In My Opinion: Why the Russians tampered with our political process

If you are old enough to remember the earthshaking events that took place between June 1989 (the Tianamen Square massacre in Beijing) and December 25, 1991 (Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's announcement that the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics would cease to exist six days later as a political entity), you probably recall feeling a sense of relief and exultation. 

After all, unless you were a die-hard Marxist who believed that Communism was the solution to humanity's problems - never mind that it is one of the most oppressive and tyrannical forms of governance - there was plenty to celebrate, especially once the red and gold banner with the hammer and sickle was lowered from the Kremlin's Spasky Tower for the last time. The Cold War between the Russian-led Warsaw Pact and the U.S.-led free world was over. There was no need for an expensive and never-ending arms race. Countries such as Cuba, North Korea, and all of the former Soviet satellites in Eastern Europe would experience a new birth of freedom. 

And, even more importantly, the United States of America and the Russian Federated Republic would, at long last, put aside their geopolitical differences, stop aiming nuclear missiles at each other, and work together - as friends - for a better and more peaceful world.

At the start of this new world order, no longer dominated by the schism between the two superpowers, some of these things occurred.  Eastern Europe shook itself free from the yoke of Soviet domination and began the painful transition from Communist one-party rule to free-wheeling democracy and capitalism. America and Russia stopped aiming ICBMs at each other, and for a brief period in time, there was even hope that Moscow might someday join NATO. Many U.S. companies began doing business with Russia's new class of rulers, the oligarchs, while Presidents George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton treated Boris Yeltsin as a new and trusted friend, if not quite brotherly ally. (And, of course, some hopes never became realities. Cuba and North Korea are still stupidly, stubbornly, and tragically Communist-ruled.) 

Now, 26 years after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, we seem to be heading into a new Cold War with Vladimir Putin's Russia, and the U.S. is a nation divided after a bitterly contested Presidential election - an election that many say was directly influenced by Russian interference in the voting process. 

As you know, there is an investigation underway to determine if Russian hackers (whether they are tied to Vladimir Putin's regime or, as Putin claims, mere Russian patriots with no official government connections) interfered in the 2016 Presidential election to help the current occupant of the White House defeat his opponent, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The investigation also seeks answers to the question of whether or not the President of the United States and/or members of his campaign colluded with the Russians' effort to influence American voters between 2015 and November 2016. 

I don't pretend to know all the facts in this case, and this blog post is not intended to cast any accusations toward Mr. Trump or his associates until all the evidence has been made public. 

What I do want to do here, though, is to explain why I believe the U.S. intelligence community's assertions that Putin's Russia interfered with the U.S. election system. More to the point, I want to point out Moscow's motives for its destabilizing actions.

First, let's get one thing straight about Russia. It is not, and never has been, a nation-state where democracy has flourished. From the 9th Century A.D. (862 AD, to be precise) to 1991, the Russian people has been ruled by authoritarian regimes that include the Kievan Rus, the Grand Duchy of Moscow, the Tsars (especially the Romanov dynasty), and the Soviet Union. As a result, most Russians tend to favor strong-man leaders and don't have a long history of cherishing individual freedoms.  

Second, Russian society in general has long had a love-hate relationship with the rest of Europe throughout much of its history. Its geographical location at the extreme eastern ends of the "continent" had a marginalizing effect on Russia's national identity. The Russian state - no matter what its form may be - has never fit comfortably in the larger European community of nations; culturally, its lack of a common alphabet and its somewhat isolated, antiquated, and unsophisticated folkways set Russia apart from its European neighbors. More importantly, the fact that Russia's Tsars aspired to have Moscow be the "third Rome" that dominated Christendom (particularly in Eastern Europe and the Balkan states) caused great unease among the other great powers of Europe. 

If you study Russian history closely, you'll note that the national psyche reflects both an admiration and distrust for the West. On the one hand, you have an enlightened despot such as Tsar Peter the Great who wants to take his underdeveloped and militarily unimpressive realm out of the medieval-like mire of serfdom and lack of advanced industry and bring it up to the levels of France, Great Britain, and Prussia. This was a ruler who believed that Russian nobles and citizens should dress and conduct themselves like Europeans, whether they wanted it or not.  Peter also modernized the Russian army and navy, so the Empire was not only able to defend itself, but also to expand eastward and southward.

On the other hand, you have a nation state that has been traumatized by a constant string of invasions by its neighbors, including Sweden, Napoleon's France, Napoleon III and Great Britain, Kaiser Wilhelm II's Germany in World War I, the Western Allies (including the U.S.) during the Russian Revolution, and finally Nazi Germany during World War II. Imagine being invaded several times over a period of two centuries; your national memory would be full of scars. Sure, the Russians eventually won, but in just one war, World War II, they lost an estimated 25 million men, women, and children to the Nazis. 

So...yeah, the Russians admire the technology and the fine things that life has to offer to us in the West. Consumer goods, music, movies, and the ability to make lots of money are the best things that America and Western Europe possess, and many Russians seek them out. 

(C) 2014 Reuters

But Russian national pride took a tumble in 1991 when the Soviet Union fell apart. Defeated in Afghanistan by many of the same people that now are waging war against us in the Global War on Terrorism, the collective ego was injured badly by Russia's loss of its superpower status. Some Russians accepted the reality that Communism had been a fool's errand and that the Cold War had not improved their lot.

Many others, including die-hard Marxists, former members of the state security apparatus (I'm looking at you, Vladimir Putin) and non-Communist nationalists feel that Russia should be a great power on the world stage, dominate their neck of the woods, and challenge the West in whatever way they can to further those two goals. 

Moreover, rather than seek America's friendship and trust, they seek revenge for the Soviet Union's fall. They do not like democracy. They do not like freedom of choice. They want to revive the pre-Soviet Russian Empire, and they will stop at nothing to accomplish this - without, of course, starting a nuclear war.

So, what's the best way for Russia to do this?

• Reassert Moscow's dominant role in what Russians call the "near abroad." That means prying the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) out of the West's sphere of  influence and back in the imperial fold. This, of course, includes getting them to leave NATO.
• On a similar note, Russia wants Ukraine to cease any moves to join the European Union (and maybe NATO) and become more aligned with the Kremlin. The Crimean invasion of 2014 was one of the big moves toward this goal.
• Destabilize NATO  in order to neutralize it as a potential threat to Russian foreign/military policy. Perhaps, even get NATO to disband. 
• Destabilize Europe and America by encouraging nationalistic movements, eroding support for international alliances, and causing fear and distrust to be the driving force of the West's internal politics.

There are probably more, even more complicated reasons that explain why Russia intervened in our Presidential elections, but these are the main ones.