Russia is a Hard Power Threat and Not a Soft Power Threat

Russia is a regional threat and a global pain in the rear. Islamist terrorism is the real Semi-Hot War we have to wage around the world.

Talk of reviving the Cold War (which was hotter in casualties than the War on Terror, by far) with Russia is wrong. I haven't called for a new Cold War with Russia. Elevating Putin to a Cold War opponent not only inflates his importance beyond his limited national power, but misses the point that Putin does not lead the Soviet Union despite his nostalgia for its imperial expanse.

Remember, the Soviet Union was a global threat because it supported communists and communist fans around the world (as opposed to being a regional military threat to the West by being a hundred miles from the Rhine River). There is no Putinist Youth League (and it would be fairly pathetic if there was). Russia is a regional threat we only have to pay real attention to because they are close to vulnerable allies and because they have nuclear weapons, energy exports, and a UN Security Council veto.

So keep the global focus on defeating al Qaeda and their fans while trying to help the Islamic world delegitimize Islamist ideology and modernize. I'll call this war won when the end of Ramadan is an occasion for a week-long blowout furniture sale, and such things.

As for Russia, just as we have to watch China in the Asia-Pacific region, watch Russia in the Europe-to-Middle East arc where they can be a threat to ours interests. Treat them seriously with no delusions of reset to prevent them from being a major threat.

But keep their limited military power and the threat it enables in perspective. We can even cooperate in areas where there is a real basis for advancing mutual interests, even as we inflict pain for Crimea. Russia has helped our foes Syria and Iran even as we insisted reset was working fine, remember. If we could get over that and work with Russia, Russia can get over our actions to inflict harm over Russia's seizure of Crimea.