The U.S. and Russia never had to be best buddies, but the U.S’s antagonism towards Russia has been stupid and counterproductive. From Eric Sammons at crisismagazine.com:
This week, President Donald Trump took proactive steps to broker peace between Ukraine and Russia, actions that give me cautious optimism. Of course, his bold initiative has led the warmongers and TDS-sufferers to scream, “He’s a Russian agent!” However, Trump’s moves break through decades of neocon-inspired anti-Russian propaganda to strive for a lasting peace in the region. Essentially, Trump is arguing that Russia is more beneficial as an ally than an adversary and that America’s historical decision to promise NATO membership to Ukraine was a significant strategic error. Both these things should be simple common sense.
The geopolitical landscape post-Cold War presented the United States with a unique chance to redefine its relationship with Russia. But instead of fostering an alliance that could bring about long-term peace, the neocons in both the George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton administrations—supported by the military-industrial complex—wanted to keep the NATO bureaucracy alive. So they treated 1990’s Russia as a weakened enemy to be exploited. It was like kicking a dog that’s already seriously injured. Once the dog heals, however, it’s going to remember who kicked it.
Why did the U.S. continue to treat Russia like an enemy after the fall of the Soviet Union? Every defense I’ve seen for this catastrophic policy usually boils down to soft racism against the Russian people—you can’t trust them; they will always be aggressive; it’s in the Russian blood to try to take over the world, etc. But our bellicose policy is self-fulfilling: by marching up to their borders, we make Russia more likely to be aggressive toward the outside world. Then the neocons can just say, “See? We told you so!”
