Why I believe that Russia is an ideal “Black Swan Robust” society
Whether or not the world is at all flattening, could be considered a mute, but very debatable point at the moment. One thing, however, which needs nor merits debate, is the rise in appearances of black swans, in the global works of things.
Robert Plant, associate professor at the School of Business Administration, University of Miami, in Coral Gables, Florida, contends that, “rather than being flat, the world is as...
... US policy took its Russophobic turn despite powerful warnings from many of our most respected experts. Said George Kennan, architect of the doctrine of containment of the Soviet Union, in a 1998 interview, "I think it is the beginning of a new cold war ... I think the Russians will gradually react quite adversely and it will affect their policies. I think it is a tragic mistake. .... It shows so little understanding of Russian history and Soviet history. Of course there is going to be a bad ...
... country, with far superior military might and know how; of trying to restore any degree of governable stability to Afghanistan – albeit they were there at the invitation of the then Afghan government.
The war was considered to be a big part of the Cold War and due to its length it has sometimes been referred to as the "Soviet Union's Vietnam War" or the "Bear Trap" by the Western media, and is thought to be a contributing factor to the eventual fall of the Soviet Union....
On October 14, the White House dismissed a proposal by President Putin to send Prime Minister Medvedev to the United States to discuss military cooperation in Syria. White House spokesman Josh Earnest called the proposal a sign of "desperation." Said Earnest: "We're not interested in doing that, as long as Russia is not willing to make a constructive contribution to our counter- effort," <http://www.rferl.org/content/white-...>
But where is the evidence of Russian...
... earth, has more than enough natural resources and the nationalistic will of its people, to withstand virtually anything the West can throw at it, in the way of sanctions. It had already lived through seventy years of relative isolation, through the Cold War years. It could live, again, if need be, for many more years in relative isolation. The Russian’s know how to do it. They have had seventy years of practice at it. Today, however, Russia also has other partners to trade with – from ...
... as the SCO or BRICS. In sum, the world is gradually acquiring a bipolar shape, with the traditional divisions between “us” and “them”, global “good” and global “evil”, reminiscent of the decades of the Cold War. Needless to say, the United States and China appear to be the centers of gravity for this new polarization of global politics.
One might ask the question: is there anything fundamentally wrong about a bipolar world? Was it not the Soviet-US ...
It is perhaps a misnomer to discuss future ‘blowback:’ there have been groups actively pursuing technological attacks on American targets simultaneously alongside the development of the U.S. drone fleet. Keep in mind blowback comes in forms other than just anger over actual attacks. There is growing dissent across the Middle East at what is perceived to be a total lack of transparency and scrutiny by the American public over its government’s use of drones. This concern was growing...
There is no stronger example of the schizophrenic nature of American foreign policy toward Russia than comparing statements written in the formal National Security Strategy (NSS) of President Obama with actual testimony given by the Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. In 2010 the NSS asserted that the U.S. would endeavor to ‘build a stable, substantive, multidimensional relationship with Russia, based on mutual interests.’ What’s more, the NSS called Russia a 21st century...
... mania that is obsessed with remaining a great Derzhava (powerful state) and will not recognize its culpability in creating its own future political cataclysm.
This perfectly matches what Stephen Cohen astutely called several years back as ‘Cold War Triumphalism.’ In basic terms, since Russia lost the Cold War it was and should be treated as a de facto defeated nation. This triumphalism has arguably never left American decision-making power, given that the advent of this attitude began ...
America seems reluctant in accepting the fairly benign fact that countries do not like to be dictated to and thus misses opportunities for creating new dialogues. This is especially prominent in explaining the poor relationship at the moment with Russia. There seems to be an element of purposeful animosity in the way Russia is viewed, analyzed, and engaged, especially at the so-called expert level and most prominently within the now Republican-controlled United States Congress. Perhaps one of the...
