Does Russia Really Want An Arms Race?

Vladimir Putin (C) shakes hands with Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu during a meeting at the Bocharov Ruchei state residence in Sochi, November 24, 2014. Alexei Druzhinin/RIA Novosti/Kremlin/Reuters

Washington Times: Russia really doesn’t want an arms race

Alexander Golts, the deputy editor of the online newspaper Yezhednevny Zhurnal, was quoted in The Moscow Times recently saying, “The Kremlin can take pride in the fact that, after directing every imaginable threatening statement at the West for the past 10 years, Europe and the U.S. are finally taking it seriously.”

Many in Russia believe the Kremlin created the crisis in Ukraine and with the West in order to deflect attention from the domestic economy and to appeal to an innate, rabid nationalism in the Russian population. Moscow needs an enemy and America is an easy target. I have written before on this site that the U.S. arming Ukraine would only fall into Vladimir Putin’s game plan. So far, the chessboard has gone in the Kremlin’s favor. The Russian narrative is working — it’s working in Russia that is. Mr. Putin’s popularity remains sky high. Moscow just opened a military theme park on the city outskirts to promote patriotism and the feeling that Russia cannot be defeated. However, now the chickens may be coming home to roost and the long-term consequences may not be good for Moscow.

WNU Editor: The current East - West crisis would not be happening today if it was not for the war in Ukraine. And while it is very easy to blame Russia for the mess in Ukraine .... the fact of the matter is that it is the Ukrainians themselves who have done an excellent job in messing up their own country. But aside from that .... just thinking of another arms race is distasteful for not only most Russians .... but for most Europeans overall. No one wants it .... unfortunately ....the powers that be are not listening.