by AgentR11 » Tue 04 Oct 2016, 14:52:43
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ennui2', 'T')he cold war is supposed to be over. Putin didn't get the memo and stokes the fires in order to accumulate power. Meanwhile, most people here run defense for the guy, because "western hegemony".
"most people" is a huge overstatement. A few, at best, are "pro" Putin.
I am certainly not pro-Putin, but I am extremely ANTI wish-casting. Which is what I see a lot of NATO side trolls doing, repeatedly. Putin is most certainly an enemy of what I refer to as the Atlantic Empire (a kinda loose net of NATO & EU affiliations); and rightly so, as Russian national interests are, for the most part, very much in opposition of the Atlanticist's imperial interests.
The problem is that people seem desperate to underestimate the capabilities that Putin brings to the table; and he is an exceptional strategist, both military and economic; and is able to turn just about any circumstance into enhanced power for himself and improved self reliance for Russia. That underestimation and downplaying of Russia works hugely to the benefit of Putin. The second bit of wishcasting is this idiotic notion that Putin's replacement will come from the Western loyal "liberast" faction as they are called. Nothing could be further from the truth; those guys barely move 5% of the population, and they are doing everything in their power to reduce that number even further as we speak. No, Putin's eventual replacement will either be a Western ambivalent technocrat, or a communist hot head who thinks it would be a great idea to nuke every city allied with NATO, just for fun.
As to the "cold war"?? It never ended. We had a chance to end it, but instead of ending it, we looted the crud out of Russia, and let her people experience the possibility of strategic food insecurity, aka, hunger. By doing so, we guaranteed that Russia would remain our useful enemy for the remainder of the 21st century.