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This is some strange aspirational, manifest destiny read on American individualism vs. Russian greatness through military might, anchored and extruded around th
by niftich 10y ago
This is some strange aspirational, manifest destiny read on American individualism vs. Russian greatness through military might, anchored and extruded around the Tocqueville quote.
I much favor the alternate view, where the justifications and rationalizations are intellectual fluff and the day-to-day drivers are geopolitics. The about-face is still a jarring contrast, but only because Russia also considers the US an adversary.
While the two occasionally cooperate, generally it's not in one's vested interest to see the other one thrive beyond a boring, uneventful stability to where they're somewhat useful as a trade partner, stable enough to ward off unrest, and not assertive enough to project its power overseas.
- dimitar 10y ago"Its just geopolitics" doesn't have enough explanatory power. Why doesn't the USA have the same kind of relationship with Russia as it does with Canada, Australia, Brazil, Japan or any other country with a either a similar population size, land area, natural resources endowment or level economic of development? Brazil is particularly comparable to Russia in terms in terms of the above and yet its foreign relations are totally different. I see nothing inherent about Russia's geography to cause a conflict with NATO. If anything geography should push Russia to the West and particularly the EU as the country is going lower and lower in the rankings of power by the rising populations and incomes across the former 3rd world.