Russia Bullying: Doing What It Does Best
Will the U.S. help subsidize gas prices now that Russia is doubling gas prices to Georgia? I've written before how important this all is to the West's interests. Russia seeks to influence the world again. She will do it however she can--whether through allying with Iran,
Brenda Shaffer of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy calls Russia and Iran “partners in need,” motivated mainly by three ends: curbing U.S. influence, maintaining a multipolar world, and undermining U.S. efforts to sideline both states (take, for example, the new Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline which skirts both Iran and Russia). Yet Michael Eisenstadt, writing in Arms Control Today, says cooperation between the two countries “is driven as much by fear and mistrust as it is by opportunism and shared interests.” Regardless, closer Russia-Iran ties pose challenges to peace in the Middle East, analysts say, especially if Iran goes nuclear over the next decade.
China, now Egypt and whatever other crazy regime will give her money. And the former Soviet Republics trying to enjoy freedom? Not so nice to them.
More here, here and here. Oh, and here, too. I keep beating this dead horse. No one much comments.
1 comment:
When I was a kid my mother was always seeing therapists, and said I should see one except my father wouldn't pay for/didn't believe in it. I resented the remarks because they both undercut my confidence in my own sanity, and seemed like it would be coercive. The family was broken and she was making a mess of our lives, but somehow I had to be straightened out.
To me it was every bit as oppressive as if a priest told me I was going to hell if I didn't shape up. In fact, it was the same thing, only more moderne.
So I can imagine how kids feel today, with the pressure to put them on drugs, being told something's always *wrong* with them when it's really their parents' screwed up lifestyles.
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