Good Read

 

What the West doesn't understand about Russia or Ukraine

You’ve got to punch him in the nose,” former Central Intelligence Agency officer John Sipher told Yahoo News last week.

(Meaning Putin)

The West is preparing to do just that, with sanctions and military support to Ukraine. But none of that will erase Russian grievances that have festered for decades — and are inarguably at work today. Understanding those grievances is crucial to engaging in what some are describing as a new Cold War.

A proud people with centuries of intellectual and artistic achievement, Russians despise being lectured by a West that has never fully accepted them as equals. Nor is Russia much interested in being chided by Washington about invading other countries, especially in the wake of our wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

“We’re not being invaded by Nazis and there’s food in the stores, so as far as I’m concerned he’s doing a good job,” a Russian villager said about Putin to Vice News in 2014. Despite occasional outbursts of protest, 70 percent of Russians approve of how he governs.

(So much for the, "He's scared he's gonna end up like Mu'ammar Al-Qadhdhāfī (The former Libyan ruler) et al position of some of our "Experts". Sins of  your sister Sodom again? What did the other article say I just posted a few minutes ago? We give ourselves outsize influence over international events we just really don't even have etc.

"Nothing unites Russians like memories of World War II. Every child growing up in Russia was inculcated with legends about the heroic defeat of Hitler, a victory that permeated every aspect of Soviet culture — and of Soviet psychology. To grow up in Leningrad, as both Putin and I did, is to feel the war right at your door — the Nazis laid siege to the city for nearly three years, in what came to be known as the 900 Days.