^@MrQuatro yes, there were other candidates.. nice picture
@Jim: Yes absolutely, we should take Putin seriously, which means we have to listen to what he
says. I guess he indeed is not for a weapon's race because
a) he is already strong enough, an arms race would be an entirely western act to catch up for years to come, and
b) while the russian economy is far from collapsing (by all sanctions, Russia is so big and can provide almost all by itself, except some advanced western "decadent" western luxury maybe
), Putin has no interest in spending
more than necessary, for weapons.
Deterrence is going on, sure. US builds a rocket to hit any place in the world within minutes (b.t.w. circumventing the early alarm systems of defence), Russia of course will also build one. And it did.
I also think that we should not bedevil him. If we give him a chance to get out of his pariah corner (where we the west west put him, after robbing and breaking our word, as a good part of the world sees it), he can be a dependable partner, at least in trade. The more the exchange, trade-wise and cultural, the sooner a civilian society can grow, in Russia.
He just is not as simple and direct as the US in his talk, but wraps his will and intentions in words that can be easily overheard, by people who hear what they want to hear.
While i can "understand" how the secret services like to have the good old cold war times back, could it be there are some inner powerplays in the UK, about how to handle today's situation? Falling back to 1980ies politics does not make much sense in this brave new world. China is much more dangerous than Russia, in a lot of ways.
@Skybird: you wrote
"But America's self-perception is extremely self-centered and always has based on the sometimes unspoken but often spoken-out premise that the US is the best of nations in the world. [...]
To see things through the others' eyes is really no strength of the US, and never was. [...]"
Very true, but then they never had to learn it the hard way. Filter-bubbles
.
Still, it surprised me that combover Caligula could win a presidential campaign based on the premise the US were not yet selfish enough
