The takeaway is that Putin is ultimately defending and pursuing Russian interests, and he should be, and that the West simply needs to recognize that often these interests confict with the West.

A phrase like “Russian interests” is a black box. You don’t know what it is from time to time.

We are in a difficult period because of Bush. The next administration will see things differently. That’s inevitable because of the personalities involved and because of the shifting views of Americans. We are being dealt one blow after another by nature and by our own hands and it will take a focused attention and time to fix things. Part of that process, in my view, is to simply tell the leaders of other countries that we need their best efforts, their help, to put the past in the past and look at the world anew and with hope.

The policies of an Obama administration, in particular, would be quite different than the present Bush administration. It must be obvious by now that it’s absolutely necessary for us to change our ways. We cannot continue to let Wall Street and the energy crisis and our health care crisis and all the rest destroy us. Internationally, we need good things to happen, not bad. That means we need to extricate ourselves from military adventures which waste money and instead we need to relate to other peoples for the commercial benefit of everyone. Once we do that we might see Russia differently. Tensions might subside. American exports might increase. A new world awaits.

Politically, it makes no sense to speak of promoting Democracy around the world while also creating and talking up tension and violence. It’s better to promote peaceful beneficial relations in every way. And, in that way, you help the Russians and Chinese to improve their political and economic systems to make them more responsive to their citizens need for freedom, harmony and prosperity and at the same time to maintain a strong national identity, power, safety and respect among nations.

Even as I write this post about a transition from a Bush administration to an Obama administration the reality of the world’s economic problems insists we work together. We must.

For too long the quality and quantity of information about this critical country (look at their natural gas reserves for one) have fallen to the wayside as the meaningless campaign rhetoric and idiotic bushcheney foreign policy smokes and spins out of control.

My interest in Russia mainly focuses on the USSR’s role in WWII (and the reactionary American foreign policy laid out from 1947-1949), the KGB/FSB, and, of course, Putin’s rising hegemony over mother Russia or, at least, Moscow.

i’ve just heard of you book but based on Jerome’s overview (thanks Jerome!), i have a question: What exactly is different about your analysis of modern-day Russia and that analysis put forth by the US government in regards to the USSR during the second half of the 1940s? (Even the title of your book harkens back to Churchill’s speech.)