all the self-dealing privatizations he undertook when he came into power. He is using that money to meddle in elections all over the world. A Washington Post article of a few years ago caught then Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan trying to quell discussion, among GOP rank and file, about Russian meddling in US elections...This was 2016....
4
@VGE Is there a link as to where he got all that money and where it is stored, in his back pocket maybe?
Russia is a nation of 140 million and is not Putin. Like America and Israel, none realize the cold war is over and it is time for the military to find another line of work. Employing military is mandatory in many countries because that interest group demands it. Time for peace, and that is just not understood. Main stream Americans and Russians suffer but neither understand that peace also brings prosperity. Also, long articles concerning another country is of little value when our own problems are very challenging. The US has no leadership, and that is a really big problem being ignored. Russia has a very weak economy and weak leadership. Time for fresh thinking.
1
Nietzsche claimed resentment was a great motivator. Russia is the best proof of that. After the USSR collapsed under its own rotten weight, Russians suddenly realized that they had been building a utopia for 70 years, paid for in blood and suffering, and achieved only an ignominious defeat. It would be too much to blame themselves for succumbing to the lure of socialism. Somebody else had to be responsible. Of course - the always-detested West! Putin cannot give Russians prosperity, opportunity or hope. But he can give them an enemy. It worked for Stalin - why not for him? But this article, good as it is, makes a common mistake of conflating Russia and the USSR. The latter held captive many more nations, including Ukraine which is now the target of Putin’s revenge for breaking free. Reagan’s designation of the USSR as the evil empire was very much to the point.
2
But the reverse is also true. The West always detested Russia, because it was/is independent country that managed to stay afloat even in dare circumstances. And Putin did deliver prosperity and security, compare to the situation he inherited from Yeltsin. So, it is not about sacrifice, it is more about who can deliver what.
@yulia this is is Russian paranoia speaking. There is no ant-Russian animus in the West. If anything, there has consistently been a sort of highbrow Russophilia among Western intellectuals. The Cold War was about communism, not about Russia, and many intellectuals played down the horrors of the Soviet regime. Russians love to feel martyred and misunderstood but the truth is, all their wounds are self-inflicted.
1
Deliver what?
Invade Crimea
Superb usage of Polonium and camouflaging it in perfume bottles
Employing Chechnya’s best thugs and mafia dons in extinguishing their own rebellion for liberty
Helping Bashar Al Assad demolish his own cities older than Moscow and St Petersburg combined. Get rid of the population of those cities
Helping a wonderfully democratic leader with all his internal and external woes (his name is Erdogan)
Jailing Khodorovsky after taking his money (at least what he could reach)
I could go on for a while longer.
2
Russia is not an enemy of the US, much less a "formidable" one.
When President Obama referd to Russia as a regional power he was speaking from the intelligence reports that presidents regularly get. Russia still posses a nuclear arsenal, but like its Soviet predecessor has a "no first use" pledge and regularly participants in international IAEC.
But in the bi-polar world of the Soviet Union and the US, Russia significantly influenced world events by being a counterweight to western imperialism.
The NY Times doubts that such a thing as western imperialism existed, but the people of the world who are from former colonies and pseudo colonies have a different view that has been forged by their historical experience.
Russia supported their independence and helped arm them when that independence was threatened, such as in Vietnam. The possibility of any of these third world conflicts spilling over into Western Europe kept America's "unilateralism" at bay.
Putin abandoned communism, became a conservative Christian, tried to join NATO and the EU, but was rebuffed. Our response was to move a military alliance, NATO to Russia's borders and deploy ABM weapons aimed at Moscow. More recently to employ sanctions.
Putin's response has always been very measured and quite predictable. Our response have been nothing short of bizarre. We seem trapped in our own Cold War imagination struggling against a ghost that doesn't exist.
It's time for a realistic reset in US Russia relations.
3
In order to discuss Putin effectively we must view the overall world economic and political situation in the 21st century through the prism of human overpopulation, and world consumption of finite resources. Enter consideration of the spectre of the oil and gas industry after a few hundred years and we can understand ourselves to be in big trouble. Add world climate change and geographical positioning. And voila, it suddenly needs to be taken very, very seriously. Time to dispense with the smoke and mirrors of willful ignorance. If we can do this profound reexamination as a species, then implemen the needed changes, we can get through this.
1
Seems like a slow news day. The author is stating that Russia is a formidable enemy? What would Russia say of the U.S.?
We have them surrounded with NATO inching right up to their border, 700+ military bases around the world, outspend them 10 to 1 on military and our economy is 20x larger, and we hit them with sanctions non-stop.
The question should be - why do we insist on making Russia a bogeyman for some reason?
It's bordering on lunacy. Not that I am Tucker Carlson fan, but the man has a fair points on this with the media. Why do we talk of Russia when there are certainly more potent challengers to US Empire- particularly China.
2
@David
Look at a globe and tell us exactly how Russia is ‘surrounded.’
1
Russia in its current state is a powerful object lesson in how much easier it is to wreck good things than it is to build and preserve them.
3
Bush W presided over 9/11, having ignored urgent intelligence that had he paid attention, might have turned the U.S.'s attention to stopping the attack before it happened.
Trump is not only presiding over, but encouraging and deliberately aiding Russia's rise over the collapse of the US.
3
Putin has been playing the long game. Most people forget the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 90’s and Russia’s lost decades of the 90’s and 2000’s. Decreasing life expectancy because of acute alcoholism, poor medical care. Zero population growth. In almost 30 years Russia population 1991 148.6 million, 2019 146.794 million has shrunk by 2 million people. Think about that. By 2040 Russia’s population will have decreased by another 10 million. The US population has grown from 253 to 329 million and is expected to reach 373 million by 2040. Russia is totally oil export dependent for foreign currency. We have crippled their economy with sanctions. They could have become a global player in software development had we not had this adversarial relationship.
With Putins reported 100’s of Billions in personal wealth and their growing skills in cyber warfare. I would be worried about a global event that will shock our algorithmic stock market.
Putin doesn’t get mad. He get’s even. We the “liberal democracies” of the west should be concerned!
2
I’ve spent a great deal of time in Eastern Europe and Russia because my wife is from there and her family still reside therein. Between glasses of vodka and maudlin conversations with citizens, I’ve discerned my own view of why Russia, as pitiable as it is, is the Muhammed Ali of failing states.
One of its greatest social assets, ironically, is self delusion masquerading as optimism. I recently borrowed a pen to write a short note, thanking the owner for its use and remarking what a nice pen it was. “Of course,” she replied, “it was made in Russia.” I hear that everywhere I go in the former Soviet Bloc. It really was a nice pen, but the hotel in which I was staying was ramshackle. The street outside full of potholes. There was a blend in traffic of Range Rovers. Audis, and horse and carts. Ordinary people are generally well dressed and well fed but almost rooted to the spot by a lack of disposable income. Russia’s apparent greatness is still discernible, however, in the silky smoothness of a pen.
Putin exploits this delusion quite masterfully. I asked a Russian why Putin was so wealthy while he was so poor. The answer was because he needs to be rich to fit in with global leaders, feudal lords all.
Trump may or may not have colluded with Russia and there’s a likely scandal brewing over Brexit and Bojo, but he certainly seeks to emulate him. Russia is an oligarchy by consent where the rich get richer with the tacit blessing of the poor. Our elites want the same.
1
But the real turning point, said Mr. Pavlovsky, who was then working in the Kremlin, came a year later with the meltdown of global financial systems in 2008. Another disastrous consequence of a republican presidency; that of George W Bush.
1
That Putin regards his Syrian intervention (and his secret ordered US withdrawal through puppet Trump) is no surprise.
The destabilization of well intentioned democratic governments in Europe over their leaders’ admission of refugees is the result of this intervention, including Russian diplomacy and military.
As with Trump’s Republicans, post-cold war NATO democracies Poland and Hungary have nationalist leaders grabbing Putin’s stirrup. Will England, France, and Germany be next?
2
Why? Simple. He knows what he wants, has control over the military and the state security apparatus, and is unburdened by ethics. Simple, right?
A rather telling headline, the assumption that Russia is the "enemy."
And therein lies the mainstream media's narrative despite the fact that the Constitution delegates America's foreign policy positions to the executive branch, ie. Trump.
While I despise most everything he's done, from tax breaks for the rich to separating immigrant children from their parents, Trump's perception that Russia need not be the enemy is probably the high point of his presidency.
So why does the Times and the rest of the mainstream media persist in promoting this cold war propaganda?
Because the ruling class in the land of the free and home of the brave has an economic axe to grind, maintaining US dominance -- and state capitalism and socialism are seen as competitors.
So we subvert any move toward real democracy or state capitalism with regime change and gunboat diplomacy.
And the media, lap dogs of the rich and the deep state that actually runs the show in this pseudo-democracy, march in lockstep -- and don't even think the unthinkable --- that unrestrained capitalism is the enemy, and not Russia.
1
A former KGB agent who has decried the fall of the Soviet Union and its influence on the world stage doing everything he can, legal or not, to put Russia back on top. And no American leadership to counter this. Do not ever underestimate Vladimir Putin. He is far smarter and cagier than we think.
2
I don’t think this article gives us an accurate picture of Vladimir Putin. He rightly destroyed the Chechnya rebellion, because he realized it threatened Russia’s sovereignty. And he perceived that taking back Crimea would be easy since the Russians living there wanted that outcome. In a brilliant strategic move, he joined forces with Assad to crush the Syrian rebellions, realizing they would bring nothing but more chaos to the Middle East. The idea that Russia through postings on Facebook and other social media is fomenting discord in the U.S. is patently ludicrous. Putin must have a big laugh every time he hears these charges. This article seeks to downplay Russia’s financial strength, yet as one of your readers pointed out, it is the largest exporter of oil and natural gas to Europe. I agree, however, with the article’s quoting of Putin when he said it was not how much power you have, but how you use your power that is important. Putin is a very smart leader and it is in our country’s interest not to have an adversarial attitude toward Russia but rather find the areas where we can cooperate. This seems to be the president’s strategy, and I wholly agree with him.
3
Just my observations...
I recently have spent a year living in St. Petersburg. I also have had the privilege of touring through the Ural and Siberia. In general, people are living well in Russia. They prioritize being with their families and their friends. They have food and shelter, enough healthcare, generally a content bunch. They dream of America, of following dreams. But visas are very difficult to get (although us citizens can easily visit Russia for 3 years). Certainly, one would be foolish to go out in public and start criticizing practices and policies of the government, or criticizing Putin himself. But besides that, people are pretty much having a great time over there, it appears to me. Of course it is false. But it’s very false here also, an economy based on credit cards. There’s no homeless people there. why? Because families take care of their own people. We could learn something.
2
Three things: fear, coercion, and their own subjugation.
France, Germany, the Netherlands and England have managed to keep Putin from wrecking havoc with their democracies. He was successful in the US because he found it easy to buy off one of the political parties. Not a big mystery. He steals enough money from the Russian people and gives enough of it away to groups in the US so he can have his way.
russia is a power because we make it one. We are fixated on russia and seem to have forgotten that the cold war ended some time ago. trump is truly a russian asset.
1
It is sad to say and has long been true that a foolish people will settle for the illusion of dominance while 'men', hungry for power and idolatry, separate them from their fought for freedoms, justice and prosperity.
It seems humans never learn from the past and are doomed to to self-destruction over and over again. Why?
1
The West's version of capitalism is leaving too many people behind economically, leaving us with Trump, Brexit, and a lot of angst in the rank and file. We're vulnerable because people have falling expectations and are willing to grasp at straws.
Russia's communism failed first, but now they've settled on a type of capitalist kleptocracy and they're back in the game. They have also had centuries of practice at containing the aspirations of their people.
One reason that Russia punches above its weight is that they are nearly all Russians and they are not distracted by multiculturalism. As you report the first thing Putin did was crush the uprising in Chechnya.
China is also in this position and are suppressing their minorities. Is there a lesson there?
Japan is another country that is ethnically pure. This is not meant as a swipe at other cultures but to show that when a country is all of one culture it is easier for them to all pull together.
1
"These include the propagation of fake or at least highly misleading news; the masking of simple facts with complicated conspiracy theories; and denunciations of political rivals as traitors"
Our Republicans have been doing this too.
However, denunciations of traitors is quite a Democratic thing too.
So is conspiracy theory to explain electoral outcomes.
As for fake news, it is hard to rival Faux News for that skill, but if it makes any criticism of Trump the Democrats are ready to quote it for that. Being on the right side is the definition of "truth" in the news for today, and factual accuracy is most often not even checked by editors (who in many cases as cost cutting are no longer employed in major news rooms).
2
@Mark Thomason -- Perhaps we are what Jack Nicholson described in A Few Good Men: "You can't handle the truth!"
So we hide, and only listen to our own side. That applies even to discussion of our doing that.
Besides failing leaders of the West, mainly the US, one reason I find very fitting to explain why Western countries so often fail to read and/or understand sociopolitical situation in other countries like Russia, China, India, Balkans etc.
Traditionally, socioeconomic "elites" of those countries have money & influence to migrate & settle in western countries including US, UK, Germany etc. Those people hardly have any idea about ground reality of the country. They lived a isolated life away from common people. Many other times they are fully compromised by thier own interest, building a public image among people of the host country which is based almost entirely on lies & distortion (of reality). These "elites" then got access to the powers of corridors in those western countries. Many start influencing Govt policies there.
At the same time, they are often very cautious not to antagonize the influential people & power equation in their native countries as they do have close relatives there and/or a lot of money/influence is yet to be earned from that country.
Many times, their hereditary political and/or religious views dictate their opinion as they influence public policy of the host country. Such biased opinion is far more common among people from developing countries, where education is almost totally ruined (polluted by political & religious ideologues) and building interpersonal relationship hardly rise above petty personal interests.
1
Success in any of those countries (Russia, China, India etc.) basically means one's ability to exploit the prevailing culture of corruption and get involved in crime. That route is more crucial for succeeding financially. That's why vast majority of "successful" people from such developing countries are basically corrupt and opportunist and it's mostly such people who migrate and settle in western countries. That trend of migration of rich people form such countries exploded in recent years as those countries are increasingly witnessing chaos and authoritarianism.
1
Indeed. The Russians people are not happy at all. But Putin fancies himself as some kind of modern czar - at least, in practice, if not reality. But I'm not sure what kind of "greatness" to which Russia intends to return: Even after Alexander II abolished slavery, it was of no real benefit to the people, who were then forced to pay for their former owners "rent."
The Russian Revolution solved exactly nothing, and in fact, only made things worse under Stalin and the other corrupt, murderous dictators that followed.
So, Putin is a product of his environment. Though I predict that the West will not remain complacent forever. There will come a tipping point that will force the world to wake up and put an end to his shenanigans. Through Brexit, he's weakened the United Kingdom to the literal point of collapse, he has no serious threat in the Balkans, he's got a friend in Hungary (that one is a serious head-spinner, considering their history), he's taken over in Syria (it's the oil, let's be clear) and last, but not least, he has managed to nearly destroy the United States both internally and on the world stage through his pandering, incompetent cut-out in the White House.
He then sent a Russian warship right through the English Channel and bragged about the capabilities of his missiles to hit "anywhere on the globe."
Meanwhile, Mitch McConnell, Lindsay Graham and the GOP sat back and watched Rome burn.
Shameful.
Is there anyone who believes that we would not have been better off if we had supported Gorbachev and he had retained his control over the USSR?
Corrupt Western elites have cleared the road for Putin. He could not operate as he does, if our own systems were sound and our leadership was honest.
He holds up a mirror to our own autocrats and the public is unsure where the difference is.
2
Mr. Putin has smeared plenty of poison on the handles of the U.S. political process. I wonder if that process is not just sick but a zombie now. An important indicator will be whether or not the Senate fulfills the vision of being "a tribunal sufficiently dignified, or sufficiently independent...to preserve, unawed and uninfluenced, the necessary impartiality between an individual accused, and the representatives of the people, his accusers."
1
The Steele dossier wasn’t real after all. Only if the progressives could accept reality...can we can see Russia in their true light.
2
Such a mystery! Gosh, what could the answer be? I mean, it couldn’t be something OBVIOUS - that would be too easy ... Hmmm. Headscratcher!
Kleptocrats really have no boundaries whether its Putin, Trump, Murdoch or Zuckerberg; just to name a few.
Could it be that America is even more of a mess?
1
Putin is only a "formidable enemy" now because Trump and his Republican enablers are doing Putin's bidding and giving Putin a free hand to disrupt the US (and Europe). The real question is what does Putin have over Trump and, likely, at least some, if not many, prominent Republicans?
1
The west believes that Putin as a product of the former Soviet Union is programmed to wage international conspiratorial domination, forgetting that the Russian is committed to the same economic system as ourselves with the design of capturing & controlling world markets. Before becoming too self righteous, ask yourselves just who has dumped more bombs on parts of the world since the beginning of the new millennium. The answer is obvious.
1
Easy, because we are even in a bigger mess!
2
That old political maxim of there not being a "dime's worth of difference between a Democrat and a Republican" can now be amended to there's not a dime's worth of difference between a Trump supporter in the U.S. and a Putin supporter in Russia.
1
Haha, "modernized the military". They are like Germany in the 30s super weak, but lots of bravado. No need to be scared of this paper tiger. However, if you let bullies go unchecked they become a problem.
“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
I see this as our problem and why Russia has enjoyed such outsized success.
I watched 9/11 in horror and then watched us overreact by sacrificing our personal liberties at home and invading countries in costly wars abroad. It weakened our domestic strength and weakened our standing in the world abroad. All because we got scared.
Then I watched a perfectly capable black man get elected to the office of the President. I watched the right wing media machine use America’s thinly veiled racist past to erode his support, prime time opinion piece by prime time opinion piece. They lied about how the world thought we looked weak, lied about our economic strength as a country, lied about everything they could to “make sure he was a one term president.” They sought to make people fear our decline. And we believed it because we are so susceptible.
Next I watched the developing world’s gas station — Russia — bring us to our knees with a few Twitter and Facebook accounts dedicated to fear and divisiveness and we took that bate, too.
We are still the most powerful and capable country in the world and we have no reason to be afraid, except for our own irrational choices in the face of adversity. Our problems are mostly between our ears.
It helps if a country is dominated by a dictator who does not hesitate to use any means to get what he wants. A small and single-minded country can accomplish world dominance if it creates sufficient chaos elsewhere.
This is not complicated. Putin has installed what is in Lenin’s terms “A Useful Fool” in the White House who has given him Syria, Turkey and soon Saudia Arabia, weakened NATO and the U.S. relationship with South Korea and Japan. Putin has also neutered the Senate Majority Leader via an Oligarch who has hired one of the Senator’s top aides, is building an aluminum plant in Kentucky, and likely has provided campaign funds and other assistance. And this Kentucky Senator is colluding with the White House to have Senate Republicans run a sham impeachment trial in 2020 and keep the Useful Fool in Office.
This is what happens when a former master spy from the KGB takes control of Russia and corrupts a major Political Party of that nation’s enemies.
1
Short answer to your question: because he is way smarter than our president.
1
Putin may be winning, but it is been worth it to Americans, as now we can’t be forced to make a wedding cakes for gay weddings. We all remember those terrible times when that whole cake threat hung over our heads. Go Trump go. Putin is currently working on AI program to make inauguration crowds look bigger!
Where was this article going? It ends in mid-thought. So is this only about image? Has Putin's goal been improving Russia's self-respect, or did he come to that in 2008 after giving up on really making the country stronger? The article doesn't answer.
1
Simple answer: because the Democrats and the media have made him one.
Remember when Obama mocked Romney for saying Russia was America's number one geostrategic foe? Remember when Obama did next to nothing when Putin annexed Crimea? Remember when Obama refused to even send Ukraine lethal aid?
But once Russia meddled in the 2016 election (as they have tended to do since 1917) on behalf of Trump, a core part of the anti-Trump resistance in this country has been an overinflated myth of Russian/Putin omnipotence.
Talk about corrupt foreign interference!
Isn't this exactly the kind of myth-building that makes Putin loom larger than he is.? How large? Not only did he play center on his basketball team, he was drafted into the NBA but decided to finish all four years at the STASI spy school instead.
He punches above his weight. What does that mean? Who punches below their weight? Trump punches below the belt. Does that count?
It's obvious Putin is ruthless and presides over a nation defeated by corruption and exhausted hope. Having a scary and sinister spy agency -- replete with killer umbrellas and lethal plutonium -- at your beck and call to dispense with noisy dissidents and political rivals isn't indicative of great leadership, just murderous thuggery.
If the US sanctions Russian oil, it collapses. Because the US is still (for now) banker to the world, turning off Russia's spigot will likely result in a train ride for Putin from St. Petersburg back to the Finland Station.
So no, Russia isn't a phoenix rising from the ashes and Putin isn't Napoleonic (except in stature). He needs to look and act scary because he isn't really scary, no more than Little Rocket Man.
Every move Putin's made has been enabled, facilitated or endorsed by Trump. He hasn't taken anything Trump hasn't given him. That doesn't make him clever, strong, smart. It makes Trump a chump, weak and a sure loser on Are You Smarter Than a Fifth-grader?
Putin isn't a formidable enemy of America. But Trump is.
Want to live in Russia? Vote for Trump.
Want to live in Chile? Vote for a centrist.
Want to live in America again? Warren or Sanders.
“Why Is Putin Such a Formidable Enemy?” Simple. He is a friend of Trump.
2
It's tempting to say that the credibility of Putin in the United States comes from an almost-slavish Trump and his political lapdogs, plus a surprising number of their constituents. What they don't consider is the origins of Trump's Russia-love stems from Trump's greed -- for their loans to his projects and the capital city he's decided needs a Trump Tower. Plus, there's his personal penchant for crooked aristocrats with the "adoring" crowds and silenced press. (Trump once said he wants what he thinks dictator Kim Jong Un has -- North Korean masses who always sit up and listen to him.)
But the fact is, a surprising number of Americans -- and Europeans -- who feel chaos in their own economy or lives also admire Putin's symbol of strength and order. It's a misty longing, a pseudo-nostalgia for some phony past, prompting them to see in him what they think is lacking in their own realm -- like a stifling of people who are "less" than them.
I lived for a year in Chile under brutal dictator Augusto Pinochet, then moved to Peru, with its new, democratically-elected president but a collapsing economy, disordered society and extreme-left guerilla violence. I heard a surprising number of Peruvians speak longingly of their neighbor's leader; they envied Chile's seeming stability -- while ignoring its harsh truths.
Sure, democracy may seem messier than dictatorship. But those with stars in their eyes must be made to see: at least you have options and choices for making things better.
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@Peggy Rogers
The US doesn't have a democracy... an oligarchy, perhaps.
Whatever sort of government the US has, it is the best that money can buy.
But the times are changing, with obscene, colossal and growing inequality in the US, where the richest .1 percent take in in over 188 times the income of the bottom 90 percent.
The US incarceration rate is the highest in the world.
If the Establishment., its government and its media focused less on promoting Russia hating hysteria, and more on the very real problems in the US, its citizenry might get the domestic policies that would create a more thriving society, and in turn, create a stronger country and better example for the world.
11
@Lucy Cooke so your prescription is to ignore Putin's game and pretend like 2016 was just a run of a mill type of Russian meddling? You sure sound like many trolls spawned by Russian propaganda machine. The income inequality is real, but make no mistake so is Russian incursions into Western political elections. You are a troll. Don't try to refer to Western governments in third person, it's a give away of your Ruskyi origin.
17
@Ruth It's not binary (either you're an American patriot or Russian troll), and Ms. Cooke isn't prescribing anything - she's stating facts. There's room for growth in the US's current economic, political, and social malaise. And I am not a Russian troll, either. I agree they have problems but their awful propaganda's effect on our elections was less than the effect of a flawed Electoral College and too much weight given to domestic fringe elements (mostly in rural America).
7
Putin is a formidable enemy because we allow him that status. I do believe there is a great deal of news-hype that elevate him to almost mythical proportions. Russia's interference in the 2016 election was largely hit-or-miss but they got a lucky break when they came across Donald Trump.
2
The ideology of liberal democracy, Putin said, “has outlived its purpose.”
This is how we got Trump, too -- his "63 million voters" in 2016 were 5 million less than his opponent then -- but now he says the impeachment is a veto on "the will of the people" -- (as in, his people).
And the obstreperous GOP shrieks that the House is abusing its power -- but the American electorate in 2018 had 9 million more voters for Democrats than Republicans.
"Outlived its purpose?"
What is that supposed to mean?
How about the purpose of sustainable growth, sustainable innovation, sustainable equity, sustainable environment, sustainable health and education -- so that a society can prosper in peace for centuries?
If that is not purpose -- what is?
Putin has already hoarded tens of billions of petrol-dollars into his personal coffers. His personal wealth depends on spewing carbon fuel into the air -- globally.
He is merely a thug. Russia will do better when they seize their democracy and defenestrate him.
@Toms Quill
Putin may be an autocrat and Trump an aspiring one, but Putin is correct in that liberal democracy has failed the American people. What about this country makes you think that “sustainable growth, sustainable innovation, sustainable equity, sustainable environment, and sustainable health and education” are things that the oligarchic and political class value? The complete and abject failure of that vision is why people have turned to strongman like Putin and Trump and will continue to do so if the power of elites is not curved and things do not improve for working people.
2
@Peter Liberal Democracy has not outlived its purpose — it’s purpose is eternal.
But liberal democracy has not yet lived up to its purpose.
Putin and Trump would have us give up on these ideals, and spend our short lives cowering in hopelessness.
But we can do better.
The purpose of democracy will never die and cannot be outlived.
"...the propagation of fake or at least highly misleading news; the masking of simple facts with complicated conspiracy theories; and denunciations of political rivals as traitors or, in a term President Trump borrowed from Stalin, “enemies of the people.”
Putin has had a frightening effect on the leader of the United States and his followers. It will require a widespread recognition of Putin's influence and the purging of these conspiracy theories and
the post-truth world in which we are living. The truth matters, even if seems fuzzy at the moment.
It's Russia's will to fight that distinguishes them. Got to do something about that.
Putin has proved himself to be a teflon leader with nerves of steel. During my visit to the Shao lin temple in China I was surprised to find more pictures of Putin than any other world leader past or present. Putin is quite popular in the BRICS countries and Russia is held in high regard even in European countries as a counter balance to USA. What Putin needs to do while his promoting Russian pride is take more refugees and migrants and settle them considering Russia has the highest land mass and one of the lowest population densities behind Canada and Australia.
1
Well, depends on how you view being “on a roll”
If the goal of a country is to create a better quality of life for the people then it most certainly is not on a roll.
We need to redefine the goal of countries from power to commonwealth
What point I took from this article — and I don’t know if it’s true or not — is that there was a window of opportunity during the W. Bush presidency — to create a more stable world with Russia as a partner and instead Bush/Cheney took every opportunity to destabilize Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and the world financial markets.
2
@Christopher Pelham
While I agree in your over all assessment of Bush/Cheney administration I don’t believe it was opportunistic. It was simple incompetence and mismanagement.
1
He's hacking democracy like a brilliant, patient Boris Spassky -- identify and promote candidates (at all levels) vulnerable to bribery or blackmail, get them elected by funding ruthless dis-information campaigns via social media, targeting impressionable swing voters via data analytics.
These are the new weapons of mass destruction. Look at Brazil, the Philippines, the Brexit vote, etc and you see Putin's fingerprints as well... And also look past Trump to many in the GOP. Again, as Mueller said in the hearings when asked if Russian interference was still happening, "even as we sit here," I believe he meant that literally.
218
Yeah who knew that despite the rosy picture of developed capitalism there are so many people who were left behind. and who didn't believe to the free press that kept ignoring their plight. Isn't it that why so many people call for Russian propaganda despite the access to free media? I guess the question is not why Russia is strong despite its weaknesses, but why the West is so weak despite its strength.
17
@sue denim
Blaming Putin for everything is so insane, and that blaming Putin for everything is so heavily promoted by the Establishment, its media, and most Democrats is an extreme embarrassment.
Trump was elected by US citizens for real reasons that ought to be thought about and understood.
The US covert "democracy promoting types" were probably, covertly engineering the Bolsonaro win, because the US can't allow countries to choose a president with socialist leaning ideas.
The US State Department/CIA "democracy promoters" are predatory capitalists "in drag".
The US has always worked to promote governments that will submit to the US led international world order where predatory capitalism reigns.
Brexit , like Trump's election, happened for a reason.
I will blame Hillary, who as Obama's Secretary of State, refused to allow a UN brokered Syrian peace agreement in 2012, because she insisted that Assad must be ousted first.
After that, six million Syrians fled Syria, many flooded to Europe. Working Brits, worn down by huge numbers of Eastern Europeans allowed into Britain based on EU Freedom of Movement policy, saw the hordes of refugees, and said, no more, and voted for Brexit.
Again, blaming Russia for everything, means we will never understand real causes, and learn from them.
But the US does not do "learning" well.
A citizenry better educated in world history, better educated in general, would make a huge difference in the quality of what passes for US world leadership.
3
@yulia not sure you get capitalism, free press, liberal democracy. So under Putin it's bribery, public resources plunder, top down control of economy, murder of journalists, open homophobia. Yeah, I would say the weakness is his because he still operates like old KGB hand. The people "who are left behind "still have choice to do something about it. In Putin's Russia many are frozen in their lives because they have no choice of any kind.
6
I hope those Americans who understand and love our democracy read this carefully. Our President is one of the aspiring autocrats in the article; one who wants to enact the “ideology of the future” which dispenses with the “illusion of choice” offered by the West and roots itself in a single leader who can quickly make choices without restraint. According to Putin, liberal democracy has outlived its purpose.
Trump makes no secret of his admiration for Putin, and this article makes clear where Trump influenced by Putin will take us.
5
What's Russia's national pastime? Chess: A game of strategic, drawn-out long game thinking, all about capturing the leader of one's opponent.
Russia's never been known as a society deeply imbued with morality & ethics. Sure, it's there, but compare it to the USA which was founded on a deep canon of philosophy & beliefs which was a compass that guided the first couple hundred years fairly well.
The USSR was willing to subject its citizens to hunger, deprivation, and abuse for the sole purpose of "being right" about the superiority of Communism. When that bankrupted and destroyed them, it just amped up their anger and desire to get back at their Western foes.
Rather than regroup as a better society, Russia has done nothing but spiral deeper into lawlessness and most importantly seems to have become even more focused and obsessed about winning the geopolitical chess game.
Let's just keep in mind what game we're playing in here.
216
@Haef what on earth are you on about? There was virtually nothing grounding the foundation of the USA other than a recognition that the native americans could be deprived of their land in order to fuel the economy, which was based on slavery anyway. The founders were just elites trying to stop paying taxes to the king, not benevolent, profound idealists. Eventually the free real estate to the western expansion ran out and now the US is a decaying imperial project.
The USSR was, however, based on a trove of philosophy and beliefs known as Marxism, which simply failed because the historical preconditions weren't met and a belligerent international menace known as capitalist liberalism got in the way.
When the USSR collapsed, capitalism swept in, a few capitalist oligarchs like Putin gained power, and now they're working against the world order that birthed them. But that's on a few corrupt billionaires, not the average Russian -- who, by the way, would be the inheritor of a pretty formidable ethical and theological tradition, heard of Dostoevsky and Tolstoy?
The deluded russophobia of the modern liberal American elite is one of the most pointless and frankly disgusting elements of the sinking ship that is the USA.
30
@Haef
There was another article today about America business not be able to plan for longer than the next quarter. Our government is not doing any better.
17
From Russian point of view, it was American propaganda that destroyed their lives and brought lawless, poverty, war and corruption to their country. If Americans could believe that Russian could influence their elections through few posting on Internet, why shouldn't Russian believe that perestroika that destroyed their country was not orchestrated by the US?
15
Many comments here are backing the idea that we should treat Russia as a significant advisary. I disagree. The west needs to drop the narrative that Russia is a formidable foe - that’s the position they want - being the big baddie helps them project their power.
We should, instead, drop this Cold War mindset and try to get along with them, knowing that, as Obama said, that ultimately they are a second tier power.
5
@Teddy Roosevelt I disagree. Russia is too effective at disrupting US society and others, to be dismissed and forgotten.
After all, Putin got his puppet Trump elected to US President, and Trump is now doing Putin's bidding, including dividing and weakening his greatest foe.
@Teddy Roosevelt :"We should, instead, drop this Cold War mindset and try to get along with them, knowing that, as Obama said, that ultimately they are a second tier power."
You want to follow Obama's policy? Obama also said "Assad has to go". How'd that work out? Obama's SOS came up with the brilliant idea of a Reset Button. There was that Red Line in the sand. Regime change in Libya. Yeah, let's continue those approaches.
Obama has no credibility when it comes to dealing with Russia.
@Teddy Roosevelt
Exactly what do you mean by “get along with them”? They don’t need to be a super power to be disruptive and a cause of chaos. They vandalize and tweak the mideast, the nation system and liberal democracy at will. Of course we owe Bush/Cheney, and now trump, for graciously offering them such grand opportunities.
The Soviet Union was also a potent force and for time it too was on a roll. I am sure the Chinese are biding their time and will soon ask for the 1,000,000 sq miles the Tzar forced them to cede. Perhaps Putin will sell it.
Russian is Mexico with nuclear weapons and a inferior agricultural and manufacturing sector. All it seems to sell is natural resources and computer mayhem.
A nation in a constant state of plunder by its elites. Trump's buddies.
8
This article reveals how little the author knows about Russia. There were no democracy in Russia during the Yeltsyn presidency, just a failed state. Obviously, a failed state can’t exercise much control over the population, but this situation doesn’t mean that the population enjoy a plenty of liberties. A failed state is an anarchy, a rampant corruption, no rule of law, no help from the police or the social institutions, and sophisticated industries go bust, while their former employees survive doing something basic. Wriggling out of a drink driving for a bribe was the bright side of it, at least for the offender, but it doesn’t change the whole of the situation. In the meantime, a democratic government does control its citizenship a lot, it’s just responsible before them. This is something that Mr. Putin turned back, though not at all fully, and he’s done a better job in this that many of the post-Soviet countries have.
Add to this that Russian psyche values loyalty to the brotherhood rather than independence from state. And the least, but not last that Yeltsyn was basically a useless drunk, and not very democractic (check out the 1993's coup d'etat) while Putin has always been an able statesman.
4
Why is everyone so surprised that Putin is making Russia look much more powerful then it actually is? Bluff when in a position of weakness has been the Soviet/Russian strategy for a century. They have always been masters of the craft. Look at Sputnik. Back then the Soviets knew their nuclear weapons were essentially worthless compared to the US so they launched Sputnik as a bluff. It worked spectacularly and we spent years trying to catch up from a missile gap when it was the Soviets that were behind. Americans were every bit as panicked then as they are now.
3
@Ken :"Back then the Soviets knew their nuclear weapons were essentially worthless compared to the US"
Right, we would have killed millions more people that they would have. So the US would be victorious in any nuclear exchange.
1
One reason Russia is strong is that it stands up for traditional values, whereas the West has succumbed to destructive liberalism.
@Eugene Liberalism is the root of our Democracy. All of the Founding Fathers were liberals. You do remember that history?
If Liberalism now means taking into account what the social sciences have learned about the human animal over the past 150 years, namely, the trickiness of assigning absolute cause and effect in diagnosing the various ailments of societies, then we can only need more of it.
Russia's popular culture has aped the worst of ours. "Post Gavaryat" is the most popular show on television, and it owes its entire essence to the Jerry Springer show. They have copied the most inane of our programming, they have copied our shallow consumerism and our anti-intellectualism. They even have their own version of the religious right - the Orthodox Church - which wields enormous power alongside Putin (our church-state separation has not been copied), suppressing any other faith from gaining a foothold.
It seems to me what you long for is the sort of totalitarian society that Liberalism has heretofore protected you (and us) from.
@Eugene. To cure your your narrow view of the world I suggest an extensive boud of travel abroad, immersing yourself in the culture of others. It tends to liberate the mind.
"Russia has also drawn close to Egypt, another longtime American ally, become a key player in Libya’s civil war, and moved toward what looks more and more like an alliance with China."
Russia allied with China was a problem that Nixon faced, and Kissinger helped him solve. Russia in Egypt was another problem Nixon faced, and was solved by Carter's treaty of 1975. Managing the chaos of Libya was a running sore problem Reagan finally confronted, and backed Libya down, until we finally made a deal for Libya to surrender its nuke program to Dubya.
We had these things handled. They are not new problems. We just messed them up. We messed them all up.
We need to own it, like a dry drunk needs to own making a total mess of his own life.
Nobody did this to us. No conspiracies. We did it to ourselves.
We were self involved, self indulgent, wildly aggressive to everyone around us, and generally behaved as such complete jerks we are lucky all of this is not even worse than it is.
Our most recent leadership competitions have debated how much worse we ought to make everything vs just letting the running sores run.
7
"It has been barely five years since President Barack Obama’s dismissive 2014 judgment of Russia as a “regional power” capable only of threatening its neighbors “not out of strength but out of weakness.” Its successes raise a mystifying question:..." How could Obama & Co. have gotten it so wrong?
"The Middle East, where American and British influence once reigned supreme, has increasingly tilted toward Moscow as it turned the tide of war in Syria"
Russia is working with its long time ally, Syria, to quash a civil war. You expected something different because Obama declared "Assad must go"?
Prior to Obama, when US presidents, leaders or the press made dismissive or derogatory statements about the Soviet Union, those statements were often branded by forward thinking folks as "inflammatory" and "hostile". Those statements were deemed to be part of the problem - they were just helping to prop up the Soviet Union, or so the story went.
Now comes the NYT calling Putin our "Formidable Enemy".
I played an active military role in Cold War V1.0. I'm going to sit out V2.0 and watch the neo-hawk rhetoric ramp up here on the NYT OP-ED pages. Assuming a Democrat regains the White House in next year's election, they can just build another Reset But... , oh wait, a Reset App. That'll fix things. No?
2
To quote Pogo, "We have met the enemy, and it is us."
4
Putin gave Trump a little shove and boom! Russia helped select an American president. Trump was the perfect specimen for this soviet inspired experiment because he is too greedy and corrupt to care how he ascended to the most powerful office on earth. However he's spent the last three years trying to prove to the world he's legit because he knows he ain't.
Nobody figured on how corrupt the Republican Senate would be, though. Wow, that was more than Putin could hope for!
6
Well, America is a mess. Why is Trump still president?
4
@Climate Change :"Well, America is a mess. Why is Trump still president?"
Because the architect of the current situation with Russia left office in January, 2017.
@Jp
Is there anything you won’t blame Obama for?
If Vladimir Putin was merely President of Russia, his influence would be inexplicable. However he is also de-facto ruler of the United States of America, as our own President is in thrall to him, giving Putin power out of all proportion to Russia's real weight in world affairs.
If this country was led by a smart loyal American, Putin's influence would disappear.
Dan Kravitz
Dan Kravitz
5
Please check out the book, Red Notice by Bill Browder. It lays out the asset grab Putin and his cronies carried out in privatizing Soviet industries - and their sending the siphoned billions offshore: to the US and the UK, where Secretary Clinton eventually convinces the US and the EU to freeze their money. Enter Trump to clear access to it all. And Brexit for good measure. Crooks are not as complicated as it all seems. Chess masters? Not really. Mostly mafia dons.
9
Is it the relatively miniscule strength of Putin or the enormous, blindness, hysteria,and cowardice of Americans that creates so much tumult and fear. How much damage Americans have done to themselves and the world can be estimated by tallying up the incredible costs of the Cold War we have nurtured and funded to such an idiotic and murderous degree. That is what cowards do. Brave people realize they don't have to live on the knife-edge of alarm about second by second threats but need to be reasonably thoughtful and watchful. We have allowed forces of greed and ignorance to fertilize our fears and lived not to regret it but to embrace and embellish it much to the benefit of our blundering military leaders and our calculating political weasels.
6
You can’t run a prosperous country by failed businessmen and spy masters.
1
A fair question to ask is look at Mr. Trump's financial ties to Mr. Putin
4
Trump and the GOP sure love bear meat!
The Russian people have always been resigned to live under a Dictatortship. Putin is a master of using and iron fist, and to propagandize. He has been using our freedoms to divide and destroy our Democracy and those in the West.
There are secrets that will come out about this Russian compromised president's treasonous affinity for Putin and Russian national goals and propaganda. The sooner, the better.
1
Atlantic Monthly published this great review. I teach world regional geography to graduate students and military cadets. This is essential reading as country is cursed with geography:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theatlantic.com/amp/article/413248/
1
Russia has become formidable because the American GOP stands for Gang of Putin.
3
Like a certain US president, there is always room for 'Snake Oil' salesmen.
Murder and corruption.
3
"Using the power you have" V. Putin. AKA KGB.
The primary reason to impeach and remove Trump is that he endangers our National Security by repeatedly and consistently aiding a foreign power, Russia.
Secretary Clinton pointed out that Trump is Putin’s puppet. Speaker Pelosi told Trump that all roads lead to Putin with him. They are both entirely correct.
Convicted felons Roger Stone and Paul Manafort know the details of this, but they will not talk because Trump promised to pardon them if they keep quiet.
Trump’s tax returns would also show that he is in hock to Putin-connected Russian oligarchs, which is why Trump is so desperate to hide his financial records.
Mueller was prevented from investigating Trump’s finances by Rod Rosenstein, and William Barr terminated the investigation prematurely.
For further information on the Russian conspiracy, see The Moscow Project https://themoscowproject.org/ and The Asset Podcast https://theassetpodcast.org.
Remarkably, virtually the entire Republican delegation in Congress is in complete denial of all of this.
3
@AKJersey :"Secretary Clinton pointed out that Trump is Putin’s puppet. "
Secretary Clinton also came up with the Reset Button thingy as an architecture for relations with Russia.
She sure did a job for our side.
Putin plays chess while Trump plays checkers.
1
When the citizens of any country actually fear their freedom, they willingly accede political power over their lives to any authoritarian who will give them the Feeling of safety and security. The actual reality of their situation may be quite the opposite but their fear overrides their judgement. Hitler made it look pretty easy when the German people were feeling very vulnerable. Putin's outsized personality has done the same for the Russians, whose society is closer to third world than modern. But he make the people feel safe and proud. " When yaa ain't got nothin, ya got nothin to lose" as Bob Dylan once wrote. Here in the Divided States, Trump has taken the same exact playbook as Putin and is putting it to effective use. With half the population enamored with his idiotic rhetoric, one can only surmise half population of this country has much in common with their Russian counterparts.
Vladimir is the Fearless Leader.
Vladimir has a Puppet
The President of the United States on his puppet master strings.
1
Great article. But also the plain fact is the world and it’s people are motivated by money. We have been so careful to protect human and trade rights that we impose sanctions and tariffs. That diminishes our relationships and will kill us. It is a sad fact. Just as a military must have a strong economy behind it or it will be overcome. What will be the final result?
Several years ago, as reports first emerged of the Russian air force bombing hospitals in Syria, I wrote to a friend there and described a family member's illness. This person's life was not in danger, but she was disabled and required a great deal of help through frequent hospital visits and stays, and intensive treatment. My Russian friend, a middle-aged professional, in the prime of her career, and solidly middle class, replied by observing that when she, family members of friends had a medical condition that required more than basic, minimal care, they had to go abroad to get treatment. More recently, my friend flatly and angrily denied reports that Russia's military has harmed civilians in Syria, calling those reports anti-Russian propaganda. Mr. Putin is obsessed with maximizing his and his country's prestige, but seems less concerned with providing Russians with access to quality health care or information about the Russian military's operations in Syria.
4
The reason why President Putin seems formidable is because he directly attacks obstacles to Russia's geopolitical goals, and to challenges to his rule personally. Unlike leaders in the West, he doesn't just wring his hands over problems, draw meaningless red lines, or change his mind every five minutes. This provides the illusion that he is unassailable, despite the economic weakness of his own country. His rule lacks a true foundation though, because there is no second act; there is no true governing ideology for his successors to promote, unlike in the Soviet Union. Because of that, he West can afford to wait Putin's Russia out, while doing everything possible to contain him short of war. He poses no existential threat to us, and after him, his ruling framework will collapse just exactly as the Soviet Union did.
3
When considering this supposed contradiction about Russia, it's important to understand that the traits that make Russian leaders formidable in diplomacy, statesmanship and, most of all, cloak & dagger are the same things that make the nation's economy a corrupt mess that scares away foreign investment and is practically allergic to growth, outside of upticks in the prices of the commodities that keep it afloat.
A leader needs to be a Machiavellian mastermind to navigate and tame the onion domed layers of endemic corruption that are the solid core - not a feature - of the Russian state. Anyone who succeeds in this will inevitably throw the state's vast resources to the wolves of society in order to cement their role atop the aristocracy. The very notion of fairness or merit is laughable in such a system. However it is these same notions that create such vast wealth in the West and Asia (perhaps more merit than fairness in the latter).
None of this is new. Soviet diplomats and strategic planners regularly outfoxed the West throughout the Cold War. Their victories were formidable and changed World History, most notably in their support of Mao in the Chinese Civil War and to a lesser extent the Vietnam War. Both huge losses for the West, but we kept on keeping on with our invincible economy.
However we're going to need to unite and get serious about countering Russia if we want our economy to save us yet again. A House Divided cannot against itself cannot stand.
2
Well I worry that sometimes democracies don’t deal with problems until they become crises, but it’s also been clearly demonstrated that economies relying on a “a single leader to swiftly make choices without constraints” ultimately gets things mostly wrong. Ideas bubbling up from diverse viewpoints, and tested in the marketplace, ultimately result in a much more stable, vibrant society. It’s attractive in the short run to think one person, or a small group of people can solve all of the problems. There’s pretty good evidence that’s not true. Might take awhile, but Russia will decline again.
1
Nukes, the internet and Fox News.
Fox News is the real kicker, though. As a veteran and former intelligence professional, I am truly, truly astonished how Fox gets away with providing cover for Trump and the Russians. To that point, you can engage in free speech, but when it starts to move in a direction that supports foreign adversaries through blatant lies and conspiracy theories, we should be collectively (GOP included) pulling it back in.
I cannot believe that GOP leadership would allow itself to b complicit.
Credit to the Russians, they are playing this brilliantly. I am sure their expectations have been exceeded.
As for Fox News and the GOP... Their actions are bordering on treason.
5
As the article brilliantly points out, Putin has little need or care for political parties. As one of his strongest political admirers, Trump consequentially feels the same. When the impeachment process is over, our entire Congress will be weaker for it. Trump remains in power, in the same manner, the Communists remained in power - by catering to the weak and vulnerable.
Putin has now been successful in compromising two branches of our government. Yes, I agree it's been a good year for him!
3
This article, while informative and well-intentioned, doesn't reflect the tsunami of disinformation, propaganda and outright manipulation of the internet emanating from Russia.
It gives me no satisfaction to say this, but Russia has been out-playing us for quite a while. They're playing us brilliantly in regards to our obvious lack of interest, or knowledge about our own presidential candidates.
They're out-hacking us and they're willing to sacrifice any amount of money or manpower to defile our Constitution, or muddy our political processes.
Russia might be a backwater country by many of our standards, but their investment in computer information and manipulation is, unfortunately, world-class.
Because they're currently aiding the GOP, we seem reluctant to punish them or rein them in.
When you fall asleep at the wheel, you never know where you'll end up.
8
The price of not knowing or ignoring history is so consequential and lasting. Sun Tzu wrote in "The Art of War" that knowing your enemy is the necessary condition for winning war. Despite numerous experts on Soviet or Russian working at State and Defense Departments, at the White House, the CIA, and many think tanks and academic institutions, the US' actions after the collapse of the Soviet Union belied this supposed knowledge and set the stage for Russian divergence from democratic reforms under Putin and fatefully putting Russia on its present relations with the West, especially the US.
Expanding NATO to Russia's borders and not helping Russia builds democratic institutions were perhaps the first and second gravest mistakes that the West, under US leadership, committed. Given Russia's history and geography, Putin's reactions and the support Russians have consistently given him were to be expected. I'm reminded by the old saying that no leader was not born great but had events thrusted upon him and how he reacted became great in the eyes of his admirers.
7
We are in a time of chaos. So many people have not studied history through no fault of their own as they struggle to put food on the table ... but still it has an effect. We are in a time of chaos whereby those of like mind join together ... and the effects are playing out in dreadful nightmarish fashion. The unstable elements of our world are creating consequences which may be inevitable ... but still we believe that those who follow a disciplined and considered life (hopefully including kindness and goodwill to all) will prevail.
6
Putin isn't the only one who resents the US out there. 75 years of treating the world like the Romans did have angered more than Putin. It should not come as a surprise that many are striking back. An American Admiral in response to Syrian/Russian naval exercises has vowed to keep a weathered eye out in case those guys do anything wrong. What exactly that is, is not defined. We are wondering what the Russians are doing in the Med, what right do they have to be there, sort of like many countries in the area and the Russians and Chinese are wondering about us. Our armed forces assume the right to act unilaterally when they have to, pushback on many different fronts is the only response that can be expected.
9
@Madwand
Please, don't insult the legacy of the Roman Empire by comparing it to the US today.
I wonder if it also helps to have a secret, underground arm who is not afraid to silence selected targets through the use of carefully placed toxic chemicals? Could this be using the power you have in the best possible way? And, the West is remaining mostly silence to facilitate his use of the little power in the best possible ways as well.
12
"It has been barely five years since President Barack Obama’s dismissive 2014 judgment of Russia as a “regional power” capable only of threatening its neighbors “not out of strength but out of weakness.”
This would still be the case if the US had elected a strong president who took the role of leader of the west seriously and intelligently. But we have Trump- a Putin sycophant. While Trump insists that he has been "tough on Russia," it has not been in any way that Putin cares about.
403
@Tom Classic conservatives: It's Obama's fault that Trump refuses to acknowledge Russia's interference in the election.
41
@Tom
America has sold its political soul to the highest bidder .
American politics is now an eBay auction, pay and you play.
Russia realizes American politicians can be bought; this is why they have confidently spread their wings.
39 Billionaires funding an unknown Mayor Pete , tells us everything that is wrong with American politics and why Russia benefits.
23
@Tom
Obama consistently underestimated Russia. Trump has been even worse. No wonder Putin worked for his election.
Russia can not compete with the US economically. It's military is significantly upgraded but open military competition is not an option. Russia, however, is the master of asymmetrical and political warfare. They are masters of deception who play the long game setting in place assets to be used decades later. They have sought to discredit liberal democracy and have succeeded beyond expectations.
Manipulation behind the scenes using cynical disinformation and fantastic conspiracy theories is their forte. They did much to create Trump.
238
Because we are weak, divided, angry. We have Fox and AM radio dedicated to causes that are illegitimate in a democracy that have captured the imagination of half of all Americans who regard them as gospel. We have republicans who welcome Russian meddling because they think it helps them - mostly because it is the same DNA (create suspicion about established institutions, voter intimidation and suppression). Because republicans are willing to wear t-shirts saying they want Russia but not Hillary. Because we have republicans who will do anything, collude with anyone, support anyone to stay in power and suppress other people.
In other words, there are strong, significant reasons that Putin is able to wreak havoc here.
28
At least regarding the U.S., I am guessing the simple hijacking of both the DNC and RNC by a few Russian hackers pre-2016 gave Putin enough cyber-ammunition to both sway our 2016 election plus blackmail enough of GOP senators to control us to an extent the Kremlin would never have been thought possible during the Cold War. I don't think it is deeper than this.
10
What a curious mishmash. Putin is admired and emulated in Poland? Very doubtful. Poles have strong memories of WW2 and the Cold War.
Emulated in parts of the US? Silly.
Russia was seen, properly, as a minor player which has made clumsy attempts to influence US voters since the 1930s until the Democrats became enamored of feverish and now disproven conspiracies with Trump.
That madness is Putin’s greatest success.
8
@Buster Dee...
Why is Putin currently so powerful?
The answer is none other than the Republican party.
Because they think that he can save their culture of bigotry.
1
Putin plays the long game and does so exceptionally well. From gaining undue influence in the Middle East; alliances with China, Syria and Iran; working to break up NATO, the EU and invading the Ukraine; and finally securing the US President as his puppet (solidified by election interference); he rests easy in his Kremlin bed, snickering at the world as to how easy it has all been. The US ineptitude around foreign relations and influence began to wane when the Berlin Wall fell and reached its bottom with the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. These events have been eclipsed by the trump administration’s mis-management of global climate change, North Korea, key European alliances, NATO, the Kurds, Syria, Iran and Israel. It will take a superstar to turn it all around and discredit Putin and become the world leader again.
4
@Ski bum
Important to note that the Bush administration was setting the stage for Putin's power grab by undermining U.S. strength with its wars and policies, which caused the 2008 banking crisis. Vote Democrat, not for political reasons but in order for us to survive; and hold the next president to the fire to carry out his responsibilities faithfully. We need more transparency in government and a better educated public. The Trump administration has at least led to that.
"Why is Putin such a formidable enemy?"
Because neither the current president nor his administration is up to the task of confronting him.
19
It's called nationalism, propaganda, corruption, intimidation and fear.
You pump your "hard as nails" population with a steady stream of state propaganda, with a charismatic, strong man full of Eastern European machismo like Putin, you can trick people who are living rough into thinking it's them against the world.
Remember, Putin and his close government circle aren't reliant on the general economy. This isn't a communist regime, it's a gangster nation who keeps their oligarchs in their pockets through threats of incarceration and assassinations. They are enabled by the greed of foreign banks willing to break the law in order to get their vig off of money laundering for Putin.
Putin is out for Putin, he isn't building a future for Russia. No western company is going to put serious investment in a country where you have to be in the pockets of gangsters. Their billion dollar tech center built by Microsoft, Google and Sun languished because you can't operate a R&D center where you can't trust the rule of law or have faith in government protections.
7
Was that last sentence referring to Russia or the US?
Great description of Fox News and the Republican Mafia
1
I have been reading a biography about him called The Rise and Reign of Vladimir Putin. An excellent back round of him and the times leading up to now. It seems he will use whatever resource to sow unrest in the United States and Britain. In the article the last statement that life isn't all about children's matinees and handing out mandarin oranges. In a perfect world it would be. In your time Vladimir as a citizen and a premier people were starving and a movie wasn't even in the thoughts. Things are better now. Goals need to be recalculated over time hopefully for the better for your people and for the world.
1
"How has a country like Russia,... become such a potent force?" No doubt the trump, like oil & gas, is instrumental in Putin's success. Isn't it time to apply the same strategy Putin is using against us against him? Do we really need trump's permission?
Irony the wall map behind Putin hasn't been updated to include Crimea.
A who's who of Putin's friends are never really American friends - Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE, China even Israel Putin is meddling in via Bibi - when will America grow up and realize these countries ARE NOT our friends? Indeed, of all the countries trump claims are taking advantage of America - these are the worst of the worst abusers.
Weird how a reckless incompetent man leading the most economically and militarily powerful nation in the world feels he has to emulate "authoritarianism à la Russe" of a very intelligent, capable and small tyrant of a large but small country cruelly playing with the lives of billions.
Interesting that “There is almost a consensus that Putin is a great man, a resurrection of de Gaulle” while trump's sycophants believe him to be the chosen one, ordained by their god. Go figure, they call all that woo woo stuff American exceptionalism.
Even if our economy falters as it has in Russia, trump is reassured by Putin's example that he can still keep a stranglehold on power regardless of the 2020 results.
Even more primitive and low budget is Putin's subjugation of the Republican party via his agent in the Oval Office. Sad.
6
Putin to his credit is a strategic long term thinker and is very adept at people management. Exhibit A Donald Trump president of the United States. And when his persuasion fails he is the master of eliminating his opponents free of fingerprints.An option Trump can only envy but cannot emulate.
3
One significant American political figure warned us about the danger of Putin’s Russia. That was 2012 presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Unfortunately, 2019 Mitt isn’t a brave man. He too has been cowed by the Trump thugocracy.
Putin’s Russia is our first or second greatest threat strategically and politically. Trump inexplicably helps Russia outperform. That is significant one of the infinite number of reasons he has no place in the White House.
3
As the west declines into history you will see that this century will belong to a confederation of China, Russia and Israel. With the US being a sort of tourist spot. Already we have a president who is a sort of resort manager.
2
"Why is Putin such a formidable enemy?"
Because he's a dictator and dictators are "in it" for life . They are willing to fight to the death for their personalized style of corruption, because once they get started they know the only alternative ending is a jail cell or worse. Unfortunately there is often a large supporting cast of unsavory characters to help these criminals along as we have seen throughout history .
Hoped I would never see it in the U.S. , but that orange glow was just too irresistible for those who hate people of color (ironic).
3
Russia might be weak but their intelligence is very strong.
Thats the only secret, old cold-war tricks on a bigger scale through Internet delivered to the heart of America or virtually every Western country.
They are good at this business and they are winning.
6
The western democracies have turned into a bunch of wimps. Think of the past century; Roosevelt permanently altered the US economic system, the US and England joined with Russia to defeat Nazi Germany, the US and their Western allies formed NATO and pursued the cold war until Russia fell. And all this was done under a system that was democratic and liberal, with elected leaders making tough decisions and carrying them out.
Now we have leaders who are afraid to do anything, for fear someone might object. Policy wonks and welfare-state bureaucrats control many Western nations, and their policy is more dithering and compromise. The thing that many people find appealing about Trump and other populist leaders, is that they actually propose to do something, and use the power they have as elected officials. You may not like their policies, but they are willing to take action to solve the problems as they see them.
4
@Jonathan The only legislative victory Trump can point to is a tax scam that has inflated our deficit exponentially and delivered its benefits mostly to his rich golf buddies. If that's "solving problems", heaven help us when he really screws up!
Putin is a threat precisely because Russia is a mess. He cannot be an economic or political power on the world stage any way other than to bring down the existing powers especially the United States.
5
Easy answer :trump. Obama was putting pressure on putin. trump has released it.
10
Often it is a 'virtually unknown', like Bonaparte for instance, who rise to power with long memories of how they were once shunned.
Repetitive, but if living in Russia in these times, I would be papering crumpled walls of a residence with posters of the Leader, collecting positive biographies on his presidency, and learning how to ride this historical slump.
China. One fierce snort from The Imperial Dragon's inflamed nostril, and The Bear may have to go into hibernation.
3
Many slanderous comments (irrelevant to the article) about President Trump being a “Russian asset.”
He was not president when Russia invaded and occupied the Crimea.
He was not president when Russia hacked the DNC and Hillary Clinton’s emails.
He was not the president when Russia supplied Syria with elite military units and chemicals weapons to use against civilians.
Can someone please help me understand what is going on here?
2
@Francis
Sure, since you asked for it.
Trump's having been elected against all odds and the desperate attempts to find someone or something (anyone, or anything) that Hillary's defeat can be blamed on led to the one and only culprit the Dems could find: Russia, the perennial bogeyman in American politics since the 1920's.
Because accepting that your defeat is your own fault is a non-starter in American politics.
1
@Francis
he's President now
Not our job to educate you. Read the news, Francis
Putin plays go, not chess.
1
Why is Putin such a potent force? You too would be a potent force if you had the goods on the president of the United States.
6
Because we let it! The fact that Russia has an asset in the White House certainly helps!
7
Follow the money. Trump is up to his neck in debt to Putin's cronies.
How else does a bankrupt maintain his lifestyle?
5
The NYT, as with much of America's left, has a deranged paranoia about Russia and their supposed influence around the voting booths of the suburb states. That's giving the regime in Moscow credit they don't deserve, but credit they crave. Keep it up.
8
@Brian in FL We don't stick our heads in the sand (and up other places). That's what Republicans do!
@Brian in FL
This is spot on. Russia is struggling economically and is no longer a military threat. China is where our focus should be.
Because Putin was vocal about being against Hillary it gave the Left the smallest opening they needed to run with this narrative that Russia outsmarted America, including all the pollsters, campaign managers, our intelligence agencies and used social media to ferret out just the right people and manipulate them to vote for Trump. You know, those people, in the states that Hillary didn't bother to campaign in .
@Brian in FL
Oh look, sanity!
(yours is a lonely voice in the crescendo of the stupid)
1
He's like chipmunks, running around your yard, but when they get into your house, they're super destructive.
3
I found it very telling that the decisive moment in Putin's drift away from the West came with the 2008 financial crisis. The world order was fundamentally altered when the model of neoliberal capitalism was discredited arising from the 2008 crash and we have been living with the consequences of a failure to grapple with that fact ever since. As the financial and political establishment desperately, and largely unsuccessfully, sought to cling to the 'normalcy' of the pre-crash world through the artificial stimulus of economies and maintenance of the structural elements produced the collapse in the first place, authoritarian figures like Putin seized on the opportunity to capitalise on the discord among disillusioned populations. Here's hoping that we still have the time and ability to rectify that monumental failure.
4
@Luke
Hi Luke. And where did the 2008 crisis start? Clue: exactly where the 1929 global one started too.
Maybe the difference here is immaterial, but the question I keep circling back to is about Putin’s Western adversaries: “is Putin really such a formidable leader, or, has the rest of the Western world been largely bereft of strong leadership?”
As long as the GOP refuses to live in a world of fact, Putin will continue to outmaneuver the US.
9
It's about Russia's relationship to Europe. This relationship is based on its historical role in influencing events, creating alignments of power, etc. There's also the fact that Russia is a nuclear power and, most importantly, the largest exporter of oil and natural gas to the EU.
2
@mijosc
As far as I could tell, Russia's is CRAVING a good relationship with the EU, not an adversarial one.
2
My high-school history teacher preached a single desire that drives Russian history: a warm-water port.
If they succeed in fragmenting Western democracies, they will be able to sail into our warm-water ports and freely claim them.
Thanks for the clarification, Mrs. Hancock.
3
We imagine our conflict with Russian through the lens of militarism. That militarism is seen primarily through its possession of a vast store of nuclear weapons and secondarily through is mastery of the arts of disinformation. So, we are now in conflict with an equal, all things considered.
Of what importance is the alleged sad state of Russia economically when they are capable of destroying us in minutes using its nuclear arms? Or in years or decades of hollowing out our professed ideals, even if those ideals seem increasingly irrelevant and unattainable?
England was once an empire stretching across the globe. Today it is an island nation in decline. We can consider whether our greatest strength, militarism and its outrageous costs, is also our greatest weakness as this nation continues to place expansive imperialism ahead of the needs of its population.
Looking forward and considering new alternatives is not impossible even if it means fewer wars and more spending on human needs and increased equity. That example would strengthen us and renew our reputation as a good and fair nation. Russia could not compete.
9
@Rick Spanier very well said, and true! Militarism was the third great evil MLK saw, behind racism and poverty, that probably drove those two evils to begin with. Justice and fairness to satisfy human needs and create equality globally, with the help of Russia, will eventually replace militarism.
Brilliant comment.
Thanks to those who transcend the commonplace.
Russia is a country of about 150 million people (less than half the population of the US or of Western Europe) with a GDP of about $1.6 Trillion per year in 2017. By comparison, Italy had a GDP of $1.9 T in 2017 (and a population of about 60 million). The US GDP was $19.4 T in 2017.
Having recently traveled to Russia for a short visit to see the Hermitage Museum (as well as other Eastern European countries), what I find notable is that Russian kids wear clothing bearing American logos or statements in English, people talk about America, and people want to go to America. Compared to Americans, Russians live in poverty and under the thumb of a dictator.
One does not see American kids wearing clothing with Russian logos or statements emblazoned on them, and no one in the US or Europe expresses an interest in moving to Russia (you would have to be nuts).
There are plenty of tourists in Saint Petersburg (the Disneyland of the Tsars) and in Moscow, but I doubt many visit with the intention of moving there. As many problems as we have, America is a better place to live, as is Western Europe.
So why does Russia appear to "punch above its weight"?
Because we allow it to.
We have an ignoramus in the White House who thinks Putin is his boss, not the American people.
36
@Joe From Boston
Not trying to defend the Russians standard of living, you just can't make suhc sweeping generalisations, like "compared to Americans, Russians live in poverty".
Depends where. Show me an American city, large or small and I show you the slums, the foreclosed and empty houses, the abandoned malls, the hollowed out city centres, the rusted out steel and the lack of safe, fresh drinking water.
You don't lift yourself up by putting others down.
As for 'Russian kids wearing T-shirts with American logos' - kids are the same everywhere. It means absolutely nothing. American teens were wearing Che Guevara T-shirts, when the anti-Cuba frenzy was at its peak.
3
I would be more impressed if Russian kids were wearing clothing made in the US. The clothing is probably made in Bangladesh or India.
We have caused our own decline by overspending on our military while destroying our own manufacturing base.
1
@Margaret Davis
I agree.
In WW II, the Japanese Admiral Yamamoto, who had studied in the US, recognized that US manufacturing capacity would ultimately defeat the Japanese.
We were building Liberty ships faster than the Germans could sink them in the Atlantic. my dad, who served in the 101st, said that GIs asked Germans "You had the 88 (an antiaircraft gun) which could destroy an American tank with one shell. Why did we beat you?" The answer was "We ran out of shells before you ran out of tanks."
We (or our business "leaders" who are chasing the almighty buck) have hollowed out American manufacturing by moving facilities to right to work states, and then overseas, to save on labor costs. New England was once a leader in manufacturing textiles and shoes. That is short term thinking, because we also lose our technological advantages.
We are being outspent on R&D by other countries.
https://data.oecd.org/rd/gross-domestic-spending-on-r-d.htm#indicator-chart
We are allowing our infrastructure to crumble.
We have large portions of our population that devalue education.
There is a great deal that we need to fix, and this administration is not getting it done.
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