On a serious note, I really do think better US-Russia relations are a good thing for both countries and for the world. Yet I'm not hopeful that will happen in a meaningful and enduring way until all the Cold Warriors on both sides are dead. One of our most important and somewhat moderate statesmen, Sen. John McCain, asserts on national television that the Russia is "a gas station masquerading as a country." Sure, Russia's economy is overly dependent on oil and gas products, but have we any thought to what a shitty, casually insensitive thing that is to say? They hear that, of course, and all that from a country that doesn't even have its own language. Russia is an ancient culture with a complex history. It's contribution to the arts, humanities, and sciences are immeasurable. They sacrificed more for the sake of defeating the Nazis in Europe than the rest of the world combined. Very real horrors have to Russia from Western Europe--far worse than anything the United States has ever experienced in its brief history. Do you remember the time 1 in 10 Americans died in a war for national survival? Of course you don't, but the Russians do because it happened within their living memory. Yet we regard their security concerns as paranoia to be to teased, while we are waging "preemptive wars" with middle-sized countries because they may someday be a threat also in the name of security. Better relations between states, as between people, begins with respect--and to get it you have to give it. We don't. They don't. If they are nothing but a "gas station masquerading as a country", then we are Walmart doing the same. And so the tragedy of great nations continues.
Here is the Kuban Cossak Choir singing a song about the Turko-Russian wars that began long before the "United States of America" was even a dream. Enjoy.
