3 ms·

The West already did all that. In the 1990s diplomats and businessmen flew to Moscow in droves. The Russian people chose Putin and a return to the czarist empir

• mc32 5y ago
  Yes and no. The west helped put in Putin because at the time they believed he was much better than an alcoholic who might have lost to new communists. They had hope Putin would steer Russia towards something resembling western democracies… but we have a history of having very poor assets devoted to understanding Russia. We have some who do, but those who have the ear of policymakers really don’t, and again we lack good insider spies.
  • elcritch 5y ago
    Worse is that our American foreign policy-wonk industry believe they understand Russia. And Iraq, Afghanistan, China, etc. They also seem to be the same ones informing media giants from CNN to Fox. Come to think of it, while I enjoy my country we’re atrocious at understanding pretty much any other country. Except maybe Canada.
    • philistine 5y ago
      As if the US understands Canada.