I'm asking because I don't know and would like to know, and don't want to admit it to anyone face to face.
They allowed the Macdonald's franchise into their country long ago, and Pepsi and Coca-cola, and Starbucks, and some other retailers, which seemed pretty friendly. But Biden decided to end it, for no reason because, you know, 'Russia Bad'. They'd rather have Russia as an enemy than as a friend. Same seems to go for every country in the world, except the Anglosphere, and at present, France. Not sure we should have blown up Germany's Nord Stream pipelines (3 of the 4).
A better way to put it is when did Russia decide it wanted to be the enemy of the "west"? That's the viewpoint of the U.S. Russia was a colonial power after WWII. When the USSR broke up, under Gorbachov, its colonies started to break away. Those colonies Russia failed to fully Russify like the Baltics, Poland, Germany, etc. quickly broke away. Others like Ukraine took more measured approaches. The U.S. actually encouraged some of Russia's former colonies to not break away - Google Bush Chicken Speech. Chicken Kiev speech - Wikipedia One of the first big turning points was when Putin's friends decided to make an enemy of Bill Browder. That's Putin going out of his way to make enemies. When Russia invaded Georgia, the U.S. went so far as to return the Georgian soldiers who were helping in Iraq unarmed. The U.S. did not give anything to Georgia. When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014, the U.S. did not give a single rifle to help Ukraine defend itself. This has been a very gradual decision on the part of Russians to cut ties to the west.
Sadly the Russians have a long history of dictatorships and aggression toward their neighbors. The Tsars got along with the rest of Europe. In fact like most of Europe, they were part of the royal family. Things changed after the Russian Revolution. One of the goals of communism is to spread it through the world. Once Stalin came to power, there was going to friction. Stalin aligned with the west to save his butt during World War II. Once the war was over, it was business as usual for Stalin, gobbling up as many nations as possible to enlarge his empire. Stalin was as bad as Hitler, but he had large country to control, and he was smarter. Ultimately Russian Communism fell because it’s economy failed. Its top down, brutal approach could not keep up with the much freer systems in the west. I hoped that the world would have a period of peace, but it didn’t last for long. Putin took control of Russia, and his policy has been to recreate the Soviet Union and start up the Cold War again. If he ever defeated the United States, he’d go after China, just like old Soviet leaders did. The reason why the Chinese invited Nixon that was to enlist the U.S. as a temporary ally against Russia. Now, of course, Putin is “the small guy on the dictator block” and China no longer fears them. Russia is a troubling mix of brutality, dictatorship and nationalism. I’ve pretty much given up any hope that it will ever improve,
So the present day Russian Federation is just like the USSR under Stalin was. From what I've heard in real-life conversations, that is what most Americans believe. And the bit about Putin being the same height as Napoleon and therefore wanting to conquer all of Europe. Putin is taller than Napoleon but the same height as Zelensky.
I can think of several salient reasons why the U.S. State Department views Russia as an adversary, which include the following, noting that of these, probably the first three are the main points of contention: Geopolitical Conflicts: The U.S. and Russia have conflicting interests in various regions, including Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and parts of Asia. Russia’s actions in Ukraine, particularly the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and support for separatists in Eastern Ukraine, have been major points of contention. Election Interference: The U.S. intelligence community has concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election with the aim of undermining the electoral process, increasing political discord, and, according to some assessments, helping the campaign of Donald Trump. Military Posturing and NATO: Russia views the expansion of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) towards its borders as a threat to its security. In response, Russia has increased its own military activities and posturing, which the U.S. and NATO allies view as aggressive and destabilizing. Putin wants to restore the old Soviet Union, not to socialism, but to return the Ukraine, Poland, the Baltics and all the '-stan' countries back to the Russian fold, of which a number of these countries are NATO now, and this is the heart of the conflict. Cyber Operations: The U.S. has accused Russia of engaging in malicious cyber activities, including cyber espionage, attacks on U.S. infrastructure, and spreading disinformation. These activities are seen as attempts to undermine U.S. security and interfere in domestic affairs. Human Rights and Democracy: The U.S. has criticized Russia for its domestic human rights record, including the suppression of free speech, the targeting of political dissidents, and restrictions on media freedom. Murdering of journalists. These actions are viewed as contrary to democratic principles and international human rights standards. (Apparently this alone wouldn't do it, because the same could be said of Saudi Arabia, who are not seen as adversaries). International Law Violations: Russia's actions in Syria, its support for the Assad regime, and its role in other international conflicts have been criticized by the U.S. for violating international laws and norms, particularly regarding human rights and the use of force. Arms Control and Non-Proliferation: Disagreements over arms control treaties and non-proliferation efforts, including the suspension and eventual withdrawal from treaties such as the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, have contributed to tensions.
The relationship is asymmetrical. The US Congress sent over a large quantity of big artillery shells in mid 2021, and when these reached the front lines on Feb 19th, Kyiv was able to begin a heavy bombardment of Donetsk. But it wasn't until a month ago, after we launched five big ATACMS missiles at the Russian city and port of Sevastopol that Russia notified the US that the Russian Federation and the US are no longer in a state of peace. Russia is going slow for some reason; maybe hoping soon there will be someone in the Whitehouse willing to negotiate.
The Russian Federation left the USSR in June 1990 and Ukraine left in August 1991. They lived next to each other in peace until Victoria Nuland of the US State Department guiding the CIA replaced the Ukrainian government with one the US preferred, in Feb 2014, and then there was a low level civil war from October 2014 until Biden and the Democrats sent over a big weapons shipment in mid 2021 reaching the front lines in Feb 2022. After a heavy bombardment of Donetsk on Feb 19 2022, then Russia moved some forces in to protect Donetsk and if you look at where the forces are, the last time I looked the forces defending Donetsk were still there. Owing to the US sending longer-ranged offensive weapons Russia has had to advance further to protect Donetsk.
Somehow Joe Biden argued that Russia's response to the shipments of weapons to Ukraine and their use to bombard Donetsk on Feb 19th 2022, was caused by the Russian response 5 days later on Feb 24th 2022.
Joe was claiming that Russia's response was a surprise, had no cause, or justification. If you want Joe's lies here they are: [President Biden Holds a Press Conference Feb 24th 2022] "Sorry to keep you waiting The Russian military has begun a brutal assault on the people of Ukraine without provocation, without justification, without necessity. This is a premeditated attack Vladimir Putin has been planning this for months as I've been saying all along. He moved more than 175,000 troops, military equipment into positions along the Ukrainian border. He moved blood supplies into position and built a field hospital which tells you all you need to know about his intentions all along. He rejected every good faith effort the United States and our allies and partners made to address our mutual security concerns through dialog to avoid needless conflict and avert human suffering. For weeks - for weeks, we have been warning that this would happen. And now it's unfolding largely as we predicted. In the past week, we've seen shelling increase in the Donbas, the region in eastern Ukraine controlled by Russian-backed separatists. Rus- -- the Russian government has perpetrated cyberattacks against Ukraine. We saw a staged political theater in Moscow -- outlandish and baseless claims that Ukraine was -- Ukraine was about to invade and launch a war against Russia, that Ukraine was prepared to use chemical weapons, that Ukraine committed a genocide -- without any evidence. We saw a flagrant violation of international law in attempting to unilaterally create two new so-called republics on sovereign Ukrainian territory. And at the very moment that the United Nations Security Council was meeting to stand up for Ukraine's sovereignty to stave off invasion Putin declared his war." Comments 1. 175,000 troops, that is correct, Joe failed to mention that Ukraine had 680,000 troops there. With a ratio like that it is obviously not an invasion. 2. Putin opened negotiations in Feb 2008 and has continued being open to negotiations ever since. The claim that it is Russia that refused to negotiate is a grievous lie.
The main problem seems to be simple everyday lies. Many years ago the US Secretary of State made a statement that Russia would be drawn into a conflict in Ukraine and 'bled white'. I can't find that phrase indexed at present though NATO is still saying it is making progress with weakening Russia and the UK, oddly even more aggressive than the US has said this: (note, the Moscow Times is independent of Russia and is printed outside the country)
The West is painting two different pictures One is us victorious, cleaning the world from cowering soviet scum, and the other is us, totally innocent of any aggression, surprised by the effects the weapons we sent over to the Azov Battalion in Ukraine had on ethnically Russian areas of Eastern Ukraine. and the two pictures get swapped around whenever it is appropriate.
