by Larry Johnson at A Son of the New American Revolution
U.S. and Soviet troops meet at the Elbe River
I am afraid the answer is a resounding, “No!” I hope and pray that I am wrong on this point, but I see no evidence that such a shift in opinion towards Putin and all things Russian is in the offing. The United States and Soviet troops shook hands over the waters of the Elbe River on April 25, 1945. That water is now poisoned. The following scene from the HBO series, The Pacific, illustrates the problem with poisoned water.
A recent Gallup poll reveals the depth of the negative feeling:
Americans’ already-negative opinions of Russia have soured further in the past year, dropping from 15% holding a favorable view to 9%. The current reading for Russia is the lowest Gallup has measured since it first asked about the “Soviet Union” in this format in 1989.
Russia is now the fourth country in Gallup’s polling of country favorable ratings to register a sub-10% favorable score. Iran, Iraq and North Korea have had ratings below 10% on multiple occasions. The all-time low favorable rating for any country was 3% for Iraq in 1991 during the Persian Gulf War.
At the very time that lines of diplomatic communication need to be open and active between Washington and Moscow, the sustained propaganda campaign portraying Russia as a communist, authoritarian state keen on re-creating the Soviet Empire makes it politically impossible for any U.S. political leader to say or do anything conciliatory towards Russia. This is both incredibly dangerous and stupid.
I do not recall any time during the span of the Cold War (1947 – 1991) that relations between Washington and Moscow were so strained. During the Vietnam War it was Russia, not China, that provided the bulk of military aid to North Vietnam:…
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