I have been reading Donald Kagan's On the Origins of War and the Preservation of Peace, and in his section on World War I he writes of Kaiser Wilhelm II and his foreign policy, which involved pushing quarrels with the British (pp. 130-131):
The Germans were not always wrong in these disagreements, but their unpleasant tactics and apparent lack of motive confused and annoyed the British without achieving anything of consequence for Germany. ... But the Germans were unaware that their policy and manner were causing ill will in England, "nor did they seem to realise that this policy had seriously undercut the possibility of an eventual agreement between Britain and the Triple Alliance, an agreement which had previously been the major goal of German diplomacy." [emphasis added]
Lack of motive? Annoying? Lack of consequential gains? Causing ill will in
That's exactly what modern Russia under Putin is doing:
The Russians simply move into vacuums to spite America, it seems. I credit that to poor self esteem. Wherever the Russians annoy America, they proudly exclaim "See? We matter!" Sad, really.
Putin is wrecking Russia and people should stop puffing up Putin:
I do chuckle sometimes at the notion that Putin has taken a bad "poker hand" (in power) and played it well[.] ...
My view is that Putin got the West's attention with his actions and rhetoric, but is otherwise effing up royally. That punching by Putin is getting those with more weight to assume a fighting stance. ...
Good grief, if Putin had just kept his mouth shut and his army at home, NATO would have continued to disarm. In a few years of the trend continuing, the fierce warriors of Montenegro could have conquered Germany.
And to add to the evidence, contemplate that Putin has managed to turn Democrats into virulent Russia-haters. We know why, of course. But still, the change is amazing. I bet Putin didn't expect Russia's traditionally useful idiots to stop being useful.
Anyway, stop acting as if Putin is brilliant or a model to follow.
[Well, the Democrats are certainly being useful idiots with their insane Resistance, but they no longer admire the Russians.]
In fact, Putin basically called the Fuck-Up Fairy an ethnic Russian and got her to live in sacred Holy Mother Russia:
After the collapse of the USSR, Russia could have chosen to be a friend of NATO as common victims of communism. But no. Instead Putin offered generous subsidies to entice the FUF to settle in Russia permanently.
And a more powerful China with claims on Russian territory quietly watches.
Will nobody tell Putin he's effing up royally?
And for all the talk of how Putin is so clever to play a bad hand so well? Get real.
Russia has alienated the West which was not a military threat to Russia by pointless threats to the West given weight by Russian invasions of Georgia and Ukraine, even though the West was willing to help Russia upgrade their defense industry until 2014; while China stole and then surpassed Russian military technology and production methods.
And recall that China has dormant claims on Russian Far Eastern territory with a treaty keeping those claims dormant up for cancellation in 2021.
Putin isn't brilliant. He is weakening Russia's economy, failing to arrest the decline of Russia's defense industries, alienating potential allies, and strengthening potential enemies all for the "glory" of Abhkazia, South Ossetia, Crimea, parts of the Donbas, and bases in Assad's Syria.
And he's not that impressive riding a horse bare-chested, truth be told.
Chimps with nukes.
What Western plot could be as effective at wrecking Russia than Putin himself? Seriously, why isn't there a conspiracy theory floating around Russia on that possibility?
I have some (small but technically measurable) sympathy for Putin, who has a caviar empire with a potato budget to cope with a growing China looming over his Far East:
So Russia is eager to forge closer ties with China as a junior partner to China which has dormant (for now) territorial claims on Russia; all while using that relationship to "resist" a NATO that has no interest in Russian territory? Somebody needs to send Putin the latest issue of Geopolitics for Dummies.
The Kaiser was bizarrely trying to pressure Britain into being a friend against Russia. How one went from bullying into friendship was a major flaw in the plan. But at least they had an objective.
Russia isn't trying to make NATO a friend by their behavior. No, I think Russia is being hostile to NATO in the hope of concealing Russia's appeasement of stronger China. But NATO finally responded to Putin's incessant unpleasant tactics and annoying behavior that doesn't seem to have any clear point to it.
Russia needs NATO and America as a friend when their frenemy relationship with China collapses. Or does Putin think Russia is somehow special when it comes to China's territorial claims on "lost" territories?
Instead Russia tries to be a threat to NATO along the Baltic Sea and keeps talking about the glories of a carrier-supported fleet capable of fighting NATO. Which are two of the three traditional sources of Russian weakness.
I mean, unless praising Putin is actually the ultimate Western information operation designed to actually destroy Russia.
Never mind.
#WhyRussiaCan'tHaveNiceThings
UPDATE: Speaking of mucking around looking for imaginary gains in Africa the way the Kaiser pursued:
The Russia-Africa Summit and Economic Forum, held in Sochi on October 23–24, 2019 (see EDM, October 28, 2019), reaffirmed Russia’s growing interest in Central Africa. Among the countries comprising this region, two—the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the Republic of the Congo—received the most visible attention.
How does any of this help Russia with their real foreign policy problem of holding their empire together from Chinese actions to recover lost territory or even to defend against imaginary NATO threats?
But I guess Russian inroads into the DRC could be stepping stones to ... other pointless inroads.
Seriously, what is Putin's major malfunction?
