Rethink Russia, America

The United States foreign policy’s inability to decide between engagement and containment of Russia juxtaposed to its opportunity or threat will lead it to a quandary it will have to reckon with either economically or militarily.

In the early 2000s Russia was America in the 1930s, but its recent economic resurgence and shift to the East has permitted it to become bulletproof towards any Western sanctions. Where foreign policy has gone awry has been the same in almost every other intervention which is cultural ideology and philosophy along side with perspectives of the variables of attitude toward the West.

In the 20th century, the fear was the corruption of territorial integrity but now its view of security is the ability to endure financial shock and international instability. Russia’s reinforcement of nationalism alongside its shift economically to the East should be one of a myriad of concerns for the West. With bloating internal monetary fund reserves and near zero national debt, Russia has the cushion and space to not just endure these sanctions but actively take steps toward a new international partner.

The same way Russia took Crimea is the same reason China took Hong Kong, the gateway of the Belt and Road Initiative: Opportunity that is independent of the West. If the West wants to cripple their thuggish actions they need a fundamental change of thought of Russia’s political system and their way of thinking.

Sasha Fisher

Coeur d’Alene