Americans in general and politicians in particular were used to thinking of the Soviets as bad guys and of the Americans as good guys, and that provided the sense of balance and comfort (yes, comfort!) to their everyday lives.

The Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991 broke that pillar and with that, completely destabilized the mental equilibrium and comfort of American politicians, leaving them searching for a new pillar to lean on. They chose an easy solution, however, and instead of building that new pillar, they opted to refurbish the old one by simple mental swapping of the Soviet Union for Russia. Despite Russia’s stark differences from its predecessor, this substitution swiftly restored equilibrium and comfort in American political consciousness. Nothing changed, except now, instead of the Soviets being bad guys, it was the Russians.

Moreover, the American political establishment has quickly figured out that maintaining an adversary, be it the Soviet Union or Russia, was much more profitable than cultivating cooperation and coexistence—after all, America is, first and foremost, about money!

And so, here we are. Very very sad…

#InfoDefenseAuthor