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Originally Posted by blankall
I get the idea that Russia's game, historically anyways, is all about the long game. They constantly seem to be pushing the envelope.
You may be right that Putin is just pandering to this idea of expansion to maintain his own grip on power, but the practical effect is Russia invading surrounding nations. Post-USSR it seemed to start out in places that nobody paid much attention to, largely in the North Caucasus. However, more recently the invasions seem to be getting bolder and bolder, like the Crimea. They also seem to be actively collapsing the governments of surrounding nations, with the purpose of annexing portions of them.
I honestly think that if the Russians had an expanding and healthy population, we'd be seeing them implementing their current strategy on a much larger scale.
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Russia and their former KGB agents/fascists have been planning their resurgence since the humiliation of the country in the mid 1990s by the oligarchs and Yeltsin, but that strategy has always centered around maximizing and re-establishing the former Soviet spheres of influence and countering US influence rather than global dominance that was the goal of the CCCP.
An interesting read is the "Foundation of Geopolitics" by fascist writer Aleksandr Dugin that has been adopted by the Kremlin as it's official internal playbook in 1997.
Highlights from the playbook, any of these sound familiar?
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- Germany should be offered political dominance over Central Europe.
- France should be encouraged to form a "Franco-German bloc", as they both have a "firm anti-Atlanticist tradition"
- The UK should be cut off from Europe as they are merely described as an "extraterritorial floating base of the U.S."
- Finland should be absorbed into Russia
- Ukraine should be annexed by Russia because Ukraine as a state has no geopolitical meaning
- Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland should be granted a "slave status" under a new Russia-Eurasian bloc
- Russian-Islamic alliance Russia–Syria–Iran–Iraq coalition as they would be "at the foundation of anti-Atlanticist strategy"
- Iran is a key ally and "Moscow–Tehran axis" should be formed
- Georgia should be dismantled and will be incorporated into Russia
- Create "geopolitical shocks" within Turkey (destroying US ties). These can be achieved by employing Kurds, Armenians and other minorities
- China "must, to the maximum degree possible, be dismantled", as they represent a danger to Russia
- In the US, Russia should use its special services within the borders of the US to fuel instability and separatism
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We've seen all of these implemented by Russian intelligence assets over the past two decades with Brexit, rise of Erdogan, Iranian weapons deals, Trump, invasion of Georgia/South Ossetia, Crimea, racism against African-Americans.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Founda...of_Geopolitics