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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWe know what Russia did. But what we really need to understand is why.
Im glad that Donald Trump will finally get a briefing on the unanimous conclusion of Americas intelligence agencies that the Russian government was behind the hacking of the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clintons campaign chairman. But he should also request and receive a political briefing on Russia that can shed light on the backdrop to Russias actions. We need to understand why Russia behaved the way it has.
It all started with the Arab Spring. The sudden mass demonstrations and demands for democracy took most of the world by surprise. In particular, they rattled Moscow at a precarious moment. The Kremlin was in the midst of managing the countrys political future and worried about opposition at home. Parliamentary elections were scheduled in less than a year, to be followed by a presidential election. Vladimir Putin was not then president, having stepped aside in keeping with the Russian constitution, allowing Dmitry Medvedev to ascend to the office.
Roland Dannreuther of the University of Westminster in London points out that the crises in both Libya and Syria coincided with the rise of opposition to the re-election of Putin, with unprecedented large opposition rallies in Moscow and other cities in Russia during 2011-12. He argues that the Kremlin watched these countries as street protests morphed into broader opposition, created instability, and then attracted the attention and intervention of Western powers. Moscow was determined that no such scenario would play out in Russia or in any of its close neighbors, such as Ukraine.
In fact, there was a rare disagreement between Putin and Medvedev on how to respond to Libya. Putin bitterly attacked his own president for not vetoing a U.N. Security Council resolution sanctioning an intervention in Libya and lambasted the West for launching a crusade against a Muslim country. Medvedev, who was technically in charge of foreign policy, flatly contradicted him, calling his rhetoric inexcusable. Some Russia hands believe that this disagreement might have sealed Medvedevs fate, ensuring that he served just one term and then made way for Putins return to the presidency. In any event, as Dannreuther writes, for conservative Russian elites, the evidence of the Arab Spring confirms that such factional divisions in the guise of democracy promotion only lead to internal disorder, societal conflict and the loss of the sovereign integrity of the state. (The fact that Clinton encouraged Russian democracy protesters at this sensitive moment branded her an archenemy in the eyes of the Kremlin elite.)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/we-know-what-russia-did-but-what-trump-really-needs-to-understand-is-why/2017/01/05/ef57febe-d37b-11e6-9cb0-54ab630851e8_story.html?utm_term=.0ed1884b3d08&wpisrc=nl_rainbow&wpmm=1#comments
Lurks Often
(5,455 posts)Link: http://time.com/4422723/putin-russia-hillary-clinton/
We've interfered in Russia during the 1919 Russian Civil War.
Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin
(107,986 posts)We gave them a lot of arms in WWII.
FWIW I know we had a limited role in their civil war but I'm sure you know math.
Lurks Often
(5,455 posts)an argument can be made that England and the U.S. could have put forth more of an effort to open a second front France to divert some of the pressure on the Soviet Union.
We invaded Russian in 1919: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allied_intervention_in_the_Russian_Civil_War
Under both parties the U.S. has been interfering in the elections of other countries for a long time now. Maybe the Russians got fed up and interfered by hacking the DNC & Podesta and gave it to Wikileaks. Maybe Wikileaks got the e-mails from someone on the inside. It will be a while before we find out the truth and even then many won't believe it unless it confirms what they already think.
Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin
(107,986 posts)So that justifies hacking today in your opinion? Since you haven't answered I'll take that as a yes.
Lurks Often
(5,455 posts)If the Time article is accurate, the U.S. interfered in the 2011 Russian election. Does that justify Russia's interference in our election, of course not, but given how often the U.S. interferes in elections in other countries, it is kind of hypocritical for Americans to get all outraged when another country does to us what we've been doing in other countries for decades.
Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin
(107,986 posts)How did we interfere?
Putin is blaming Hillary for the demonstrations hence his interfering with our elections.
Why are you defending him? This is Democratic Underground. You might want to look at the terms of service.
Lurks Often
(5,455 posts)nor is it support for Putin.
You asked a question "We know what Russia did. But what we really need to understand is why?" I gave you answer, that you don't like that answer or that it doesn't agree with you believe, is your concern, not mine.
Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin
(107,986 posts)You reached all over the place however to rebut the article starting with nearly one hundred years ago.
Do you know the Russian Orthodox Church considers Tsar Nicholas II who was assassinated by the Bolsheviks to be a martyr? Do you know that the church is a big supporter of Putin?
Did you know that the Bolsheviks did not win a majority in elections but seized power anyhow?
Do you know that Lenin bragged if we kill the innocent they'll fear us even more?
Did you know that Stalin killed even more of his own people than Hitler did? And don't start the false claim I support Hitler by pointing this out because I don't.
Maybe if the allied intervention had succeeded much of the pain Russia faced for 70 years could have been avoided. The fact is the U.S. only gave token support.
I could go on further but I'll leave you with this.
Assuming you're on the up and up you should know about the homophobic, right leaning, nationalistic movement going on in Russia.
Assuming you're really a Democrat the election of Donald Trump is a regression in Democratic values.
I hope you see that as the bigger problem.