John Derbyshire’s been asking: why is Russia our enemy?
I’ve wondered too:
A more enlightened worldview would see Russia ”” a great Christian nation, and one that has made priceless contributions to the treasure-store of Western civilization ”” as a natural ally in these perilous times. We have much in common, including ancient, existential enemies who gloat to see us fighting with with each other rather than uniting against them. Yet our stance toward Russia has been relentlessly bellicose, with our support of the Ukrainian revolution, and our actions in Syria, being only the most obvious examples.
Lewis Amselem, a.k.a “Diplomad”, seems as puzzled as we are.
3 Comments
Russia can be an ally in time for all the reasons mentioned. V. Putin will never be simply because of his training and longing for what was lost. For him and anyone in the Kremlin like him, alliance with the US would be a reminder of their weakness.
Russia is our enemy for lots of reasons. As I see it, broadly, Russians are divided into two main types. There’s the cultured, literate type, such as Tolstoy, and the coarse, selfish, grasping, cunning and vicious type. Looks to me like the latter greatly outnumber the former. They aren’t really interested in democracy. They aren’t interested in inconvenient things like liberty, or not polluting the environment. They’re interested in world power, and we are interested in denying it to them, because the latter group is usually in power, and is the kind of group that shouldn’t have it.
antiquarian,
Democracy? I have my doubts about it too. Why should that make them our enemy? Why can’t we get along with Russia as a nation with its own territory and sphere of interest, while defending our own? Given that we have quite a lot in common — in particular, more than a few common enemies — it seems to me that there could be significant mutual benefits to finding a level-headed modus vivandi with Russia.