By Timothy Roberge, 18 February 2017
With recent reports of Russian activities in the news, I have been curious as to why the media, and political establishment insiders, see Russia as dangerous to American politics. I have to agree, Russian activities have been disturbing, and we cannot take their actions lightly. I am in no position to understand every dimension of the political games being played here, but I have yet to see any signs that Russia is declaring “Death to America,” as I see in other parts of the world.
I understand we cannot trust Russia 100% since it is run by an ex-KBG president, and who knows what his end-game is, and what he envisions for Russia's future. I see Mr. Putin as a sly, manipulative, and cunning fox…exactly what you would expect from a KGP agent - right?
However, many forget that Russia is no longer the Communist USSR, which was ended back in 1991. The country has embraced democracy; although a work in progress, it is still a democracy after adopting a new constitution in 19931. Also, since 1991, the Russian people have re-found their religion. There is an upsurge of Christianity and other religions since 1991. And un-affiliation to any religion has reduced more than 40%, from 61% to just 18% of the adult population in the country2.
Thinking about this today, I wonder why the current political atmosphere appears to vilify Russia so much. We have more in common with them today than we ever did pre-1991.
I am no expert here, but I find it hard to understand why Russia is such an imminent threat to the US. To me, the more imminent threat comes from those that are not in any way aligned with American values. Those that oppose freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and equal opportunity for all peoples. It appears to me that our more imminent threat comes from countries that support and sponsor radical Islamic terrorism. But for some reason, the main stream media tend to up-play Russian activities, while down-playing activities from the Islamic world, both here in America and abroad.
As a side note…
I also find it difficult to understand why many Democrats in America seemed to have embraced communist USSR pre-1991, but seem to vilify todays Russia that has adopted a democratic political system, with increased Christianity more, and more every day. Since 1991, Russia has made efforts that are more closely aligned with our American value systems. So why has the left totally flipped their position since Russia has become more democratic and religious over the last 20 years? I suspect that it is because many on the left are actually Communists at heart themselves. Therefore, they supported the Communist USSR, while opposing the more democratic Russia.
In conclusion, is Russia truly an “imminent” threat to America? Maybe we need to place our focus on countries supporting radical Islamic terrorists as higher priority. Maybe it would be worthwhile for America to pursue some sort of agreement with Russia that allows us to address the more imminent threat at this time. So why not align with a country that is closer to our own American values? Why not work together to oppose and defeat states that are against our values, and calls for the destruction of America and Israel. The last time we aligned with Russia they were still Communists; even then, we were successful in eradicating the radical uprising from Nazi Germany...this wasn't too bad of an outcome was it?
Sources:
1. https://infogalactic.com/info/Politics_of_Russia
2. http://www.pewforum.org/2014/02/10/russians-return-to-religion-but-not-to-church/
Comments
Post a Comment