Let’s make one thing perfectly clear. When it comes to relations between the United States and Russia, there aren’t any good guys present. Both countries have been at war, a cold war, to be sure, with each other since the end of World War I.
Do you doubt me, dear reader? Then, consider this: In 1919, the U.S. sent an army of mercenaries from Czechoslovakia, the so-called “White Army”, to overthrow the newly-established Bolshevik government in Moscow. The effort failed, miserably; the White Army was no match for Trotsky’s Red Army, because the latter had nothing to lose, but everything to gain. Then the constant sniping began. The Cold War had a brief respite during World War II when the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. were allied against Nazi Germany, an alliance of convenience, not one of friendship. The sniping resumed.
I have studied both American and Russian history, and I can tell you that neither one is very pretty. Territorial grabs. Broken treaties. Ruthless aggression against indigenous populations. Proxy wars using lesser nations as pawns. Espionage and assassination. Shifting geopolitical alliances. Government propaganda (mostly lies) by the ton.
Yes, I’m being cynical. That goes with the territory of being an historian. Both U.S. and Russia have had their high spots, but one must take the bad with the good, if one is honest.
The whole history of humankind since the first nation-state was created 8,000 years ago has had an altogether too familiar a pattern to it. “Super-powers” have clashed with each other ad infinitum in order to gain territory, economic advantage, political influence, or all of the above. They have come and gone or been re-fashioned, but the end result was always the same. Lots of blood spilled for trivial reasons. The saddest part of this never-ending tragedy is that humans have not been able to learn the lessons of history. They just keep making the same mistakes for the wrong reasons and think that they are on the side of the angels every time they shed blood. It is known as self-righteousness, and it has been the bane of our species.
Russian history has been a story of a people with an inferiority complex. They have existed on the eastern fringes of Europe and never fully enjoyed the fruits of Western culture; in fact, they have lived in a feudal society long after the West gave up feudalism. After the revolution of 1918, Russians have had to play catch-up in order to be on a par with the West. And yet, they remain plagued by an insular mentality, such as us vs. them. Culturally, as depicted in their poetry, music, and art, Russians are capable of only two emotions: Exultation and depression. There is nothing in between.
As empires go, the Russian Empire was the largest, in territory occupied, in world history. Since it could not expand westward, it cast its net eastward, all the way to the Pacific Ocean, and southward to the Himalayan Mountains. Even though most of its subjects were dirt-poor, Moscow was happy because it believed that what it had made Russia as powerful as any Western nation.
The Russian Empire morphed into the Soviet Union in 1918 and finally collapsed in 1989. The people had a brief taste of Western-style democracy, but economic hard times caused them to turn for relief to a person who personified the Russia of old, Vladimir Putin. By the way, Vladimir is Russian for lord of the Earth, and he has been endeavoring to live up to his name.
By contrast, American history is a shorter story, approximately 800 years shorter. On the other hand, it took the United States considerably less time to achieve empire. It was due to its superiority complex, as manifested by the twin evils of white supremacism and racism which negated the Noble Experiment the Founding Fathers had envisioned. The brutal treatment of the indigenous population and the equally brutal participation in the Negro-slave trade set the experiment on its ear. Added has been a discriminatory immigration policy leveled against one ethnic group or another.
By contrast, the American Empire is not measured in territorial gains. They have been minimal, but rather in terms of economic domination, spurred on by multinational corporations wholeheartedly devoted to the capitalist imperative. It is an empire of money, if you will, and its current leader, Donald J. Trump, personifies it perfectly; the art of the deal has replaced diplomacy, and Orwell’s newspeak is the language of choice with disastrous consequences.
I will say that Trump and Putin deserve each other. They are two peas in the same pod whose goals are identical: World domination, and they will stop at nothing, up to and including regime change, to achieve it. Both are inveterate prevaricators, and neither can be trusted any farther than he can be thrown.
Unfortunately, they both have large, loyal followings, who receive their every word as gospel truth. So sad.
Just a thought.