Russian President Vladimir Putin © Michael Klimentyev / Sputnik
Vladimir Putin's entourage cheered the outcome of the U.S. election – until they saw exactly what they were dealing with.
In 2016, a senior Russian official explained to a group of visiting foreigners why the government had decided not to celebrate the upcoming 100th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution. Yes, it was a turning point in Russian history, he argued, and, yes, President Vladimir Putin sees today’s Russia as a successor to both the tsars and the Bolsheviks. But celebrating a revolution would send the wrong message to society. The Kremlin today is staunchly opposed to “regime change,” the visitors were told, and thus skittish about eulogizing 1917. It plans to use the centenary, instead, to draw attention to the catastrophic consequences of resorting to revolution to solve social and political problems.
The last thing the Russian government expected was that 2017 would bring it face to face not with a revolution of the past but with a revolution of the present — the radical regime change taking place in the United States as a result of the electoral victory of Donald Trump. It is Trump’s electoral revolution that has captured the imagination, and fanned the fears, of Russian elites today.
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WNU Editor: After the U.S. Presidential election I was probably the only pundit on Russia radio who was warning the Russian public and the the Kremlin that they should not celebrate the election of Donald Trump. His views on U.S. foreign policy, trade and economics, the when and how to use military force, American nationalism .... none of Trump's priorities involved Russia .... with the exception of maybe one .... the need to work together in the war against the Islamic State and radical Islam. Should the Kremlin worry .... definitely. President Trump is not President Obama .... and his priorities are different. Bottom line .... if I was to list where Russia stands on President Trump's priority list .... it would not be in the top 10.
1 comment:
"if I was to list where Russia stands on President Trump's priority list .... it would not be in the top 10."
That's precisely the reason for Russians to celebrate his election. Moving from #1 priority (of Obama) to <#10 (of Trump), Russians can expect much more freedom of action - less 'countering' from the U.S. I imagine that's all they truly want.
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