Why we need Trump and Putin to get along

[Dill]

(07-07-2017, 04:39 PM)Bengalzona Wrote: Outside of its nuclear weapons stockpile, Russia IS a regional power. And that was done by design by, of all people, Putin. The Russian people don't like to believe that and propaganda tells them otherwise. But it is true.

Actually, it has been one of the best decisions they have made. They slashed their military to only a fraction of their Soviet Cold War Era forces (especially their navy) and concentrated on developing quality to match Western standards over quantity. Rather than sponsoring governments and movements overseas (a.k.a. proxies), they have spent most of the past 20 years working internally on security and their economy.

They finally seem to have come to a realization that, for the first time in almost a millennia, no country is trying to grab their land. Corporations, however, are a different matter and a different type of threat. This is why Russia is following the Chinese model of closer cooperation (and sometimes control) by the state and Russian businesses.    

That said, screwing around with our elections is unacceptable. It is okay for us to screw around with theirs, however. If you can't accept that dichotomy, then you really aren't a patriot.

I quite agree, although there are degrees of this.  If the Russians contributed money to a candidate or critiqued the policy of a candidate, that is hardly beyond the pale. But flooding our media sphere with fake news while hacking and publishing one side's emails and aggressively trying to affect voter registration roles in numerous states--that rises to the level of a military assault crippling infrastructure like railroads or the power grid.

I add that the election of Trump itself and its effect on the Executive might be analogized to introducing a destructive virus in to a computer network--though clearly we can't blame that all on the Russians.  For the Russians, Trump is the gift that keeps on giving.