True as long as one understands the Russia today is not the Soviet Union of yesterday. Since the fall of the Soviet Union and stumblings thereafter it has taken long for the Russian people to adjust to the new era they now live... and for them it has had to be a slow process which continues even now. But they are certainly making great progress and in time further will see even further progress for the people and their environment.
It is not the Cold War in that we are not in a battle over set ideologies and Russia no longer carries mantle of Marxism-Leninism.
Trump treated Putin with the same tact and skill as he did Kim Jong Un. Flattery. Art of the Deal.
So long as America puts up a peaceful posture as Trump is doing, the Kremlin cannot keep diverting attention from their own corruptions from their people. They are the enemy of the Russian people. Not America.
Putin has spent his entire presidency using America as a scapegoat for the Russian people’s woes and domestic problems...
No amount of World Cup sparkle can cover the very deep problems of Russian economy and the ways in which the kleptocratic oligarchs have looted the country’s resources, people, and their freedoms/rights throughout Putin’s tenure.
Armenia already ousted their Putin-friendly govt in April. Peacefully. Without Western interference.
Georgia is on path to join NATO.
And Russian ally Iran is facing an imminent uprising in the coming years. Russian State television has already accused America of fomenting coup in Iran. Because, the Kremlin understands it is not in their interest for Khomeini regime to be overthrown.
Might give their own people ideas...It’s a domino effect: the Russian people, by God’s grace, will be next. To be free. Peacefully.
Nothing overnight. And only with much prayer and faith.
And i also agree that there are some immediate issues of practical concern worth cooperating on: Syria/Israel namely. And i trust Trump’s involvement to rein in Russia’s worst impulses in the region and achieve righteous compromise.