Russia has had a love-hate relationship with the West since the days of Peter the Great in the 17th Century. On the one hand, Russia is seen as an Eastern "European" country, on the other hand, many historians and sociologists refer to Russia as being Eurasian, not only because of its geographic location (most of Russia's real estate is in Asia), but also because of Russian culture, mentality. Many point at the long subjugation by the Mongols, the Golden Horde that ruled Russia for many years until Russia was finally able to shed the Mongol yoke. It was Peter the Great that "Westernized" Russia by forcibly making his boyars wear Western attire and cutting off their long beards! It was Peter the Great who built the first "European" city in Russia, St. Petersburg, which was called the "Window to the West!" But throughout history, beginning with Peter the Great's era, Russia has fought with European nations on and off and its people had suffered greatly, the last war being the Second World War in which Russia lost 25 million souls to the Nazi Germany onslaught!
Despite our physical separation from Europe, we have always been considered part of that "Western Bloc," a part to which Russia never belonged. There was a period in the 19th Century when we could have drawn much closer to Russia. But Russia was always in the throes of one type of disorder/disaster or another. We managed to pull a terrific deal, possibly the greatest bargain of all time, when we purchased Alaska from a terribly mismanaged Russian government. Alaska, even today has a significant native population with Russian surnames and towns and locations with Russian names. Russians, at one time, were down to as far south as San Francisco Bay in California! There are still remains of their presence in the form of old forts and cities and towns that were named by them. The annually flooding Russian River in Sonoma County was named so by the Russians, as well as many of the smaller towns in the area. Perhaps the best known of Russian named towns is called Sebastapol in Sonoma County. Yes, you guessed it. It was named after the port city in Crimea, Ukraine. I think it helps to support Russia's claim that Ukraine is part of Russia, since the town in Sonoma County, California was so named almost 200 years ago!
Russia always looked upon America as a country that they would have liked to identify with, to have closer ties. Like Russia, America was big with varied terrain and climate. Like Russia, it is not in Europe yet is settled predominantly by European descendants. At the same time, during the industrial revolution, America was going full speed ahead and in many respects, getting ahead of Europe. But, America always felt a closer bond, closer ties to Europe. Europeans have always looked upon Russians as "Eurasians," not quite up to their standards! In short, snobbery and racism prevailed in the relationship between Russians and Europeans. Anyone who has done any reading in Russian literature will pick up on it right away. All great Russian masters, Tolstoy, Turgenev, Dostoevsky, all refer to this relationship, the Russian inferiority complex vs. European snobbery or superiority complex.
Unfortunately, America, being tied closer to Europe, also developed this mentality and attitude towards Russia. The past seventy years of communist rule in Russia didn't help matters, especially the last half a century of cold war! An average American views Russia or Russians as not anything like Europe or Europeans. Russians are mostly seen as being crude, rough, lacking refinement. Russian people, and Russian leaders in particular, are keenly aware of this. It was only the old aristocracy of the 19th Century that did not have this inferiority complex. But then, the aristocracy was wiped out by the Bolsheviks. Since that time, beginning with Lenin, all Russian leaders have felt that they were looked down upon. Every last one of them, without exception, felt like the old comedian Rodney Dangerfield - who got no respect! Now, despite the demise of communism, this inferiority complex and separation from the rest of Europe still persists. The presence of NATO only increases this paranoia and feeling of disrespect by the West.
Our leaders, throughout the 20th and now the 21st Century, have managed to continue to project that attitude of superiority towards Russians. Stalin was keenly aware of it and hated the West and America for it with a passion. The fact that the "Allies" held off opening a second front for so long was never forgotten, not by Stalin, not by Russians in general. Perhaps Russians are being overly sensitive, but once they perceive that a slight had been made against them, they tend to bear a grudge. That is what has happened in the past in our dealings with the Russian leaders and government in general.
Hillary Clinton's meeting with Putin when she was a Secretary of State essentially made her a life long enemy of Putin. Although during photo ops everyone was smiling and being lovey-dovey, Hillary's general demeanor didn't escape Putin. Despite the fact that she granted a generous concession by giving 20% of our uranium deposits to Russia (I am still puzzled by that deal!) her general attitude was that of someone of superior position dealing with an inferior and her arrogance did not escape the Russians. At the time, Putin was the Prime Minister of Russia, but everyone knew he ran the show. Hillary was but the Secretary of State, not the President, not even the Vice President of the United States, although obviously she was preparing her way for the presidency! But, she took on an almost condescending attitude with Putin, without realizing how much she was antagonizing him. But then again, perhaps she knew and did it anyway. She came away from that meeting singing praises of Putin and taking credit for having vastly improved U.S. - Russia relations, which had been somewhat sour at the time. No doubt she felt that he was too dense to see through her. But then, we all know that it was Hillary's arrogance that brought about her downfall!
Putin, on the other hand, never forgot that encounter with Hillary. It is not surprising then that during our elections he tried his best to do everything to destroy her chances! Now, it may seem very small of Russians to react in such manner to someone who takes on a superior attitude, but that is the way it is and has been for over a century! There is indeed a part of Russian psyche, mentality, that is Asian. Although Russians may not use the term "face" nor any of the other expressions used by the Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans. Russians still place enormous value on keeping "face" and also not talking "down" to a person. We, on the otherhand, have had a history of our leaders behaving very high handedly, especially when dealing with Russians. We have learned through the years to be more careful when dealing with Asian leaders, and for the most part we manage OK, with the exception of Kim Jung Un of North Korea. But then, who can get along with that nut! But for some reason, we seem to forget to be more careful when we deal with Russians, and time and again step on their toes.
I don't know whether there is real "history" between Putin and Trump or that Putin has some damaging information on Trump, as some insist. But Trump's nice guy approach with Putin is not necessarily a bad thing, despite what McCain and others say. Considering the circumstances, had Hillary won the election, she would not have been able to open any sort of a dialogue with Russia and our relations with that country would have been at a dead end from the start. Trump, it seems, at least has access to starting worthwhile discussions with Putin by not antagonizing him. I know it all sounds very childish and something out of a schoolyard, but, that's how things work even at the highest level! Now with Tillerson as the Secretary of State, we truly have the ability to talk to Russians meaningfully.
Russians, like many other cultures, place great value in personal relationships. The reason Angela Merkel gets along so well with Putin is not only because she is fluent in Russian and he in German, but they have a very close personal relationship. Germany, essentially, has no worries about their natural gas supply, even if the rest of Europe is cut off, Putin will continue to supply to Germany! Such is the value of personal relationships in dealing with Russia. We have never had anyone who has had a good personal relationship with Russia's leaders, not in hundreds of years that we dealt with that country! Stalin hated Roosevelt, Khrushchev hated Kennedy, it goes on and on. The first time there was possible relationship and dialogue was with Gorbachev and Reagan!
It will be interesting to see where this new situation will lead. The new Secretary of State obviously has an "in" with the Russian leadership, including Putin. That is both good and bad. Good because he will be able to talk to them and they will listen and not be as suspicious of his words as they would with someone they didn't know. Bad, because the American public, the anti Trump camp, may see this as U.S. going hand in hand with that nasty Russian government. Who knows what they will be up to. As for Trump's relationship with Putin, who knows? I think Trump is just using his business acumen and saying nice things so as to pave the way for truly starting a new chapter in U.S. - Russia relations.
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