World politics lessons from DrugWars - The truth about Russian paranoia

in #politics5 years ago

When you’re just a regular Joe you can afford the luxury of being a peaceful soul, without having much to worry your next door neighbor is plotting to steal the few valuables in your house. You still make sure to have a good lock on your door, although you can be pretty sure the old guy next door won’t risk going to jail over for your wedding ring and the rundown laptop.
When you really have stuff others might really be interested in, you get a whole new perspective. Take, for instance, DrugWars. I had no interest in the battles part of the game, but do I have a choice? I was away for a couple of hours today and when I got back I discovered I’ve been attacked three times and lost a massive amount of stuff. Even the poor defense I had put in place got wiped out so I need to rethink my strategy as it is obvious that as long as I have stuff people want I will be attacked.
If you’re reading this, I hope you’ll agree I cannot sit by idly, because that would be stupid.

Earlier today I was reading this article about Russia’s defense strategy. The gist of it is Russia has to create a strong enough threat to act as deterrent against possible US meddling in its business. Whether we like it or not, Russia is a big country with lots of resources, not to mention the many strategic issues. Yet, the minute any Russian official mentions possible American threats they’re branded paranoid. Go to the comments section on the article and you’ll find many regular Joes saying Ruskies are mental. Are they?
If you take a look at the post Cold War decades, you’ll notice that the only time Russia was viewed with sympathy was during the 90s. For the past 20 years we’ve become so accustomed to read about Putin the dictator, you might have completely forgotten his predecessor Boris Yeltsin had a completely different image in the MSM. Everybody laughed at his drunken antics, like when he was supposedly so plastered he was unable to get off the plane on an official visit.

Nobody called him an alcoholic tyrant. Everybody loved the old fool. What was different? First, Russia was the loser in the Cold War and did not pose much of a threat, either to Europe or the US. Then, there was of course the business side. A wonderful time to be doing business in Russia - anybody that had any sort of power would sell anything to the highest bidder, even industries of strategic interest. Even the Central Bank. That’s how today’s oligarchs made their fortunes for the most part. While the kind Yeltsin tsar was busy guzzling vodka the country was being robbed blind by its former enemies. That changed when Putin took over and the West wasn’t too happy with that.

‘General Valery Gerasimov has accused the US of trying to destabilise Russia by covertly backing street protests and dissidents, after which - he claims - Washington is planning to launch military strikes against key infrastructure’.

US efforts to destabilise Russia, specifically Putin’s grip on power, have been going on for years. Besides the official ‘bring democracy to...’slogans amplified by MSM, I’m sure American officials have a lot of strategic reasons to play tough with Moscow. The battle over Venezuela is part of the strategic war between the two countries. The battle over Ukraine, same thing. Depending on your political preferences, you might say that Russia is right or that the Americans are right. But, unfortunately, there are no good guys to this story. Left to its own devices, Russia would have no qualms about attacking weaker countries. Just like the US would.
Just like DrugWars. The best way to stay safe is to make it very costly for the enemies to launch an attack. And threaten with retaliation, just as the Russian general said ‘create a serious threat’. Is that paranoid? No, this is how the game is played.
Did you notice Kim Jong Un flatly refusing Trump’s request? Well, he can afford it. Ha has a very serious threat, nuclear mayhem it’s called.This is how Israel not only survives, but can basically do whatever they please in the region. I haven’t seen many articles on the very serious threat of Saudi Arabia obtaining nuclear technology from the US. That’s how you play the game! Although, the Saudis are brazen enough as it is, God have mercy on us all if they go nuclear, too.

Thanks for reading

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