At least have the courage to say – it is in the interests of US to have a weak Russia, with pro-Western and per-Western elites ruling her, breaking her apart so that US supremacy is assured…

There is not way any country can deny the right to cocmpete, the way they chose, with any other country. It is a fallacy of our elites to think that they can deny Russia' aspiration to greatness, to compete with US.

Additionally, I think we are failing to understand both Russian and European cultures and their histories. We go into foreign territories, either with armies or ideologies, ignorant about what we are really dealing with.

Europe's sensibilities re Russia are different than ours. because their dealings with Russia were different during the entire cold war period. Everybody rushed in after the collapse of the Soviet Union, wanting to remake Russia into their own image. Exactly like we rushed into Iraq.
I'd think we would at least realize what geographic proximity means in terms of strategy.

Ameicans are continually outraged when other regions don't act as our surrogates.
Well, we see how far that kind of short-sighted approach gets us, as both Europe and Russia become successful competitors for international influence.

If we want to maintain our influence, we must learn to speak 'their language', to understand the view from their angle. Certainly we should to so before pronouncing judgment.

Actually, I think there's plenty of blame to spread around for who lost Russia. Obviously, the Russian Communist Party is a primary culprit. 75 years of their control of the country had reduced Russia's domestic institutions other than the Party, the military, and organized crime to rubble.

The West, collectively, shares some of the blame. The flood of Western experts who flooded into Russia, ignorant of the Russian situation, who offered bad advice didn't help.

I agree with Whocares that, proportionally, Europe bears more blame than the U. S. The Europeans have become so accustomed to standing around holding our coats while we worked and kvetching from the sidelines that they have problems in discerning when it's in their collective interest to act.

Instead of a hands on approach in which money, credits and help of all kind were channeled into a desperate Russia the world led by Europe and the USA started criticizing them for not having perfect equal rights. High crime. Low standard of living. On and on the west chastised a fledgling new democracy with one simple reason in mind.

They did not want to give Russia any aid and ultimately have them as a huge competitor for goods and services and a large consumer of an ever decreasing pool of goods and services available worldwide.

It was economic survival of the world to keep Russia a third world country. Well now with China and India exploding onto the world scene with their HUGE populations and voracious appetites for goods and services and OIL, suddenly Russia and her vast energy reserves finds herself in the catbirds seat and able to dictate to the West terms of her own choosing.

So what started out as a shrewd concept to prevent one more country from being in competition with the rest of the world has turned into a major headache. It also points to one more reason why this country needs to find alternative means for fueling our wants and needs.

Until we do Russia will have no reason to make a good life for their citizens. They will just keep raking in the cash from desperate nations for their oil and gas.