You’re wrong about the reason we need to cease kvetching about Russian interference, and you’re wrong about the reason for hothouse Russophobia. We don’t need to cease complaining about Russian interference in our election because it could risk a nuclear war, or escalate the existing conventional wars in the Ukraine and Syria. That would imply that there was something wrong with Russia that we need be concerned about, but that the risk of pursuing it outweighs the gravity of their sin. From our perspective, there is nothing wrong with Russia, rather there is a great deal right with Russia, and we need to partner with them in Rapprochement (of course, from Russia’s perspective, there is a great deal which needs to be improved about Russia). One of the things that’s right with Russia is their agricultural sector, which is more biodiverse and sustainable than ours.
Another is that, for all its faults, the soviet model [has been demonstrably more successful] (https://www.opednews.com/articles/Red-Hangover-by-Kristen-G-by-Deena-Stryker-Authoritarianism_Capitalism_Democracy_Far-right-180104-713.html) at providing employment, health care, community and cultural preservation, than the neoliberal model now ascendant.
The notion that [we’re going after Russia to get to China] (https://medium.com/@johnmensing/youve-gotten-yourself-into-a-false-dichotomy-here-which-started-by-my-reckoning-when-you-bought-8e89445dc6fb) persists in your analysis. If we wanted to hobble China, we could have enacted sanctions when they began ringing Indochina and Southeast Asia with military installations. Instead, President Clinton was more interested in collecting donations from the Lippo Group. If the U.S. business elites were interested in curtailing China’s rise or confronting China, they could have ended technology transfers and enacted tariffs to enforce parity with labor practices and workplace standards (as Dennis Kucinich called for during his Presidential campaign).
China and Russia compete for influence. If the U.S. hobbles Russia, it helps China.
You’re quite right in calling Russophobia nonsense. I don’t know how to fix it, but proceeding with a flawed analysis as to why it is the hate week rhetoric du jour makes for an inauspicious foothold. You’re also quite right — and have been quite right all along — in calling out David Brock, Correct the Record, and, in the wake of Trump’s ascension, the rump of Mrs. Clinton’s coterie, for engaging in exactly the kind of shenanigans they are accusing Russia of. Caught by Wikileaks and an internet savvy public with a knife in their hands and their clothes covered in blood, they point to Putin and scream, “He did it!”
This is a pretty great comment. I was listening to an interview with the Saker and Catherine Austin Fitts this morning and they spoke about a lot of this. The sanctions the US is imposing on Russia is actually really helping Russia out, bringing their money back to the country and, as you said, their agriculture is great. All this also helps Putin's popularity in his own country. To think that the powers that shouldn't be would actually start a nuclear war is, in my mind, ridiculous. No bunker for the elite will keep you safe in a nuclear war, and I think they know that. Not to say the situation in the world isn't dangerous, but as history shows, it always is.
Another great point in this interview is how sanctions helps to reverse globalism because it makes countries more self sufficient. I have always thought that and just shook my head at countries who can't feed themselves or build things. Why wouldn't you? It's like the uproar about taking away fresh produce from people on food stamps. Why don't you have a garden and grow your own food? It's cheap and if you do it right, it requires little land and little work.
I don't know how to fix the Russophobia nonsense either, I just refuse to participate in it. We had dinner with a friend recently and he was so passionately convinced Trump was owned by Putin I just changed the subject immediately. The latest, "The NRA is funded by Russia!" is not even surprising anymore. Once you leave the farm and have an outside view, you see how it was possible for people to burn 'witches.'