We need to understand the history of Russia and the Russian mentality to see that since the very beginning, the only language Russia understands is peace from a position of strength. Russia has been an aggressor all through its history, and when you add Communism to that, and after that Totalitarianism, there should never have been a time when Russia was not regarded as a perpetual enemy of (1) the West and (2) all neighboring countries. Peristroika and Glasnost were simply a way to avoid being taken over by the West. and they did not last long.
Russia and China have been ganging up on the rest of the world for decades, but the blind and foolish Western politicians never developed a solid joint strategy to ensure that they would not take control of the world. And Russia does not have to march into Europe. It can simply demand that Europe surrender to it, and then take control. And that is why the Eastern European nations -- which were under the heel of Communism -- have been so insistent that there should be a strong deterrent to Russia.
As to Crimea and the Ukraine, Russia saw the weakness of the West (including its ability to be deceived) and simply grabbed these territories. But that need not have happened. After Communism fell, Western nations could have established a strong presence in all the countries which were formerly under Russian domination. Instead they deceived themselves into thinking that Russia wanted to be another Western democracy and failed to address this issue to properly. And now it too late.
The Russians and the Chinese see Western politicians and leaders as essentially stupid. And they have good reasons for doing so. That is why Putin challenged Biden to a debate, and Biden of course declined. Putin would have exposed Biden to the whole world as a fraud.
Going back to World War II, both Churchill and Roosevelt betrayed everyone (West and East) by giving Joseph Stalin everything he wanted. The proper and moral thing do have done ( after defeating Nazism) was to have crushed the Soviet Union. But instead these Western pretenders made friends with the devil. And the rest is history.
Interesting perspective.
Russia is smart to have a position of strength to keep peace. Just ask Libya what happens, if you don't have strength. I heard a comment on a show by Russian general or something and he said, we deal with the West, by having a large military. Do you blame them?
The Soviets lost the most lives in WW2, it's not even close. They played a major part in defeating the Nazis, despite the heroic effort by the U.S. and the U.K., crushing the Soviets after Hitler was defeated, doesn't seem realistic. Russians views the outcome of WW2 as one of their most proudest moments of their country, and also acknowledge the West in their contributions.
Russia is such a large country, not sure how it would even be possible for them to be defeated, maybe the future will hold the answer. If Russia does go down in the future, the world will suffer greatly .
I read a couple articles about Russian military and two weapons to keep them at peace with the West are, Avangard Missile, and Dead Hand. The Avangard Missile is some sort of super-sonic nuclear missile, that will make it virtually impossible for the U.S. to come up with a missile defense system for. Also, the Dead Hand is basically an automatic response for Russia, if some how the U.S. and it's allies sneak attacked Russia, and some how managed to defeat Russia without Russia being able to retaliate.
Both of these weapons would insure that the U.S. would no longer exist, if it got to the nuclear level. That's why Russia still exists. I think the West is trying to squeeze Russia and lay siege, until Russia crumbles from economic pressure, like they did to U.S.S.R.. It worked last time, but the only difference is, China has become an economic power house, and Russia and China are allies. I would say the relationship with China and Russia is very similar to the relationship with U.S. and Canada. The ball game has changed.
The U.S. is on the decline and most see it. Seems like everybody wants to be friends with China now, because they are rich and powerful. Who doesn't want to benefit from trade with China? Try buying something that's not made in China.
Biden is a fool for starting his Presidency with inflammatory comments against Russia. If wouldn't be to difficult to find murder charges by the U.S. Military. Just saying......
