Monday, October 17, 2016

Where Did U.S. - Russian Relations All Go Wrong?

U.S. President Barack Obama (L) talks with Russia's President Vladimir Putin during arrivals for the G20 summit at the Konstantin Palace in St. Petersburg, September 5, 2013. REUTERS//Pablo Martinez Monsivais

Jonathan Marcus, BBC: Russia and the West: Where did it all go wrong?

It is hard to imagine a period since the end of the Cold War when relations between Russia and the United States have been quite so bad.

US officials have described the joint Russian-Syrian onslaught against Aleppo as "barbarism" and warned that war crimes are being carried out.

The Russian president has spoken explicitly about the worsening climate between Washington and Moscow, insisting that what the Obama administration wants is "diktat" rather than dialogue.

For all that, the US and Russia are still in contact over Syria. For all the harsh rhetoric and accusations, they both realise that they have a vital role to play in any eventual settlement of the Syrian drama.

Whatever its immediate strategic intentions, a permanent war in Syria doesn't benefit Moscow any more than Washington.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: Ukraine. Sanctions. Arms buildup. Missile defense. Syria. The list is long on why relations have deteriorated .... starting with the Russian - Georgian war in 2008, and accelerating after the Ukraine revolution and war. What also does not help is that both men do not have a personal relationship .... they talk to each other on issues that impact both of their governments .... but that is where their relationship ends.

11 comments:

efFlh43 said...

As long as we accept the fact the Gerogia attacked first in the 2008 war, I would certainly say, it was Lybia where things gone wrong.

Anonymous said...

The birth of Obama

Carl said...

the reality is that US strategic thinking has been guided by Cheney's 1992 draft Defense Planning Guidance which declared that the US was now the only superpower and it would be US policy not to allow any other power to challenge US supremacy. Despite the fact that the language in the final document as adopted was toned down, Cheney's outlook embedded itself US strategic policy making and has guided both the GW Bush and the Obama administrations. It has now run its course with the inevitable coming crash of the trans-Atlantic financial system, a crash that will be much worse than what happened in 2008. In other words, we and Europe are bankrupt. Our world domination outlook will also fail for the same reason Hitler's blitzkrieg concept failed. We have now run up against an adversary that has both the will and the means to resist: Russia under Putin and China under Xi Jinping. Unless we Americans kick this outlook out of the halls of power in Washington, DC, the world faces a very grim future.

Anonymous said...

When the US sent 11,000 troops to to Russia to intervene in the Russian Civil War in 1918. We couldn't resist land wars in Asia then, and haven't been smart enough to since.

Unknown said...

"When the US sent 11,000 troops to to Russia to intervene in the Russian Civil War in 1918. We couldn't resist land wars in Asia then, and haven't been smart enough to since."

When economically stupid, socially inept and so many other nice phrases to describe practicing communists

'Say they will take over the world, people believe them and act accordingly.'

My spouse has lived under communism. They have practiced marksmanship and bayonet drills at state direction. They also lived in extreme poverty. I wonder what they would say of all the idiots who admire Fidel, wear Che Guevara t shirts and other posers in America and Europe.

I suppose if they are young they will claim ignorance.

Anonymous said...

I wasn't defending communism, so get over yourself. We allied ourselves with a brutal system of Monarchists that sent millions to slaughter during the first WW over a dispute with their own inbred cousins driving the populace to support the communists...I know if foreigners invaded the United States in a civil war I would take up arms as the Russians did to drive them out. Would you, or would you first compare the economic systems before deciding whether you were going to be a traitor to your country. In short, I am a Democrat who believes in supporting self-determination. Only imperialists and fascists claim they should decide the form of government for others, so get off your high horse. Democracy is earned, you can't force real democracy on countries with invading armies. They have to want it and be willing to fight for it. Then if they ask for assistance, send weapons and let them own it. Only then will value their government and protect it. And the world will be a safer place without the United States going bankrupt trying to settle every dispute by sending troops.

Jay Farquharson said...

Anzino's a "deplorable".

RRH said...

Russia said 'no means no' and that just won't do. And Carl was right,the interventions against her have never been forgotten-just as the October revolution has never been forgiven.

My neighbour(s) drilled and practiced under state direction. She loved it and misses her youth and believes the fall of the USSR/communism was a disaster that we're still dealing with today. She says the "scum took over" and that the "monarchist" types that were repressed re-emerged. My Hungarian ex pat neighbours speak highly of their youth behind the 'iron' curtain too. None of them are stupid or liars- but they are educated and hard workers- A group of people, by the way, that are roundly despised in our society (despite loudly proclaimed declarations otherwise) and are seen as nothing but something to be robbed, cheated, bullied and pumped for labour, taxes and profit until they expire. The schemes to steal anything of any benefit to us e.g. Health Care, Education, pensions never stop.

These 'deplorables', like Aizino, who look at personal physical labour as Count Dracula does a Crucifix and feel that others are 'for the use of', provoke the 'no' and share the same world outlook and sense of entitlement vis a vis "the lower classes" the makers of U.S. policy do.

They may some day end up sharing the same bunk house in a labour re-education camp.

Unknown said...

RRH,

How do you want it, word salad or run on sentence?

"These 'deplorables', like Aizino, who look at personal physical labour as Count Dracula does a Crucifix and feel that others are 'for the use of', provoke the 'no' and share the same world outlook and sense of entitlement vis a vis "the lower classes" the makers of U.S. policy do."

RRH resorted to word salad.

If the Soviet system was so great how come there were empty store shelves? I remember the enemedia doing stories on it.

My spouse has fond memories of living in a Communist system, but they are the little things such as hiking on the fringe of the desert or standing guard on cold nights on the look out for Soviet pilots, who had been shot down. On the other hand they are pretty pissed about the chairman's governance. I could have fried an egg without any normal heat source on Jingshan street.

Unknown said...

RRH,

How does your expat Hungarian neighbor explain bare shelves in USSR stores?

Or explain
Kampuchea?
Venezuela?

Rampant prostitution in Cuba?

How is the the daughter of Angolan President José Eduardo dos Santos is so rich?

A Forbes magazine article described how Isabel dos Santos acquired her wealth by taking stakes in companies that want to do business in Angola, suggesting that her wealth comes almost entirely from her family's power and connections. kleptocracy.

or Zimbabwe

or China

Unknown said...

RRH,

"These 'deplorables', like Aizino, who look at personal physical labour as Count Dracula does a Crucifix " - RRH

Let's see janitor, shearing sheep, detassling, welding, machinist, engine room

I have done this. What have you done, you stupid Liberal?