Trump's grandiose plans for Russia

President Donald Trump is right: Russian-American relations are at the lowest level in decades, and this reality is largely the fault of Trump's predecessors who held the post of president after the end of the Cold War. Trump made his mission to rehabilitate unhealthy relationships. I believe that the Trump administration is trying to take Moscow away from the conditional orbit of China (where it has been since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 - author's comment) and return it to the camp of the West.

No, Vladimir Putin is not a nice person, and he certainly has blood on his hands (both figuratively and literally - author's note). But, as former President Lyndon Johnson once said of Edgar Hoover, "better let it remain inside the tent and urinate outside than outside - inside."

In addition, Russia's military power makes it a natural regional counterweight to China's rapidly growing economy. The recent quarrel between the West and Russia pushed Russia back to the camp of China, thereby ensuring China's rise in Asia by eliminating the Russian threat facing it. Trump should play well with Russia to get her back, and better manage the seeming inexorable rise of China.

History of aggression

At the end of the Cold War, a relatively friendly relationship developed between the United States and Russia. However, by 2004, when the United States made its first secret intervention in Ukraine (the so-called "Orange Revolution" - author's comment), Vladimir Putin was convinced that the West was trying to destroy his regime and minimize Russian influence. In 2007, Putin went to the Munich Security Conference and delivered a critical speech condemning American militarism in the Middle East and the "double expansion" of NATO and the EU to the periphery of Russia.

Less than a year after that, Russia invaded Georgia, and Russian-American relations are mired in mutual accusations and contempt for each other.

After the election of Barack Obama for the presidency in 2008 between the new government in Washington and Moscow, the relations warmed. President Obama refused to repeat what he considered the militaristic excesses of the former administration of George W. Bush. So Obama turned to Russia. Russia accepted his proposals.

Unfortunately, the "reset" of relations with Russia during the Obama era was not so much a real reboot as a one-sided surrender to Moscow. The new Obama treaty on strategic arms reduction (commonly known as START III - author's comment) limited the modernization of US nuclear weapons (as well as their number - the author's comment), but allowed Russia to modernize its nuclear forces. According to Larry Bell, the treaty also "destroyed the anti-missile defense programs [of America]." However, this has cooled the tension.

As Thomas Grove wrote to Reuters in March 2011, "the new treaty on nuclear arms limitation between Russia and the United States has strengthened statements from both sides that the war between Moscow and the West is inconceivable and gives the Kremlin the opportunity to channel more resources to East".

The Eastern Question of Russia

The Russian Far East is a vast region of the country in which most of its vital natural resources are located, but only a small proportion of the population lives there. This extended territory adjoins the most densely populated and rapidly growing consumer of natural resources in the world - China. David Goldman once said that China views other countries as a good protein for own consumption. This is also true for the Russian Far East.

For 30 years, migrants of Chinese descent have penetrated the sparsely populated Russian Far East and have begun to crowd out indigenous Russians. The Russian Far East will inevitably become part of China de facto. Putin knows that this is happening. He is desperately trying to keep his Asian possessions. However, its ability to protect its vast borders is limited by relatively small military forces.

We know that Putin intends to strengthen the Russian Far East. Currently, Moscow is sending forward mobile defense systems K-300P "Bastion-P" and "Bal" to the Kuril Islands (which it retains since 1945, despite claims of Japan - author's comment).