@ Jeff - well at least this connection is not conspiratorial - http://www.latimes.com/world/europe/la-fg-belarus-kushner-2017-story.html

@Ogion - Putin would have never gained power if we had better managed the collapse of the USSR, is what I'm saying. I'm referring to Bill, not Hillary

Boy, that's really unknowable. So many factors there

Trump supporters and Russians are both big on white ethno-nationalism. They're kindred spirits, even thpugh the Trump supporters will never admit that that is the reason for their support.

@goldfinger0303 - The US has been so successful in bringing good leaders to power when we have tried? We botched so many in South America supporting dictators against Commies. Bush even forced Israel to change it's democratically elected government to get one that he thought would bring peace to the MidEast and that failed. Don't forget Iraq and Afghanistan and their failed leaders propped up by US troops.

@Randomizer - don't mistake changing policy towards a country with propping up a person friendly to our interests. Something as simple as not expanding NATO if Russia was under the impression there was some sort of deal. Offer more aid to the country when it needed it most. We mistakenly believed Pax Americana was to be ushered in with the USSR's fall, but that wasn't true. Russia just needed time to stabilize, and the world became multipolar.

There's a lot of factors there, but we could hardly do worse than we did

We have a whole industry of red-baiting cold warriors that don't know how to move on. Russia is a bit player on the world stage that our old-timers keep treating as if they are the boogey man. Makes more sense to work with Russia against radical Islam (they have the same troubles we do) and as a balance against China, who will be the main threat to stability soon enough.

Sure, Creigh, go ahead an ignore the fact that Russia threatens the stability of all its neighbors and invades them. Clearly any country that does that is a problem that needs to be addressed. It doesn't have a damned thing to do with the cold war. Of course, I'm sure that massive human rights abuses and war crimes are of little concern to people like you. Frankly, ISIS is less of a threat than Russia by a long shot.

Radical Islam is a thorn in the side of the world compared to the capabilities the Russia actually has.

Not to mention Russia is far more interested in working with China than against it. At least for the time being.

Russia is not that aggressive in foreign politics, and there are other countries who are definitely way more aggressive.
It appears to be "evil" because of the media and because Russians does not really act like they lost the cold war and want to be considered at the same level.
Russia definitely doesn't threaten the stability of it's neighbours. One example is after the Georgian aggression, they did not even changed the president of Georgia. I'm almost sure if the same happened near the US borders, for example in Mexico, the "dictator" wouldn't last a day.

@alexintour, check out today's article about Russian continuing aggression wrt Georgia: http://www.businessinsider.com/russia-appears-to-be-taking-georgias-land-inch-by-inch-2017-7

Unilaterally moving the border inch by inch seems like a plain violation of international law.

Seriously, what other country can you point to that is actively invading its neighbors and annexing parts and engaging in large scale cyber warfare against them can you point to? In reality, there is one example only.

And that is without Russia's international support for neofascists and anti1democracy movements worldwide. If Iran is a bad actor for supporting hezbollah, Russia is also for supporting the National Front and the like.

The word "appears" in the title makes me think in a positive way about this article.
It appears that most of the scary news about Russia are not that scary after all, but only after some time, so people usually do not remember.

Also, in the article it says "Russia invaded Georgia in 2008", but according to the EU (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8281990.stm) the story was "a little bit" different, so for me it's an unreliable and biased source.

Agree with Alex. Russia has had far less foreign intervention than the US.

whoah, I never said that Russia intervened more than US. That's not on the table. But Russia did chip off Abkhazia from Georgia (I guess in 2008 or so). Invasion or not, will you admit that Georgia lost sovereignty over Abkhazia?

i am still blown away by the unbelievable naïveté and stupidity of the statement "Russia definitely doesn't threaten the stability of its neighbors". Funding separatists and invading and annexing those neighbors doesn't count? Can you imagine if Mexico start shipping tanks to Texas neoconfederates to start blowing up US troops how Americans would react? Unbelievable. Not to mention the cyberattacks and nationalist propaganda Russia attacks the Baltic states with. Those guys were right to want to send all the Russians moved there illegally during soviet occupation back to Russia. Any country with a big Russian minority will always face a major national security threat as long as they are there.

You should have read your citation, axleintour

"The report states that while Russia's initial actions in fighting back against attacks on its personnel in South Ossetia were justified, its subsequent actions, in pushing far into Georgia proper "went far beyond the reasonable limits of defence" and was "in violation of international law".

No to mention that the only reason Russian troops where there to be shelled was because they'd moved their troops into Georgian territory in the first place, which the report acknowledges but doesn't address.

So yes, arussia invaded Georgia. Full stop.

Maybe we should recognize the independence of Chchenya and start sending them weapons.

And actually, arussia has intervened more than the US at any time since 1845

It's still BBC, we can't really pretend something not anti-Russian from them (so it's better to read directly the report. It's online).
Yes, the reaction was beyond, but the point is that Georgia started the aggression. And this reaction sure prevents Georgia from doing this again.
Now Georgia is an independent state? If yes, than no invasion. And still, if some country would have done such a thing near the US, I'm sure the US reaction would have been way more destructive).

You made my point about the . You never hear Russians say "Maybe we should recognize the independence of Texas, California, native American countries and start sending them weapons."

Oh, did notice only now about the stupidity of my statements. I'll mute you, and suggest you do the same, so you won't read such stupidities any more.

@Hauta Georgia lost sovereignty over Abkhazia in 1992-1993 ))

Apparently you think that Russia would be within its right to recognize the independence of Texas and start sending weapons to the KKk and that'd be ok.

Georgia didn't lose sovereignty over Abkhazia under international law. Period. It is t legal to change borders by force. This, the presence of Russian troops without permission from Georgia is illegal.

In any event, this notion that russia isn't a threat to its neighbors when it arms anti government forces and invades its neighbors is absurd. If you have to play a "oh, it's the BBC so it's fake news" card shows how ridiculous your argument is. If you're going to do that, why not be honest about the notion that you're only interested in russian propaganda and quote RT or Pravda?

One sure as hell hears Russians saying "we should annex Crimea and Abkhazia so we should start sending them weapons".

And I guess I've made some points if someone has a need to mute them.

Hey guys, Iraq is an independent state, so I guess the US never invaded them, right? Lol

Your point is? The US left Iraq at the request of the government. Let's see Russia do that


Ukraine should never have given up its nukes.

Jesus, Ogion, I was making fun of the absurdity of Alex's statement. Recognize when I'm on your side

Oh. I wasn't clear. It's a good point though. The US can also be viewed as a threat to international security what with our love of bombing people