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I think the Russians are deluding themselves in rejecting the fact that they are no longer one of the superpowers, except for their nuclear arsenal.
Frankly, my opinion after 40 years of observing them, is that the current Russian leadership cannot be trusted, and will violate or abrogate any deal, at any time, without notification, for their own benefit.
Pretty much every autocrat in the world, to include our own, will use events to achieve their agenda. Wag the dog? But in this case, our Administration seems intent upon repeatedly showing goodwill by unilateral appeasement and disarmament, and getting little, other than an occasional slap in the face in return. What happened to the goodwill that was supposed to accrue from cancelling the deployment of the missile defense system to Poland (other than causing the Poles to wonder where our loyalties really lie)? Frankly, I think the POTUS' team could stand a good introductory class in the application of Machiavellian realpolitik to international relations. The current Administration seems to be completely unfamiliar with negotiating for advantage.
I would maintain that the Reagan Administration negotiated deals advantageous to the U.S. by doing it from a position of relative strength. Rational players beget rational policies, negotiations, and decisionmaking.
Maybe they should treat interactions with foreign powers the same as they do the Republican party.
The actions of the Czarists in the late 19th Century (Russo-Japanese War), the Soviets that followed (WW II), and the current Russian "elected" leadership of today (no open war, yet) WRT Asia could be the topic for a great discussion, but I am not sure of the connection to Obama giving the Russians the secrets to the missile defense system in return for questionable concessions by the current Russian regime.
TR
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"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." - President Theodore Roosevelt, 1910
De Oppresso Liber 01/20/2025
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