Thread by @bonesoflasalle

There is no need for the current antagonism toward Russia. We have never fought a war against Russia, have no shared border or territorial disputes with Russia & no vital interests in conflict. Here is a brief rundown on Russian-American relations: 🇷🇺🤝🇺🇸

During the American War for Independence, Empress Catherine the Great of Russia played an important part. She organized the League of Armed Neutrality which prevented sympathetic European powers from assisting the British against the Americans. 🇷🇺🤝🇺🇸

During the American Civil War the Russian Imperial Navy wintered in American ports. With Britain & France ill-disposed toward Russia & not very friendly with the USA, this was to be prepared for foreign intervention leading to a wider war w/ Russia & USA allied. 🇷🇺🤝🇺🇸

In 1867 Emperor Alexander II sold the mineral treasure house of Alaska to the United States. The Czar feared the British in Canada would snatch the territory which Russia could not defend. He preferred friendly America to have it & keep it out of British hands. 🇷🇺🤝🇺🇸

Relations deteriorated a bit but Russia still trusted America enough to agree to US President Teddy Roosevelt brokering the peace with Japan in the 1905 Treaty of Portsmouth. Ironically relations with Japan worsened afterward as they thought the US had been pro-Russian. 🇷🇺🤝🇺🇸

During WW1 the US dispatched the American Expeditionary Force Siberia to the Russian Far East to safeguard the war materials the US had sent to Russia before the Bolshevik Revolution. Some pointed out the Bolsheviks might not have taken over if the US had entered the war sooner.

During WW2 the USA & USSR were allies fighting against the Axis powers in Europe & Asia. Despite their ideological differences, both agreed to cooperate against a common enemy. It’s likely neither could’ve won without the other. 🇷🇺🤝🇺🇸

The Cold War rivalry of the two countries proved self-destructive for both powers on a number of fronts. The USSR ultimately collapsed, which they didn’t think was a good thing. The US fostered the rise of Communist China (today’s rival) to foster the Sino-Soviet split.

The USA armed & funded Islamic fundamentalists in Afghanistan in order to “pay back” the USSR for their support of North Vietnam. This helped break the Soviet Union but it also came back to bite America in a big way on September 11, 2001.

The “War on Terror” offered every opportunity for Russo-American cooperation. Russia warned the US government about the Tsarnaev brothers but the advice was discarded. The result of this indifference was the Boston marathon bombing.

At the end of the Cold War the US promised the Russians there would be no expansion of NATO but subsequent administrations did just that, advancing to the Russian border. There are no longer Russian troops in Germany but there are American troops in Poland & Lithuania.

More recently American political parties have used Russia as a partisan talking point with whichever party that is out of power attacking the one in power for not being “hard enough” on Russia. This same game has been played in every administration since Clinton-Bush.

This needless antagonism is not doing anyone any good. For a country that is a major military & nuclear power which has nowhere left to fall back to it is mindlessly dangerous. FIN