U.S. Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi, Russia on May 14, 2019. [State Department photo by Ron Przysucha/ Public Domain]
The bad news is there cannot be normal, friendly relations between the US and Russia for two reasons.
One reason is that the annual budget of the US military/security complex is $1,000 billion. A budget this large and the power that goes with it requires a large enemy. Russia has been designated that enemy. It works with the American public and academics because of the long Cold War with the Soviet Union. Americans are accustomed to seeing Russia as the enemy.
The other reason is Washington’s committment to American hegemony. The neoconservatives characterize the United States as the exceptional and indispensable country which has a right to hegemony. Russia, and also China, but especially Russia because Russia borders the American European empire, is considered to be a constraint on Washington’s hegemony. As Russia is a constraint on Washington’s hegemony, Washington is committed to the destabilization of Russia with sanctions, demonization, color revolutions, indeed, by any means. US nuclear missile bases on Russia’s borders are a way of achieving hegemony over Russia via intimidation.
Because of these facts, it is not possible for Russia to negotiate a solution to the security problem. Washington does not want Russia to be secure. That is the crux of the matter.
