Engaging with Russia and China: Is It Really in Our Best Interest? Part One: Russia
Engaging with Russia and China:
Is It Really in Our Best Interest?
Part One: Russia
August 1, 2018
For almost seventy-five years the United States and Russia have been adversaries. Since the end of World War II we have been at odds with the Soviet Union. Starting in 1992, our Russian adversary was the Russian Federation. In the last thirty years Communist China has been elevated to the status of main adversary number two. Even though our relationship with both of these countries has been adversarial in nature, we have been able to engage with one another and avoid armed conflict. At times, this has not been easy.
For example, in 1962 the Soviet Union, headed by Russia, tried to deploy missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons to the island of Cuba, just ninety miles off the coast of the United States. The US, headed by President Kennedy, was having none of that. He ordered a Naval Blockade between Cuba’s port of entry and the Russian transport ships making it impossible for the Russian ships to dock. This standoff went on for several days and was finally settled diplomatically. The result was that the Russian ships turned around and went home. It is the opinion of many of those who are well-versed in foreign affairs that this was the closet the world has ever come to nuclear war. I tend to agree.
The relationship between the US and the Soviet Union was referred to as the “Cold War” over the next thirty years. It was a time that I like to refer to as “Spy vs. Spy.” They spied on us and we spied on them. It seemed to me that both sides were in a constant struggle, always trying to gain the advantage. Although there was never an armed conflict between our two countries, it seemed as though tensions were always strained. This standoff continued until the financial collapse of the Soviet Union in December 1991.
Phase two of our history with Russia comes in the form of the Russian Federation. This group of autonomous countries all have their own constitutions, governments, and elected officials. The government of Russia is supposed to be handling foreign affairs for the federation. However, with the events that are happening in Crimea and Ukraine, that doesn’t seem to be working out too well.
Our relationship with the new Russian government, headed by Vladimir Putin, has worsened significantly in the last few years. This is due in large part to the invasion and annexation of Crimea. The Russian military also tried to invade Ukraine but was stopped by the Ukrainian military. Fortunately, they were able to hang on until Donald Trump became president. Soon after taking office, President Trump sent a large shipment of defensive weapons, including anti-tank missiles, to the Ukrainian government. This enabled the Ukrainians to mount a more vigorous defense against the Russians. These weapons, in addition to helping to secure the country of Ukraine, will also make any further attempts by Russia to invade Ukraine much more costly to the Russians.
The Russian government is the equivalent of an organized crime family. They have engaged in murder, blackmail, and cybertheft. They will employ whatever means necessary to accomplish their goal. Nothing is off the table. The government officials, including Vladimir Putin, are nothing less than murderers and thugs. They display little or no regard for human life. This includes the lives of their own citizens who, in some cases, have been jailed or murdered for speaking out against Mr. Putin or his government.
The Russian government has engaged in cyber warfare against US companies and even the US government. We know this to be true. The Russian government is also complicit in the slaughter of neatly 500,000 Syrian civilians. These people are dead as a result of the relentless bombing of civilian targets by the Russian military as well as the use of chemical weapons.
Just about everyone in our country knows that the Russian government tried to influence the outcome of our elections in 2016. By almost all accounts, this was a relatively minor effort on the part of the Russians. It is widely believed that this attempt was a dry run for a larger attack in 2018 or 2020. The good news is that not one vote was changed.
This type of activity is nothing new to the Russians. They are doing the same thing in both Western Europe and in the old Soviet Bloc countries in Eastern Europe. Specifically, they tried to hijack the elections in Ukraine. As I’ve written in previous posts, the Russian government is recruiting and supporting candidates for public office in the former Eastern Bloc countries of the former Soviet Union. I’ve also written before that this is their new strategy to restore the former Soviet Union to its glory days when it was a superpower. This type of behavior will never stop until the current Russian government is replaced with a more Democratic type of government.
There are other steps that the Russians have taken to disrupt or influence our election process. For example, they hacked into the Democratic National Committee computer system. In addition, they also hacked into the personal email account of John Podesta, the Clinton Campaign Chairman. These emails were subsequently leaked to WikiLeaks where they were made public.
These hacks took place between September 2015 and March 2016. Our intelligence agencies were aware of this activity during the summer of 2016. President Obama was made aware of this shortly thereafter but took no action. After all, Hillary was supposed to win. Neither campaign was advised of this threat until after the election.
Lastly, the Russian government is like an unruly child. It is necessary to keep your eyes on them twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, because you never know what they’re going to do next. Hence, you are constantly in defensive mode trying to protect yourself. There is abundant evidence that Russia has either done or attempted to do all the things listed above. The US has been playing this “cat and mouse game” with the Russians, under one regime or another, for almost seventy-five years—and we’re still doing it. How much longer will this continue? Eventually one comes to the conclusion that it is going to go on forever. At that point, the question you have to ask yourself is: Are the tens of billions of dollars we spend every year countering Russian aggression worth it? Could that money be better spent? Is there another option open to the US? Yes, it’s worth countering Russian aggression. Yes, that money could be better spent. And yes, there is another option open to the US. The other option open to the US is to eliminate the threat. After years of dealing with this, I say: “Enough is enough.”
It is my view that the only logical path forward is to eliminate the threat. I can only see two options open to the US and its allies. The first option is to confront the Russians militarily. This choice is not practical, and I would dismiss it out of hand.
The second option is to confront them economically. We do this by imposing the harshest and most crippling sanctions possible on the Russian economy. These sanctions would be imposed by the US and its allies. This option is a lot less costly for us to implement and also a lot less costly for the Russians. It is also much cheaper in the long run than doing nothing. These sanctions would be designed to cripple the Russian economy and therefore greatly limit their ability to conduct any type of political warfare, cyber warfare or exert any type of political influence on any other country. These sanctions, if implemented, would also eliminate Russia’s ability to invade its neighbors.
If I could think of any redeeming qualities of the Russian government, either as the head of the Soviet Union or of the Russian Federation, I might be tempted to reconsider my position. Over the last fifty or sixty years there have been numerous natural disasters. There have been floods, earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, hurricanes, and even a breakout of ebola virus in Africa. Not once do I recall seeing or hearing the Russian government sending aid or offering any kind of assistance to help these victims. I could be wrong here, but I don’t think so. The Russian government has shown itself, time and time again that it is not a contributing member of the world community. It is only interested in empire building and returning Russia back to the days of the old Soviet Union.
The point of this post was to make the case that doing business, or engaging with, Russia is simply not in our best interest nor is it in the best interest of our allies. To summarize, the Russian government has played a major role in the slaughter of roughly 500,000 Syrian civilians, some of which were killed by chemical weapons. They have also tried to influence free and fair elections in both the US and Europe. They have invaded and annexed the Crimean Peninsula and attempted to do the same in eastern Ukraine. The Russian government also tried to murder a former Russian spy and his daughter while they were living in Great Britain. These are the acts of an organized crime family, not of a recognized government of the world community.
The actions cited above are examples of how a recognized government of the world should not behave. We need to make life on this planet as difficult as possible for the Russian government. Economic sanction upon economic sanction should be imposed on this rogue government until it decides to end this extremely unacceptable behavior.
Take a minute and think about just who Russia’s allies are. They are Syria, Iran, China, and North Korea. This speaks volumes. It should tell you all you need to know regarding just what kind of people you’re dealing with.
For over seventy years freedom-loving countries all over the world have had to put up with the pariah we call Russia. Whether they were the leader of the Soviet Union or a member of the Russian Federation, it’s been the same underhanded behind-the-back nonsense. Their goal is to build a larger empire and expand their influence. What is the purpose of doing this? Is it to make life better for the countries they take over? The answer is no. The purpose is to control more and more territory and oppress more people. That’s it. There is no hidden agenda. After seventy-five years of history it has become pretty clear what it is they’re trying to do. It’s time for the US and its allies to impose the absolute harshest possible economic sanctions on Russia and, along with as many other countries as we can muster, boycott as much of Russia's exports as possible. It’s costing us more money to play defense then it’s costing the Russians to play offense. It’s time to confront the threat and deal with it once and for all. Enough is enough.
Part Two of this post will deal with our relationship with the communist Chinese and will appear as soon as it is completed.