9:34AM
WPR's The New Rules: Debunking the 'Russia Threat' Hype
Monday, August 15, 2011 at 9:34AM
When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, I was completing my doctoral dissertation on Warsaw Pact-Third World relations. I immediately understood that my time in Soviet studies was done. Why? Because I knew that Russia was full of brilliant political scientists who, once free to pursue their craft free of ideological constraints, would do a better job explaining things there than outsiders could.
The generation of Russian scholars that emerged in the post-Soviet era proved me right, and none has consistently impressed more than Dmitri Trenin, who heads up the Moscow office of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace . . .
Read the entire column at World Politics Review.
tagged China, Europe, Russia, US foreign policy | in WPR Column | Email Article | Permalink | Print Article
China, Europe, Russia, US foreign policy | in WPR Column | Email Article | Permalink | Print Article 
Reader Comments (2)
"Honey I shrunk the Army." Amazing story. The humongous Red Army gone. The Navy rusting away. We even have an old Russian submarine sitting here in San Diego. Very near the aircraft carrier Midway, now a museum. Two symbols of the Cold War...now tourist attractions.
There are smart people in Russia. During the great changes in the 80's some realized that there was no real Criminal Justice System in the motherland. Troublemakers just got sent away...maybe to Siberia, maybe to mental institutions. Uniformed police were poorly trained and expected mainly to deal with the (numerous) drunks. Someone was smart enough to realize that when "freedom" arrived there were going to be problems. Actual criminals would show up and might even get organized.
Young KGB officers were transferred to the Ministry of the Interior and told to build a modern police force. I met two of them in Chicago. They came to study our methods. Both spoke English fairly well. We took them out on Friday nights and tried to out drink them. They seemed very cautious and even mildly suspicious at first. It only took a couple of BBQ's in backyards. They met the wives and the kids and that was that. It was agreed...we were all "good guys."
excellent stuff .
imho, russia is virtuous and smart. (and has been throughout history)
while the west is hypocritical, arrogant, and stubborn. and that's why its power is declining (and will continue to decline) on a relative basis.