Comments: * The correct question is whether Russia would ring the U.S. with military bases if it could. The answer is, of course, yes. There’s nothing we’re doing to Russia that Russia wouldn’t do to us given the chance.
Those of you who defend Russia, those of you who seem to implicitly think that a neutral, isolationist America is possible much less desirable, really, really don’t get it. There is no balance in international relations. There is no fair play. There is no global social contract or independent, impartial body to play referee. The UN is a toothless tiger (by design, incidentally) and has no monopoly on any legitimate use of force.
International relations is Game of Thrones. It’s dominate or be dominated. If we don’t do it, someone else will. There are legitimate arguments to be had over how best to do that, but make no mistake, that is the inherent nature of the game.
And, for a nation as large as ours, neutrality simply isn’t an option. This Buchanan-ite sentiment that we can somehow retreat within our borders and stay out of the global Great Game is childish and naive. It ain’t 1850 anymore.
With Putin and Russia, take the rose-colored glasses off. He’s not a role model, and he’s not your friend. Nor is he just a humble, reasonable Russian patriot seeking to defend his homeland. He’s a dictator and a kleptocrat who plays by the rules of realpolitik. He, and Russia, will do whatever they can get away with in order to expand Russia’s power and its borders. That’s nothing unique to Russia, mind you–China’s doing the same thing in the South China Sea; that’s just how the game is played.
The biggest mistakes we made were: 1) not integrating Russia into the West–and NATO–in the 1990s the way we did Germany after WWII and 2) buying into the notion that the “path to Moscow” ran through Kiev instead of the other way around. Had we had our shit together 25 years ago, NATO would extend across the Northern Hemisphere, the Arctic would be a Western lake, and there’d be NATO bases all along Russia’s southern frontier with American and Russian troops serving side by side. Alas, though, it’s way too late for that.
* And WASPs in The U.S are the worst in terms of lacking a tribal identity. The vast majority of them do not even exhibit English pride, let alone White pride.
